Progress diary

[AngryGumball]

This sucks, day 2 of no riding whatsoever. You can thank Mother Nature for that one as the final days of Winter are letting out it's wet wrath. Rain forecasted pretty much the rest of the week. Stuck to idling in my room at the moment.

[Fatlazypig]

Wow.. go feisty

I've been riding for years and must say I'm really impressed by how fast you've picked this up and developed as a uni rider

I have been able to ride - just ride around on pavement - since age of 12 or so. And relatively recently rediscovered unicycling. About this time I started lurking and reading the forum. I remember reading your first few posts about buying your KH

You're doing stuff I still can't do (SIF riding just kills me I cannot do it to save my life)

Kudos!

Any way Ive been reading the thread fo a while and wanted to say great job. You're all doing great and putting me to shame, I need to get out and work on my skills more

[Feisty]

Originally Posted by Fatlazypig

Wow.. go feisty

I've been riding for years and must say I'm really impressed by how fast you've picked this up and developed as a uni rider

I have been able to ride - just ride around on pavement - since age of 12 or so. And relatively recently rediscovered unicycling. About this time I started lurking and reading the forum. I remember reading your first few posts about buying your KH

You're doing stuff I still can't do (SIF riding just kills me I cannot do it to save my life)

Kudos!

Any way Ive been reading the thread fo a while and wanted to say great job. You're all doing great and putting me to shame, I need to get out and work on my skills more

Thanks

I think 2 decades of riding MTBs have helped (especially reverting to a rigid singlespeed in the last few years), but I have impressed myself how well I picked it up but I am quite bloody minded about things so tend to give things 110%

Riding MUni has really helped and I would recommend it to all beginners once they have mastered basic riding as the rough surface makes you constantly have to correct your balance improving your balance and skill 10x faster than on the flat.

I have had a lot of helpful advice from this forum though and would not be at the level I currently am without it

[AngryGumball]

^As much as there isn't any real offroad area, other than the steep hills across the way that are state property and full of homeless folk...that we got in trouble for playing paintball in (got in trouble for tresspassing, not because we had paintball guns loaded and were playing a controlled game), I think I'm going to venture in riding on more of the road imperfections that we have around here and ride more of the little dips in the sidewalk. I rode up a good steep-ish slope just a while ago while it was dry. After I got up, I was shocked that I did it yet at the same time, it felt like nothing happened...so that's probably a good sign.

I did get a little taste of riding on the wet road afterwards as it began to drizzle and I went to go and do some idling...riding in a misty rain feels so good! But any sharp, sudden movements = no bueno. Not so much when riding but when I was idling, I hit a small puddle and felt the slick. However I didn't fall off, I proceeded to pedal my way through then dismount. But now the rain's back for the weekend, back to idling in my room

[Feisty]

Maybe you can start a new discipline, hobo hoping? I hear they are strapping 4G hotspots to them to provide mobile broadband at some events lol

Riding on wet tarmac with a small tyre contact patch and the twitchy nature of a unicycle really shocks you how little grip you have and how much less effort it takes to turn.

Imagine that x100 on deep wet mud it is fun when it just starts to slip out on a wet muddy camber

[Feisty]

Got Uni out yesterday for a ride and the bearings had seized solid

2 months of Mud and rain and washing and my amazingly powerful legs of course have ground and corroded them to bits.

I freed them up but they just grind and still hardly turn, I did feel them getting stiffer over the last few weeks so was getting ready to replace them £9 is hardly a lot but I am surprised how quickly they went, the seals must be pretty poor.

They should be here in a few days so I can get my MUni fix!!!!

[aracer]

Originally Posted by Feisty

I am surprised how quickly they went, the seals must be pretty poor.

Standard industrial bearings like these have seals designed to keep out dust, not water. Where they're used on bikes, they often have additional seals - the ones used on unis rely on just the seals on the bearings.

When you get new bearings, it's probably worth lifting the seal on one side (very carefully using a sharp blade so you don't damage it) and putting more grease in - maybe even worth trying some marine grease.

[pinefresh]

Feisty what's the tension like on your bearing caps? If you loosen them does that free up your wheel? How do you wash your uni? That seems like a crazy quick time to kill a set of bearings!

