I finally got a geared hub for my 24″ Mountain Unicycle (muni) and gave it a ride last weekend. What a treat! The thing is blastingly fast. I rode a 6-7 mile loop in the Soquel Demonstration Forest called “Braille Trail”. It has a huge climb; most people walk it. I powered up it with a few lame dismounts (mainly due to me not being as fit as I usually am). I didn’t notice the extra weight in the hub at all! Riding down the single track was a blast; I tried to keep it in high gear as much as I could. Some bikers saw me and said “man you are cooking on that thing!”. They passed me once, but I quickly caught up to them whenever they stopped. I had to downshift a few times on the steep inclines and some of the really steep downhills. I did at most 1-2 foot drops; I’m trying to keep it in one piece until after our unicycle tour of Africa next June.

The next test was the following day. See if I could keep up with a group of our usual Coker riders on “Rob’s ride”. Sure enough, it was fairly easy to do. It felt like I had to exert a little more power than usual — that may have been due to the rolling resistance of the muni tire, and the gearing. But it wasn’t hard to keep up.

Photos from Nathan for Sunday’s ride: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/6637666_SutW5

A video of me cruising along: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/6637666_SutW5#423349592_eN8yQ

And it fits perfectly on the back of a Harley:

Thanks for the pictures, Nathan!

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