24" or 26"?

tholub said:

I have not done much off-road Coker riding, but some people swear by
the big wheel.

My personal experience is that while I can go slightly faster on a
coker in offroad races, the ride is more FUN on a 29er or 26. The
exception is if the course is very smooth with no sharp corners.

I've also noticed that on the courses we've raced a given rider will
pull off almost identical lap times on a coker and 29er (in some cases
the 29er is actually faster). A 24" wheel produces significantly
slower lap times.

For pure cross country a 29er is a good choice. If you plan on
tackling a few technical obstacles which require largish drops then a
26 or 24 inch wheel is a better size. I've ridden both a 24" and 26"
offroad and find that the 24" is easier going up hills but the 26"
rolls over things nicer.

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tholub said:

I would say that a 24x3 is not ideal if your goal is to ride distances
on non-technical or moderately-technical terrain. Yes, the wheel
diameter is about 26", but that fat tire is tiring to push over those
kinds of distances. = If there's a lot of steep up and down, or sharp
turns, a 29er's weight manuverability can make up for the speed
difference on flat ground.

Depends on what you are trying to do exactly.
I use the 24X3 knowing that I'll get a better workout (in less
distance).
If I really wanted to cover ground (or have decent speed), I'd use a
fixy bike.

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tholub said:

I would say that a 24x3 is not ideal if your goal is to ride distances
on non-technical or moderately-technical terrain. Yes, the wheel
diameter is about 26", but that fat tire is tiring to push over those
kinds of distances. = If there's a lot of steep up and down, or sharp
turns, a 29er's weight manuverability can make up for the speed
difference on flat ground.

Depends on what you are trying to do exactly.
I use the 24X3 knowing that I'll get a better workout (in less
distance).
If I really wanted to cover ground (or have decent speed), I'd use a
fixy bike.

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My advice, being one of limited riding experience outside of my current
Onza 24" and my previous 20" is to try to find somewhere where you can
test out several unicycles in varied conditions. while i was staying at
my moms this summer in seattle i went to a couple of Unicycle club
meetings and go to try out both a coker, a 29er, and a 26er. the coker
is awesome, i fell in love...again, and once again need another 500
bucks! try before you buy if possible, there aren't enough words in the
world to describe a personal feeling. the 29er was really awkward do to
small cranks which im not used to, 125's versus my usual 165's, but was
screaming fast, the 26 was noticeably faster than my 24 but didnt fair
as well going up hills as has been said before, though the hills
weren't horribly substantial i did notice a difference. hope any of our
motley crew of opinions helps!

--
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"The trail is my mistress, but you can be my girlfriend on the side"

"And there goes the nut, and the nuts and NOOO not the NUTS!! calm down
they were only salted not the honey roasted ones"
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My advice, being one of limited riding experience outside of my current
Onza 24" and my previous 20" is to try to find somewhere where you can
test out several unicycles in varied conditions. while i was staying at
my moms this summer in seattle i went to a couple of Unicycle club
meetings and go to try out both a coker, a 29er, and a 26er. the coker
is awesome, i fell in love...again, and once again need another 500
bucks! try before you buy if possible, there aren't enough words in the
world to describe a personal feeling. the 29er was really awkward do to
small cranks which im not used to, 125's versus my usual 165's, but was
screaming fast, the 26 was noticeably faster than my 24 but didnt fair
as well going up hills as has been said before, though the hills
weren't horribly substantial i did notice a difference. hope any of our
motley crew of opinions helps!

--
nrkist

"The trail is my mistress, but you can be my girlfriend on the side"

"And there goes the nut, and the nuts and NOOO not the NUTS!! calm down
they were only salted not the honey roasted ones"
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My vote goes to 26"

Also, one other point: a 26" gives you an extra inch of clearance
between the rock/protrusion and your pedal...those aren't fun falls.

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My vote goes to 26"

Also, one other point: a 26" gives you an extra inch of clearance
between the rock/protrusion and your pedal...those aren't fun falls.

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ChangingLINKS.com said:

Depends on what you are trying to do exactly.
I use the 24X3 knowing that I'll get a better workout (in less
distance).
If I really wanted to cover ground (or have decent speed), I'd use a
fixy bike.

That's very nice for you. Now let's try to address the concern of the
poster.

--
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ChangingLINKS.com said:

Depends on what you are trying to do exactly.
I use the 24X3 knowing that I'll get a better workout (in less
distance).
If I really wanted to cover ground (or have decent speed), I'd use a
fixy bike.

That's very nice for you. Now let's try to address the concern of the
poster.

