A better Uni Hub (MTB Challeng

Roger Davies <Roger.Davies@octacon.co.uk> wrote:

[color=blue]>We have not found a light weight hub...We are looking for a CrMo replacment[/color]
[color=blue]>does anyone know if anyone is making any?[/color]

Tom Miller has made some heavy-duty hubs for George Peck, the Alaskan off-road
unicyclist. They are made with those hollow splined crank axles the brand name
of which escapes me at present. Should be light and quite strong, but Tom said
they cost about $300 apiece to make. You would be stuck using splined crankarms
then too. I have seen tubular steel splined crankarms on BMX bikes which would
be light and strong. Just throwing out some ideas here...

[color=blue]>The big problem is the bearing housings, I have a small workshop here, but I[/color]
[color=blue]>struggled to machine up the housings for myself. We are looking at getting some[/color]
[color=blue]>investment cast.[/color]

The last batch of Matthews unicycles had a bearing housing made of two stamped
plates of sheet metal which were bolted together on either side of the bearing.
A long flat tongue resulted which was inserted in the ends of the (flattened)
fork tubes and secured with two more bolts. It was light and sturdy. Maybe you
could use something like this. I'll send you a sample if you are interested.

[color=blue]>I have just found a source of aluminium 150 long cranks.[/color]

I would like to know more about these. I cut down a set of 170mm bicycle
(6.69") crankarms for my 26" MUni but they are too long for less than the
steepest terrain. I am using steel 6" (~154mm) crankarms now and they work OK
but are HEAVY. Can you share your source or get some for me?

Dennis Kathrens