Original Coker for Small Donation or FREE

Very nice story to read!
And I agree with @BohemianEngineer, nothing that time, penetrating oil and a blow torch can’t unblock!

UPDATE 1

After not having ridden a unicycle in over 10 years, I took my old Coker for a final spin today before shipping it off sometime soon. I didn’t go far, but I enjoyed being back on a human-powered wheel, even if fairly briefly. I rode it to the hardware store (and back) to buy a wrench and some WD40 to see if I could get the pedals off. Thankfully, I was successful, so the Coker is ready for shipping. I also realized I need to get my uni legs back and this Coker that I’m parting with is heavier than the one I’m keeping so I would have preferred to be riding the heavier one, but not a big deal - I guess I’ll just just have to ride up some hills to get my legs in shape!

UPDATE 2

I found a large box that I think will work, so I should be able to transform it into a box for the Coker sometime soon and have it all packaged up and ready for shipment to @BohemianEngineer.

FYI: I did take it to a bike shop and even they couldn’t free the seat post from the frame, so some of those more severe methods mentioned in this thread may need to be utilized in order to make the seat height adjustable and/or make it a different height.

Thanks, John. Great to hear from you, too, and I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed my old video. Yes, I do remember Bradley Bradley, however I already promised the Coker to @BohemianEngineer, so it will be going to him. Nonetheless, it would be great to see Bradley Bradley again and go for a ride and the same for you when I make it back out to California for several months (hopefully this year).

The bike shop I took the Coker to worked on it for a while but were not successful at freeing the seat post from the frame.

I think Rolling Trials had a lot of potential. The “market test” for the idea was the two Rolling Trials competitions I held at Rays MTB in 2006 and 2007. Everyone who participated had a ton of fun and I got nothing but extremely positive feedback. One very nice young man who entered the competition wrote me a beautiful handwritten note that he mailed to me thanking me for hosting the event. I still have it! The only one I have to blame for Rolling Trials not becoming more popular is myself. Unfortunately, my life took some turns in 2008 that made continuing more difficult for me, I stopped holding the competition, stopped promoting the discipline, and eventually stopped riding unicycles and disappeared from the forum. Also, that video was a big hit when I first posted it. Even Kris Holm commented on the thread that it motivated him to go out and push the limits more on his 36er (or something to that effect). I wonder if that thread could still be found? Anyway, who knows where Rolling Trials would be today if I had been able to continue promoting it, holding the annual competition, and posting inspiring videos of what it’s all about.

I will surely post videos of the exhibition of my latest discipline after I hold the event at the club. It probably won’t be until sometime in May. I think you will really get a kick out of it. It is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time!

Thanks, John, you too! It really means a lot to me to hear from you. You were my first unicycling mentor and a huge inspiration to me and it has always been my honor to be friends with a person who is such an icon in the sport.

Isn’t it amazing how people can get back on a unicycle after ten years and still be able to ride? Yes, your legs would definitely feel it; unicycling is great for the legs! Jacquie and I went out for our first road ride in months, it ended up being longer than we wanted and we were both “very done” by the time we got back to the truck. Two months from today we are attempting the 100k at the Strawberry Fields Forever charity ride in Watsonville. :grimacing:

I don’t know if Bradley Bradley has been on a unicycle in a long time either. I spoke to him briefly and we didn’t get a chance to catch up much. Next time we’re out there we definitely have to try to connect with him in person! We’ve talked about going to the NY Unicycle Festival a few times, but the timing is difficult at that time of year due to other activities. One of these days though…

Rolling Trials: It’s probably a great idea as a Trials event for “older” riders; ones that don’t want to (or can’t afford to) bash up our knees. From a media point of view, regular Trials would always be the premiere event due to the great verticals and other insane things those riders are able to do. Even if we had upward-sloping 2" pipes to ride, it still would be less exciting for a viewing audience than big air. But I still like the idea. :slight_smile:

Yeah, riding a one-wheeler again was no issue. I guess, it’s like riding a bike, lol. Same thing seems to hold true for flying a hang glider. Haven’t flown in 6 years, but I plan to be back in the sky this year. I won’t even bother practicing a launch or landing from the training hill. Straight to the top of the mountain for me! Now as far as my leg muscles, that’s a completely different story! I will indeed need to spend some time getting my legs back into proper condition for unicycling (as well as carrying/launching/landing my glider). Glad to hear you guys had a nice ride. Best of luck at the charity event!