[AngryGumball]

We've been getting slammed with rain the past week or so...riding's been very minimal which sucks...very de-motivational...cold weather and wetness is very demotivational...bring back the spring weather! Today was the first in a few days it wasn't raining but didn't ride today as I was tending to my other favorite hobby, which is visiting amusement parks and riding coasters...and today was opening day for my local amusement park (Bay Area folk, you all probably know about Great America). Supposed to be dry tomorrow, going to take my uni out for a spin.

And you want to talk about uncomfy saddles, when riding a stand-up roller coaster earlier, I looked at the saddle design they use, which somewhat resembles a unicycle saddle (curved upward nose, wide butt area) with less of a peanut shape and more 'blocky' and thick in the middle...not comfy and hard as a rock. Luckily the ride's only about a minute long and I'm not putting any real weight on that saddle.

[Feisty]

Originally Posted by pinefresh

Feisty what's the tension like on your bearing caps? If you loosen them does that free up your wheel? How do you wash your uni? That seems like a crazy quick time to kill a set of bearings!

My caps aren't too tight, I experienced that when I first assembled the Uni being a noob I didn't them up too tight so they restricted the wheel rotation so I backed them off

I have been riding through stuff like this (and I do mean ride through it) these days rather than go around it.

I hose the uni down but avoid spraying directly on the bearings, unlike the hubs on my bike that have several labyrinth seals these Uni bearings are so exposed

I may try packing some more grease in the bearings as I used to do that with my bike hubs every now and again, a Stanley knife gets one of the dust seals out without damaging it but at £9 a set and no other consumables on a Uni it I don't mind changing bearings over the winter.

[aracer]

Originally Posted by Feisty

at £9 a set and no other consumables on a Uni it I don't mind changing bearings over the winter.

Good point - there's very little maintenance on a uni, even compared to a single speed.

[Feisty]

well that was a pig of a job

Even with a three leg puller the bearings wouldn't budge

One angle grinder and a steady hand later and my wheel turns.

I just pinched the caps up and loctited the bolts so as not to damage them, the wheel free-wheels nicely but the new qaux beatings are a little clicky out the packet which is a shame.

I also fitted some spacers this time and again Loctited the crank bolts (I detest lose cranks on a ride).

I thought I had caused a flat spot in my wheel in the process but I just have a flat spot in my tyre 90 degrees from my lead pedal from all my learning an turning so luckily the cranks went on in a different place so will spread the wear

So hopefully all will be well

[Feisty]

Well my old bearings must have been knackered for a while as my Uni is so easy to pedal that it is actually very twitchy now Also cornering is so much easier now as before it it was hard to maintain a fluid circular pedalling motion due to the bearing drag so by having to push harder on the inside pedal and ease off the outer pedal in the corners meant the Uni would lose loads of speed making cornering really hard. Now if I had the balance I could take both feet of and coast around the corner it is that free

I will be interested to see how the lack of drag translates into saved energy on my MUni rides.

Today I actually got some practice in and I still suck at static mounts, I spent some time with some concrete blocks at the correct height hopping onto them on one leg and found that pretty hard (maybe I am not a natural hopper lol).

Lots of practice later I am still finding it had to not put any pressure on my back foot but when I do get that right I can get my foot onto the other pedal but I can't get my body high enough to get the Uni to rotate under me so I just fall backwards again.

I did pretty well on hoping, I can ride stop hop and turn 180 degrees in 2-3 hops ride off again, stop hop and turn etc. I also can hop stationary pretty much indefinitely and can hop up onto a brick so a kerb should be doable.

I did have the Uni shoot out from under me when I landed with too much weight on the back pedal much to my neighbours delight

Anyway static mounts suck (because I can't do them )

[Nurse Ben]

Yeah, that's fast for bearings to wear out, mine last for years, maybe get a little "rough", but spin free. Be sure you don't overtighten those bearing caps.

[Byc]

Yes, be sure not to overtighten the bearing caps. If they are to loose you'll soon hear it, it specific "klick" when mounting or cornering. If you screw them to tight the wheel won't even fee-wheel (had this on a used uni, after loosening the screws just a little bit the free wheel was spinning much easier).

Speaking of sounds, when our first uni started squeaking I first tried to tighten the spokes and broke one, so i replaced them all. We finally found out that it was the cranks lossening. ISIS is much better then those square axle pedals.

Greetings

Byc

P.S.: Congrats on changing the bearings yourself.