--
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I have the nimbus 26" and i love it. I am short so the seat is only a
couple of inches above the frame but i can still fit my rail adapter in
(the seat is so far down that my 26" looks like a coker 🙂 ). i only
hit my knees on the frame when i'm hopping, but if i'm going really
fast i hit my leg on the tyre. The overall dimension of the nimubs 26"
muni with the 3" duro tyre in nearly 28" !!!
So don't get a 28 over the 26 because the 26 is a 28 and you can go
muniing. The 26 is so much easier to go uphill then my 20, my 20 with
140's has more torque but the 26 with 170's has so much more rolling
Inertia (if that makes sense)

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I have the nimbus 26" and i love it. I am short so the seat is only a
couple of inches above the frame but i can still fit my rail adapter in
(the seat is so far down that my 26" looks like a coker 🙂 ). i only
hit my knees on the frame when i'm hopping, but if i'm going really
fast i hit my leg on the tyre. The overall dimension of the nimubs 26"
muni with the 3" duro tyre in nearly 28" !!!
So don't get a 28 over the 26 because the 26 is a 28 and you can go
muniing. The 26 is so much easier to go uphill then my 20, my 20 with
140's has more torque but the 26 with 170's has so much more rolling
Inertia (if that makes sense)

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Thanks to everyone for the input! And to summarise? 24, 26, 29 or
Coker!
I think given the discussions I am now tending towards 26 or 29. It
would be great to be able to try various sizes, but expect I will just
have to make my mind up and go for it! Can always add to the fleet
later (when budget allows).
Ditch

Thanks to everyone for the input! And to summarise? 24, 26, 29 or
Coker!
I think given the discussions I am now tending towards 26 or 29. It
would be great to be able to try various sizes, but expect I will just
have to make my mind up and go for it! Can always add to the fleet
later (when budget allows).
Ditch

Ditch said:

It would be great to be able to try various sizes,

I don't know where you are, but if you're anywhere near me (Dartmoor)
you're welcome to try my Nimbus II 26x3" sometime.

Rob

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Ditch said:

It would be great to be able to try various sizes,

I don't know where you are, but if you're anywhere near me (Dartmoor)
you're welcome to try my Nimbus II 26x3" sometime.

Rob

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If you're anywhere near Nottingham, we've got all the sizes mentioned
between us (24, 26, 29, coker) I'm sure you'd be welcome to have a go
on all of them.

Personally I'd go 26 above 29 every time. I think 29 is a nice size for
some things and I do have one, but 99% of my muni rides nowadays I
choose the 26" over the 29". A fat 26 is fast enough to get around a
bit, but gives you lots more control that makes riding trails more fun.
You can always put a narrower tyre and short cranks on it and it
becomes very similar to a 29 anyway, whereas with a 29er you can't get
the super fat tyres.

Joe

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If you're anywhere near Nottingham, we've got all the sizes mentioned
between us (24, 26, 29, coker) I'm sure you'd be welcome to have a go
on all of them.

Personally I'd go 26 above 29 every time. I think 29 is a nice size for
some things and I do have one, but 99% of my muni rides nowadays I
choose the 26" over the 29". A fat 26 is fast enough to get around a
bit, but gives you lots more control that makes riding trails more fun.
You can always put a narrower tyre and short cranks on it and it
becomes very similar to a 29 anyway, whereas with a 29er you can't get
the super fat tyres.

Joe

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joemarshall said:

If you're anywhere near Nottingham, we've got all the sizes mentioned
between us (24, 26, 29, coker) I'm sure you'd be welcome to have a go
on all of them.

Personally I'd go 26 above 29 every time. I think 29 is a nice size for
some things and I do have one, but 99% of my muni rides nowadays I
choose the 26" over the 29". A fat 26 is fast enough to get around a
bit, but gives you lots more control that makes riding trails more fun.
You can always put a narrower tyre and short cranks on it and it
becomes very similar to a 29 anyway, whereas with a 29er you can't get
the super fat tyres.

Joe

I had you down as a 29-er with 125 cranks 🙂

Do you still commute to work by uni, and, if so, do you use a 29-er or
the 26"?

and, by fat tyre for a 26", do you mean a 3" tyre? (I found it to be a
big too heavy when I used to have a 26" wheel; it would be interesting
to know if, say, a 2.6 or 2.3 gives a decent ride).

--
onewheeldave

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the [censored] work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32
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i'm in the same quandry.
ridiculously stirring the data in my brain

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onewheeldave said:

and, by fat tyre for a 26", do you mean a 3" tyre? (I found it to be a
big too heavy when I used to have a 26" wheel; it would be interesting
to know if, say, a 2.6 or 2.3 gives a decent ride).

Yes a 3" downhill tyre is pretty heavy (almost a quarter of the weight
of my unicycle I think), but I don't know why people seem to think a
26" is so much heavier than a 24" - assuming the same type of tyre the
difference is less than 10%, which assuming my 1/4 of the unicycle
weight guess means only 2.5% change in unicycle weight. A lighter
cross-country tyre does make a hell of a difference to the feel of the
unicycle (I'm used to a 26x3" Duro and MikeFule's 26x2.3" felt
incredibly light to me). I'm sticking with the 3" because it's really
rocky round here and I'd be afraid of pranging the rim if I used a
smaller tyre, but sometimes I wish I had a lighter tyre on climbs.

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