Sounds good. I’m not on Long Island too much these days. It would be fun to have a reunion of sorts if you ever make it to NYC (for the Festival or otherwise) and we could persuade Bradley to come join us for a ride.

With regard to Rolling Trials, I respectfully completely disagree with you. I can’t even imagine “older” riders attempting some of the lines that are possible at an MTB park or skate park. Rolling Trials is a younger man’s sport for sure, though I never rule out the “older” (and bolder) among us. From a media perspective, I think Rolling Trials would absolutely blow away traditional trials. The stuff I did in the video I posted would have been completely low-level novice lines by now had the discipline continued. And riding insane lines at an MTB or skate park would always be a far more exciting sight to behold than hopping onto, off of, and over things on a unicycle, in my humble opinion. After all, unicycles are meant for riding. Pogo sticks are meant for hopping. And even the sport of pogo sticking is now far more exciting than unicycle trials. No offense to anyone who’s into unicycle trials, and I do recognize the skill involved, but it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and I find it rather boring. What is considered “big air” in unicycle trials is ridiculously miniscule in comparison to skateboarding, BMX, etc. and that’s probably why traditional unicycle trials has never gained much mainstream media attention.

** UPDATE - My Coker is again NOW AVAILABLE for FREE (local pick-up) **

The cost to ship my Coker is quite expensive, so even though I offered to give it to BohemianEngineer and ship it to him, that option didn’t make sense to him due to the high cost of shipping. I received another inquiry from a member who was very interested in my Coker, but he was not local (or within reasonable driving distance), either, so the same problem arose. As such, my Coker is again now available for FREE to anyone who could make good use of it, who can come pick it up, and agrees to pass it on for FREE to someone else if/when they ever decide to get rid of it (unless they spend a bunch of money to really improve it a lot, in which case they can sell it, if desired). I prefer to give it to someone whose height is 5’9" or 5’10" (or somewhere near there) so that you can just hop on it and go, but if you are shorter or taller than that and have the wherewithal to adjust the seat height by cutting the seat post or some other somewhat complicated method, I would be willing to give it to you, as well.

So if you read the above, would like to be the next owner of my Coker, and think you’re a good fit, don’t hesitate to message me.

** LAST CHANCE FOR A FREE COKER **

As with lots of apartments in NYC, I have very limited storage space and my off-site storage room is full, so I cannot hold on to my original Coker for much longer. I will try to keep my original Coker for another 2 weeks in order to give any members of the forum who are 36er enthusiasts or aspiring 36er drivers one last opportunity to claim this free unicycle before I am left with no option but to sell it. Please reply to this post or message me if you’re interested. Thanks!

I’ll post this in the Unicycle Chat Facebook group so hopefully someone in NY will get it.

@UniScot I appreciate your offer, but please don’t bother. My first allegiance is to members of this forum. If I can’t give it away to someone who is already on this forum, then I am going to post if for sale on Craigslist, OfferUp, etc. If that doesn’t work out, then I won’t have a problem trying the Facebook route. But Facebook will be my last resort. Thanks.

Sorry. I had already posted it in the Unicycle Chat FB group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/115835695144753

Many of the people in this forum are in that group too, I just wanted to get it out there. The only way anyone can get the info is to click the link and come to this forum.

Do you want me to remove it?

@UniScot Yes, please remove the Facebook posting.

If there isn’t anyone who is already on this forum who wants my free unicycle, then I will attempt to sell it for a low price elsewhere.

Thank you.

Ok. I did.

I hope someone gets it soon.

@UniScot Thanks!

My Coker has been sold, so it is no longer available.
It was difficult to give away, but extremely easy to sell.

2 Likes

Congrats on the sale, Andrew, and for sticking with it until someone ended up with a Coker.

Thanks, Greg! It went to a great new home and will get much use. The nice gentleman who purchased it had a fix-it guy who used some special tools and techniques to do what was necessary to extricate the seat post from the frame. He already had another seat post lying around that fit the Coker (and the old, first generation air seat that came with the Coker), so he connected the seat, then popped the seat post into the frame, tightened the clamp, and had his newly acquired 36er ready to ride within 24 hours from buying it!

3 Likes