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The Kris Holm 29” EgoCycle – a unicycle review

Why buy a Kris Holm 29”?

What does a guy who already owns a half a dozen unicycles need with a KH29? It’s not a question of need; it comes down to drunk desire.

The exalted 29” unicycle by Kris Holm and his pack of busy unicycle builders from the Great White North garners top dog billing on +.com in the Expert Rough Terrain section. Argh! A unicyclers unicycle!

First and very clearly – I love riding my 9er. Among many other trails, I’ve ridden it at Browns Camp and Siouxon Creek. It’s become such the default ride for me that sometimes I feel as though I should take my other uni’s out once in a while so they don’t get lonely. The KH29 is pure joy to ride – it’s fast, smooth and the aluminum frame keeps it light enough to flick around either single-track off-road or running up and down the polo field. I love riding it; it’s looking at it that makes me want to vomit.

The KH29 package (DIY is possible but drives the price up) consists of an aluminum framed uni sporting a 29” (700c) wheel. The frame can accommodate up to a 29×2.55 tire (currently the widest available for a 29”.) Gussets are welded inside the fork corners to improve frame strength and rigidity but consume tire room. The frame could potentially fit slightly more tire but it would likely make for a marginal improvement at best; I’m happier to have the gussets. If 2.55 inches of width isn’t enough, a 26” wheel fit with a 3” wide Gazzaloddi tire will also fit into the KH29 frame although the brake bosses won’t line up with the smaller diameter rim.

As mentioned, the frame comes with brake bosses set for a 29” rim. These are machined to a high standard from billets (aluminum blocks) and then joined to the frame with some very sturdy welding. To that point; I’m a welder by previous trade and will say that this frame was clearly built by a craftsman who cared.

The seat that comes with the package is a KH Fusion joined to an appropriately strong though not billet seat post, and the KH signature …well…signature everything. Kris. Dude. Nice signature. It’s a bit much though. ‘Much’? No. It’s just gross.

19 KH reminders

The KH29 features Kris Holm’s signature on every conceivable part except the pedals. Hold that thought – we’ll get back to those signatureless pedals in a minute. Everywhere.

From the top let’s count them:

  • 1 ea signature on the seat
  • 2 ea signatures on the seat post
  • 2 ea signatures on the frame – one on each fork blade
  • 1 ea signature on the seat clamp (really? He designed it?)
  • 2 ea signatures for the pair of crank arms
  • 2 ea signatures on one rim – one points left and the other right. Apparently this is to allow slow rim-readers who might get confused if the signature were presented upside down.
  • 1 ea signature on the hub barrel / axle housing.
  • 8 ea on the hub – The letters KH only, not his signature mind you. Instead, he chose to stamp KH through the flange. A signature already exists on the hub barrel but something moved him to threaten the integrity of an important component’s highest stress point just to stamp KH 8 times. I’m not a mechanical engineer but it seems to me that removing that much metal would result in a much weaker structure. The stamping overindulgence leads me to count all 8 due to the overwhelming reflection of ego.

I’m not docking for the KH29 “emblem” etched into the seat tube; actually I give him style points for that. Unfortunately Kris, on an Expert Rough Terrain class unicycle, style points don’t count for shit.

Really Kris? 19 signatures in the space of one unicycle? Do we really need to be reminded of Kris Holm 19 times? The irony is that this abundance of markings comes on a device that some of us adore for its ultimate simplicity. Are Swoosh economics latching their ugly and expensive head onto our sport? Seemingly to clarify his intentions, the signatures are either deeply laser etched or forged into various parts resulting in no way short of BondO and a paint job to get rid of his scrawled tag. Buy an EgoCycle and get 19 personalized autographs of your best buddy Kris. What’s next; collectable signature action figures and bobble heads?

The overall stand-back-and-take-a-look image leaves the impression of a designer attempting to compensate for some perceived or self-projected loss of relevancy. Whoever is responsible for this mess needs to better understand that when a visual demand to “LOOK AT ME!” is forced upon a group, some number of that intended audience will reject the image and turn away. In a way I suppose it’s an archetype of unicycling in general. Who am I to judge?

Interestingly, there is no signature on the pedals.

This is where the product review begins.

The Product Review

I paid $599 for the pleasure to own my very own copy of a Kris Holm 29” Expert Rough Terrain Mountain F’n A Unicycle. 599 bones for a unicycle is a lot of money no matter what your financial position. I’m not bitching about the price; the KH29 is well worth the money. However, rather than follow his penchant for going overboard like he did with his scrawl all over the rest of the unicycle, Kris rather under-whelms the new owner by including some of the crappiest pedals I’ve ever come across.

Within a month of my new purchase arriving at the local jugglie shop, I started to notice a very annoying clunk coming from somewhere south of my crotch. One problem with addressing noises on a unicycle is that they’re really hard to track down while riding and all but disappear once the rider hops off to investigate. Most noises that plague a rider only happen under the stress of the weight of the rider plus the torque generated by pedals and cranks. Sitting still and rolling the wheel while trying to listen (and being careful to avoid a pedal across your scalp,) noises usually aren’t apparent. The more I rode the clunk, the more annoyed I got. 599 bucks and it sounded like it had cracked axel bearings.

Since I can’t coast and listen, I took the pedals off and spun their axles individually. The first one wasn’t too bad – on par with the pedals that came on a 1975 Schwinn Le Tour. The other one sounded like it had been smoking Camels daily for 30 years. Confident in my diagnosis, I purchased a new set of sealed bearing freestyle beauties and set off down the trail again. This time in silence. Note – the unicycle is now valued at $699.99 patoonies. I’m not saying Kris should install premium $100 pedals at a $599 price point but I am saying that what he puts on really suck.

The unicyclist in me has always admired Kris both for what he is capable of on one wheel of as well as what he has done to further our little corner of a sport. Further, I am very impressed that he has been able to generate some amount of cash for himself purely within the unicycle community – there just isn’t a comparatively large group of enthusiasts to really make unicycling worth many manufacturers time but Kris took the risk and we all benefited. Kris has cred and should be respected for it. That said, I felt somewhat cheated by the image of the man and his wares when I took possession of my new wheel crawling with stark white on blue scrawl and equipped with Wal-Mart pedals.

At the same time, thanks for trying at all – you almost got it perfect.

-gunt

  • = generic noun depicting noun that this article references dot com. I’m no lawyer but used to sleep with one.