| Riding the right sized uni for what you want to do will enhance your riding experience tremendously. No one sized wheel will do for all applications.Variables to keep in mind include who can ride it, application (distance, MUni, riding with kids, general, novelty), manoverability, speed, tire selection and availability, strength, transportability | ||
| 14"/16" These sizes are great for very small kids (6+ years old) learning to ride. If you start small kids on a standard 20" uni their short legs will have problems with standard cranks. The smaller wheel is more in proportion with their body. There are also giraffes made using this wheel size for adults, because the very small wheel and an adult rider contrasts greatly, looking quite comical. Great for a specialty uni. | ||
| 20" A 20" is considered a "standard" uni size. It's highly maneuverable in tight spaces. It's fun for goofing around on and working on freestyle skills. This size is the preferred size for professional unicycle/juggling performers. A 20" is also easier to learn on than a 24", IMHO. Many unicycle hockey players prefer this size because of speed and agility. It's also easier to pick stuff up from the ground (dropped juggling ball, basketball) using a 20" rather than a 24". The 20" can't be beat for storing in your car, ready to be taken out and ridden. However, if you want to ride as fast as you can between pont A and point B, you'll be pedaling so fast you'll feel like a hamster. The wheel size is small, so one revolution of the wheel does not go very far. But for riding in a small area and goofing around it is the best. If you have young kids (3-5 years old) that are just learning to ride their bikes/tricycles, riding a 20" with them will allow you to get some riding in, keep close to the kids, and startle most of your neighbourhood. Other larger uni sizes will be too fast and not maneuverable enough for riding with small kids. 20" tires and rims follow the BMX scene quite closely. While there is a wide variety of tires available, tires are only available to a maximum width of 2.35". This limits you if you want a really fat, cushy tire. Hopping on this tire won't be as "bouncy" as on a fat Monty or 24" tire. A variant of the 20" is the Monty/Onza trials setup. These trials tires fit special 16" rims. The tire, once installed, measures 20" in diameter and 2.6" wide. This uni setup is excellent for hopping and trials riding. Kris says: "...for pure trials, especially urban trials, a 20" with a big (ie Onza or Monty) tire is usually best because it's lighter and more manouverable, plus you can do more freestyle tricks." | ||
| 24" A 24" is the other "standard" uni size. This size is recommended for adults who want to learn to ride. Basketball and hockey players also choose this size. The 24" will get you from point A to point B faster than a 20" and a 24" is the standard size for track racing at unicycle conventions. It's still small enough and maneuverable enough to do freestyle skills but is more difficult than the 20". It's maneuverability makes it good if you need to ride through crowds of pedestrians. This sized uni can fit into the trunk of your car. This size is the preferred size for mountain unicycling (MUni) and many downhill bikers. Smaller than the 26", this rim size is physically stronger, reducing the risk of "taco"ing the wheel (bending the wheel sideways into a pretzel) from risky maneuvers such as high drops from platforms. It also will spin faster than the 26". The current preferred setup for many MUni riders is a 24" x 3.0" full knobby Nokian Gazzalodi tire. For MUni you might want to use 6"/150mm cranks for added torque. Although getting better, tire selection is problematic for this size. Tire selection tends to be sparse and tires expensive. High quality 24" tires are not available in most bike shops. Kris says: "...once you get used to the extra weight, you can do just about as much on a 24" and it is much more stable for some things, such as gapping perpendicular to narrow railings (especially gapping across and down to something; there is less difference if you are gapping across and up onto something). The 24" is also better for really big drops (not including seat-out-in-front drops), drops to transitions, and rolling over things like down stairs." | ||
| 26" A 26" gets to be big enough that you can cover some distance without feeling like a hamster. The 26" follows the mountain bike scene, so there is a wide variety of tires available at reasonable prices. A fattish cruiser bike tire 2.25" or larger would be great for city type riding. This size is also good for riding down curbs, hopping up curbs, handling rough sidewalks, riding down stairs, etc. It's the perfect size for a good city ride when you don't have to deal with dense crowds of pedestrians. This sized uni can fit into the trunk of your car. The 26" is the alternate to the 24" for MUni riding.The larger size rolls over rocks and bumps. Weight often becomes an issue because a 26x3.0" knobby tire can get really heavy. Because the 26" is the standard size for mountain bikes, very high quality tires tend to be relatively inexpensive and readily available. Full knobbies, semi slicks, and slicks are all available from multiple manufacturers. | ||
| 700c/28" A 28" goes faster than any other "standard" size tire. Yet I've not seen a nice fat 700c tire. All the 28" tires I've seen are pretty skinny. A fatter tire, 2" or larger, will absorb the bumps better, handle riding off curbs better, roll over sidewalk cracks better, be kinder to your bum, etc. 700c tires are quite plentiful and have anything from full knobbies to slicks. This sized uni may fit into the trunk of your car. | ||
| 36" Coker Comes with a 2.25" tire made by Coker. Evens out bumps and pavement irregularities. Rider is high with great peripheral vision. I don't have one, but they are quite large. It seems to take a lot of practice to mount one, and it's hard to get going, but when you're up to speed you'll quickly cover distance like no other wheel size. There really is only one tire for the Coker, made by the Coker Tire company. There are no other types of tread. You'd better have a large car or truck to transport this uni. |