125 vs 150 cranks on KH29 comparison (dual hole moment cranks)

[onewheeldave]

Originally Posted by Dave Cox

As a member of a circus it's always nice when people recognize me on my wheel

Crank lengths are a funny thing though. It seems to me that they require experimentation and time to figure out what length is right for you. Right now I'm doing all my distance riding on a 36 with 110s, which I find is a great balance for hill climbing and spinning away on the downhills, provided you don't encounter more than a 15-20% grade. After that point it's just not possible to ride up.

The more you practice with shorter crank lengths, the more you'll see what is possible even with less control over the wheel's momentum, because you learn to work with it instead of muscling over it as you might with longer cranks.

The biggest thing to know is that different body types (leg lengths, fitness levels, skill levels..) will all have a different 'ideal' crank length for a given route. It just takes some experimentation to find yours and how you work within it.

I agree, I went out for an hour today and, the 125's now feel completely 'normal', i would expect the 150 setting to feel very clunky now if I switch back.

In terms of riding, I'm happy with the 125's- I can still feel the pendulum/momentum effect on really steep stuff (I rode down the steep hill today and, though it was fine, I definitly needed more focus and handle control than with the 150's).

I'm feeling now that 125's are going to be my standard length on the 29-er for the forseesable future.

I'm even thinking about digging out my 110mm square tapers and putting then on the 700c.

[onewheeldave]

Here's the link to the movie clip I promised of the hill climb-

http://www.davidpanther.co.uk/movies/steephillclimb.wmv

it's 2.8 Mb- please do a right click and download it to your pc, where it can be yours forever- I'd much prefer you to do this rather than streaming it, as that will eat into my bandwidth.

here's the text relating to the climb from my previos post-

Originally Posted by onewheeldave

Then, it's on to the really steep one near my house- grade of 19.6% and length is 225 ft.

After a short period of looking up at it and feeling an appropriate amount of respect for this majestic mountain, me and Andy start our ascent.

Andy soon pulls in front of me- very impressive for someone who's not used to either hills or big wheels to go up with such confidence- I certainly didn't do anywhere near as well the first time I tackled this hill.

In the near future I'm going to upload a short video clip of this climb- I'm not sure the steepness is apparent on the video, but, the fact that there's handrails on the footpath should be a giveaway.

On the clip you can actually see the difference in the crank lengths- Andy, on the 150's, is pedaling quite smoothly with no hands on the seat- in contrast, with me you can see some of the characteristic 'pendulum/momentum' effect of the 125's and, my hand is very definitly on the handle, in fact, clutching it and pulling up as if the climb depended on it (which it did).

Andy, now if front, gets stupendiously high up this hill of hills, before wavering, moving into increasingly zig-zaggy motion and, finally, UPD-ing.

At this point I've pulled of in front- what the video doesn't convey is how close to dismounting I was- I think the only thing that kept me on was the fact that it was being videoed and I just wanted to get it over and done with.

The end result is that this hill, is doable on 125's, but, I'm not sure you'd want to do it as anything but a stunt. In terms of practical riding, you'd probably either get off and walk,or, find a different route.

But, it's good to know that it'spossible.

Another positive is that, as I've previously mentioned, my personal rule for steep hills is that, if I can get up it, then I'm happy to try riding down it, so, in the rides since, I've been riding down with the 125's, something I wasn't totally happy with before.

[Splodge]

Great write up....good enough to make me buy some dual 125/150 cranks for my KH29.
I've only had the 29 for a week, and have only been Unicycling for 6 months, so am really inexperienced and all changes are really felt.
My weeks worth of 150mm crank cycling (probably no more than 30 miles) has been great, freemount ok (70%) and loving the greater speed (compared to my 24").........so I then swopped over.......AWFUL, really awful - it felt like I had gone back several months on my learning curve. Struggled to freemount, kept UPD'ing (forward for some reason!) and generally it felt all wrong. How 25mm can make this difference is beyond me.
.........however by the end of 5 miles I began to get the 'feel' of them - that lovely point where it all comes good. Checking with my GPS my max and average speeds over a compared 2 miles was about 2 and 1.5 MPH higher, it felt more. Hill-wise they seemed about the same (wrong I know, just my first impression).
I think 125 will be my Length of choice, so thanks for the inspiration.

[canuck]

Great thread! I was just looking at the Nimbus 29" and upgrading the cranks to dual holes would increase the price by 20%. I'm pretty sure I won't be changing the settings during a ride. For road and fairly mild XC it looks like most people started with 150 and after trying and getting used to the 125 hole they end up using 125.

For a beginner like me coming from a 20", is there a point in starting with 150 to get used to the bigger wheel or should I just go strait to (a single hole) 125, which is the default configuration for the Nimbus?

[tholub]

Originally Posted by canuck

Great thread! I was just looking at the Nimbus 29" and upgrading the cranks to dual holes would increase the price by 20%. I'm pretty sure I won't be changing the settings during a ride. For road and fairly mild XC it looks like most people started with 150 and after trying and getting used to the 125 hole they end up using 125.

For a beginner like me coming from a 20", is there a point in starting with 150 to get used to the bigger wheel or should I just go strait to (a single hole) 125, which is the default configuration for the Nimbus?

If you're riding on roads, just go with 125mm. It'll only take you a little bit of practice to get used to it.

I would not bother with the dual-drill unless you are planning to do real MUni on it.