Today I picked up my package from the post office containing:
- 1 Nokian Gazzaloddi 24" x 3" tyre
- 2 Alex DX-32 rims (one for a friend)
- 1 One Tired Guy
- 1 GB4 Stiffener Plate
I’m waiting on some tripple-butted spokes now which will be here overnight so I’ll finish building it tomorrow. Then all I have to do is get the frame adjusted a bit and painted and then fit a better seatpost clamp and I’ll be right. It’ll be perfectly ridable tomorrow though!!!
This is an update on all the parts of the muni. Those of you who have been following my adventure into the world of custom munis will realise how happy I am that this is almost done.
Frame - I’ve been riding for about 2 weeks now on my frame that is currently attached to my 20". It looks really funny because there’s a huge gap above the tyre to fit the 24" Gazz (which you’ll later lear is almost a 26"). To bring some of you up to date, Ian the framebuilder is a great guy who’s been really helpful and easy to work with. I had some bearing holders machined that turned out great and now have them attached to the completed frame. The only thing that I’m not happy with is the clearance either side of the wheel. In my diagrams and notes I specifically said that the legs of the frame were to be parallel which would allow 6mm clearance on each side. I’ve now decided that 6mm is unneccessary, but somehow the frame was built with the legs slanting in at the top slightly. The way it is, I’ll be lucky to get any more than 1mm clearance each side. I talked to Ian about the confusion and he said he can crimp the legs without losing too much strength and allow about 2-4mm clearance (I can’t remeber exactly). He also said that if I’m not happy with that he’ll redo the whole frame for me but that probably won’t be neccessary and I don’t want him to have to do that. Generally, I love the frame and think it’s been really well built. It’ll look beautiful with the metallic orange paint job that’s yet to come and you can see photos of it along with the hub and later on the rest of the unicycle in my gallery (see my signature for the link).
Saddle - I’ve now got a green Miyata saddle that was made in Japan (one of the old ones) that I got from Juggleart in Melbourne, Australia. All you Aussies out there, I strongly recommend that you get anything you can from these guys because they give free shipping as opposed to lots of shipping cost from America (which is fair enough). Go to www.juggleart.com which is a great site in my opinion. The handle hasn’t broken at all but I’m a little worried about the flex in it. I also just recieve the GB4 Stiffener Plate for it which I’ll install soon, although I don’t know how to.
Seatpost Clamp - At the moment, I’m using a really basic one that came with my 20" but I’m about to order in a better one. I’ll hopefully get a quick release.
Pedals - Odyssey Twisted Pro pedals are really great but have already dug into my calves and left a mark for 4 weeks now. I love using them for side hopping.
Hub and Cranks - I’m using (or will be using) the Profile hub and crankset. Due to a bit of a misunderstanding, I ended up with 150mm cranks when I wanted 170mm ones. I’ll put up with these and if I have any problems with them I’ll just save up and buy the longer ones. I’ll let you Australians know if I’m selling my 150mm ones but it won’t be for a while if I do.
Rim - As I said, today I got an Alex DX-32 rim to go with the Gazz. It looks great.
Tyre - The Nokian Gazz 24" x 3" tyre is beautiful! Today I put the tyre and rim together to see what it looks like and I made some very interesting observations. The outside diameter of the Gazz is literally only 10mm smaller than the diameter of a 26" mountain bike tyre! The 26" I used as an example was a comparitively large one and was from a Trek Liquid for all you bikers. Also, the width of the tyre when it’s not pumped up is a massive 74mm. The tyre says the recommended inflation pressure is 15-29psi which has got me really excited. In order for it not to fold I have to inflate my current tyre to at least 35psi.
I believe that’s all of it. As for any of you who actually read all that, I hope I didn’t bore you too much but I’m just getting really excited. Be prepared for many more comments about my custom muni in a few days and the months following them.
Andrew