KH 29 frame, opinions, please

Hello Mikefule,

The KH frame is a thing of beauty and yes they are light, but for the
cost why not have a local welder/frame builder make a frame for you?

Dave

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That's not an option I'd even considered. Hmmmm. Possibly. I'll think
about that.

I'd still appreciate comments on the KH from anyone who thinks they can
help.

And on the other points.

Thanks,

Mike

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Shouldn´t you ba able to fit a 700cc wheel into a frame for a 26" wheel?
I mean a 26 x 3" tire should be almost the same size as a skinny 700cc
tire.

I have always wanted to build a unicycle witha skinny racing bike tire
I hope you make one of your famous Mega-long-writeups that you do, when
you are finished building the uni.

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Another interesting idea, thanks. Thank goodness no one just said, "Use
the search function"!😉

Keep those ideas coming, please.🙂

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I can't see a custom built frame being any lighter - it'd probably have
to be steel, hence less (if any) weight savings, and I'd guess it'd be
a tad more than £80.

The rail adapter thing you need might be 'this'
(http://tinyurl.com/a927n) but don't take my word for it.

I'd have thought a lighter wheel would be a better bet in terms of the
weight affecting the riding, being rolling mass. You're not on a 20mm
tyre yet, are you?

John

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johnhimsworth said:

I'd have thought a lighter wheel would be a better bet in terms of the
weight affecting the riding, being rolling mass. You're not on a 20mm
tyre yet, are you?

John

Hi, John. Long time no see.

Unlikely to be anywhere near hockey for ages due to this new job
thing.🙁

No, I reckon anything smaller than the 28 mm tyre would be wasted on
the standard Nimbus rim. I "need" (in the technical sense of "would
quite like to have"😉 a narrower lighter rim.

I'm just looking at all options here.

Experience shows that a lightweight wheel is more responsive, but
slower over a journey. It's not only responsive to rider input, but
also to input fromt he other end: bumps and changes in surface. You've
had a brief go on the 700c x28mm. It feels very different from any
other unicycle. I reckon with a skinny rim I can get down to around 20
mm, and have a really temperamental thoroughbred to ride.🙂

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When i picked up the 20" kh frame it was so light i almost accidently
threw it (i was excpecting it to be hevier)

Mike

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Mikefule said:

I'd still appreciate comments on the KH from anyone who thinks they can
help.

ok,

i know your style and i think you would want a frame that is tighter at
the crown like a road bike fork.

the kh is going to have alot of space around a 700x25 tyre...that would
look a bit unfinished. (unless you need fender clearance 😄 )

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jagur said:

ok,

i know your style and i think you would want a frame that is tighter at
the crown like a road bike fork.

the kh is going to have alot of space around a 700x25 tyre...that would
look a bit unfinished. (unless you need fender clearance 😄 )

Yes but when he decides he doesn't like that hard little tire he will
have a frame he can use to build himself a 29er.

The 27.2mm seatpost will actualy be lighter than a 22.2 because it is
going to be alluminum.

Dan. )--(X)

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Tellurider said:

Yes but when he decides he doesn't like that hard little tire he will
have a frame he can use to build himself a 29er.

yeah, but thats not going to happen. i tryed to get mike to try a
nanorapter 2 years ago and no dice. he already has a 700x28 of some
sort, sounds like he wants to improve on that model.

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I would use a nimbus X 29" for the purpouse!
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=853
Or a 26.. if it's possible..

I have a 20" and it's beautiful! And i heard the 29" had a quite narrow
top-section..

No idea what the shipping from the US to england would be though.

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I agree with jagur - I think it would look a bit odd with a very skinny
wheel in a muni frame.

It would be cool if you could adapt a pair of straight road racing
forks (chop off the dropouts and braze on some uni bearing holders).
Might not be that easy though because of the angle of the steerer tube.
You could use the crown of a road fork and braze on some straight
legs. A possible downside might be that bike forks could be too
flexible to take the pedaling forces of a unicycle without the wheel
rubbing on the frame. If you could build a nice narrow frame to suit
the wheel it would just look far cooler than using a normal unicycle
frame, but probably make no difference to the ride.

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Mike,

It looks like Quax -virtually- makes the machine you want, very
lightweight and skinny with just 20 spokes. The only problem is it
aimed at meeting the 24" rule for races so obviously is not 700c. I
have got the spec and picture on paper but couldn't see it on the web.

The nearest link I could find was http://tinyurl.com/cthyg

I also agree with Rob this uni would look great with a narrow crown.

Keith

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the kh frame is really light, so it would fit your purpose. Also, the
seatpost (which would have to be a kh post) is exceedingly light.
However, the KH seat is substantially heavier than a miyata. I don't
know, but I think a KH gel seat is lighter. It's smaller, anyway.

I agree that a tiny tire wuold look somewhat out of place in a KH
frame, but if you care only about weight, I think it's the way to go.

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The KH frame is, aesthetically, the best mass-produced frame on the
market, by far. The low weight is a nice bonus.

The 27.2mm seatpost is a much better size for a unicycle seatpost than
22.2. For one thing, 22.2mm diameter doesn't provide enough surface
area to keep the seat from twisting on dismounts, unless you really
crank down on a quality seat clamp bolt. I've never found a
quick-release that will keep a 22.2mm seatpost straight; it should be
possible with a 27.2mm seat clamp. The 25.4mm seatpost clamp on some
of the Nimbus II frames is also an improvement over the 22.2mm.

27.2mm is also the most common size for bike seatposts, which means the
selection you'd have would be much larger; assuming, of course, that
you also get a rail adaptor. I don't like the KH rail adaptor all that
much, because the brake attachment is just extra weight and
complication for most riders; I like the simpler adapters that Steve
Howard made, but I don't think they are commercially available right
now.

For me, a big negative on the KH frame is that the seat tube is welded
onto the crown tube, rather than two split crown tubes being welded
onto the seat tube (as with the Nimbus frame). This means that the
effective range of adjustment for the seat is less than 3cm (from
bottomed-out to "min-insertion'😉. If you are the only person who ever
rides your unicycle, and if you don't adjust your seat for different
terrain, that might not be that much of an issue, but to me it seems
like a design flaw.

Overall, I would say that the functional advantages of the KH are
fairly small for most applications. If you don't need a brake, and
you're not doing one-foot tricks or hopping a lot, I think it's hard to
justify the expense, with the perfectly-acceptable Nimbus II being
one-quarter of the cost. It won't look as nice, but it will work just
fine.

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Casting my vote for a re-engineered road bike front fork. I think that
would look best, give you a really nice sleek-looking uni.

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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the bearing holder size on the
KH frame is different than the standard 40 mm OD bearings found on most
uni wheels

and also, the weight of a frame won't make NEARLY as much difference as
rotating mass (tire, tube, wheel, spokes, and even pedals)
maybe go tubleless before getting a lighter frame? it will seriously
only make much difference if you are hopping or if u will be carrying
the entire uni around, otherwise rotating mass is key
and the new low-profile, dual density foam KH seat is really
comfortable and lighter than the standard fusion, it is also tilted
back a bit more w/o a rail adapter

i'm not exactly sure, but I think Darren Bedford (bedfordunicycles.ca)
might have the KH frames cheaper than UDC as well

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ColDawG said:

Darren Bedford (bedfordunicycles.ca) might have the KH frames cheaper
than UDC as well

Cheap enough to cover the international carriage?
(Not everybody lives in the good ol' US of A) 😉

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keg said:

It looks like Quax -virtually- makes the machine you want, very
lightweight and skinny with just 20 spokes.

I've seen it, and it's very nice and extremely light!
Mike

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