I recently bought a Torker LX 26" and it comes with 170’s (nasty!)
I bought some 150’s and 127’s last week.
I put the 150’s on first and thought that I didnt feel much of a difference.
Then I just put on the 127’s and holy shit, it’s like night and day.
I fell right on my ass trying to get used to it!
Once I got moving, the 127’s felt nice, it’s just the “getting started” part that scares the shit out of me!
I feel like I have a lot less control in the early going.
What’s your personal experiences with crank swapping?
I did the exact same thing and went back up to the 150s
the 125s were nice when cruisin but took some gettin use to, and when out with my dog ( Cattle dog ) the dumb thing would try to herd me on the uni and with 125s I didnt seem to have as much control over uni so I ran over the dog. now the dog herds me from a safer distance
At first, I was going to switch back to the 150’s, but then I spent about 15 minutes getting used to it and now I think I like it better.
I feel like I have more control when Im on the move with the 127’s…my legs arent franticly spinning to go fast, so my body is calmer and easier to balance and control.
Freemounting is definately a bit harder to do on the 127’s, but Im up for the challenge, lets just hope my tailbone is up for it as well
The moral of the story: If you’ve been riding one setup for a year and a new setup for five minutes, don’t expect the new setup to be “easy.” If you really want to know how a change will work for you, give it at least a week, or several decent sized rides, to begin to form an opinion. Don’t judge anything on the first few minutes’ riding.
For babyivan, you started out with pretty long cranks. That size is best used on really steep hills or extreme terrain. In NYC you can find some steep hills, but mostly you’re on flat ground. 125s or 140s are much more appropriate for street riding. If it’s pure street you’re doing, you can go even shorter. When set up for street riding, my 29" uni gets 102s.
125 is the standard size for cranks on a 24" uni for racing. By today’s standards it’s actually pretty long, but in the past it was 140 (5.5"). That size is great for all-around riding, but too long for all but short sprints on a 24".
Cool, thanx for the info!
To be honest with you, I couldnt even imagine going smaller then 127s.
A 29" with 102’s sounds like a sick set up, maybe someday when I get better Ill try smaller arms.
I think I read somewhere the other day on the forum of a guy with 89’s on his Coker
Riding on short cranks is easy enough. It’s stopping that’s difficult. And idling, hill climbing, riding slowly…
Long cranks are more versatile than short, but at the expense of sustainable high speeds. If you can learn the harder discipline of spinning long cranks, you can mitigate the disadvantage whilst keeping the advantages.
A uni with short cranks is a thoroughbred; a uni with long cranks is a workhorse.
But back tot he start of the thread:
150/170 = 88%
125/150 = 83% = a bigger gap.
However, making thse cahnges in quick succession, the effect you were getting was
125/170 = 73% = a massive change.
One step at a time.
A 26 on 125s should be a blast to ride on and off road on anything but the steepest hills. But not yet for you.
Crank length is not a competition. It is a tuning detail.
Right… I would have to say all in all that Im glad that I didnt go from 170 to 127, instead I took the gradual steps down (170-150-127).
Although one thing I regret…instead of buying the 150’s along with the 127’s Im now using, I shouldve bought 140s with the 127s instead.
More then likely, I will never use the 150s I bought ever again, whereas if I had bought 140’s, Id probably use them from time to time.
One of these days, when Im inevitably ordering something else from unicycle.com, Ill have to include a pair of 140s in my order as well.
But anyhow, 127s feel like nothing I ever couldve imagined, whereas the 150s are not all that different from the 170s.
After busting my ass, I was quite apprehensive to keep going on the much smaller cranks…but Im glad I did, cause all in all the 127s are pretty sweet!
As a relative noobie to one-wheeling(except for the riding I did on my gym teacher’s 20" CX back in 1992), I have alot of things that Im trying to master at once, from freemounting to idleing to to cutting 180s…all in all, Id rather learn all this on the shorter cranks, I believe it will make me a better rider.
My feeling is that using short cranks will make you a better rider in the sense of being able to dominate the unicycle, idle it, reverse it, etc. Longer cranks will make you a better distance rider.
I write as one who has spent far too many hours experimenting with these things. I’ve used cranks from 89mm to 170mm and wheels from 20 to 36 inches. (Not all combinations - hence I still live.)
I currently have
Wheel Crank
20 125
26 170
28 102
36 150
So you will see there is little apparent logic there!
Short cranks encourage fast riding, but reduce slow speed control.
Long cranks can be used for fast riding, but this requires an effort of will.
If you can mount, idle etc. on short cranks, you will find cranks a size longer to be very easy.
I have the same uni. I’ve put 127’s and then 102’s on it (I’m not completly sure about the exact lengths though) and the 102’s are fun. It took me a week or so to get completly used to it, but I like them. When I got used to it, carving turns was so easy, and I could acctually do piroutes! (sp.) After a while I could idle on them too.
I liked the 102’s best, but I switched back to 127’s for in the snow now.
I thought that the high pressure 1.95 tire would kill me on ice and hard packed snow, but I’m amazed at how much traction that little tire can get. Not as much as my muni though…
I like it a lot, although I don’t do much distance riding. I only use it for cruising around or riding with my dad while he runs (he’s a marathon runner, and trains a lot)
I never have liked the Torker LX/miyata style seats much, so I tried to make it into a gel seat, then an air seat, but I ended up switching the seat out for a Torker DX seat and seatpost.
I don’t like the 170’s for cruising much either, I want to go faster.
But otherwise, I think its great. It’s light, quick, and smooth.
My 26 is a Pashley. It came with an El Cheapo tyre that made it almost unrideable on hard surface because of the way the tread knobbles smeared.
I replaced that tyre with a Michelin Wildgripper which was a bit better.
I then fell in the brand awareness trap and bought a Gazzaloddi 2.3".
I found that I was riding the MUni less and less. I put 170s on it to make it more of a slow speed “ultimate tractor uni”. It was almost unrideable and I went back to the 150s.
Then, as widely publicised in this forum (by me) I put a Maxxis Holy Roller tyre on. This improved the handling so much that I found myself able to pedal faster on 150s than I had thought possible. This inspired me to put 17s on again, and I now find the uni very rideable indeed.
It may not be the perfect set up,m but the point I am making is that with the Gazzaloddi, the uni was virtually unrideable on 170s, and unpleasant to ride on 150s. With the Holy Roller, the uni was almost a speed machine on 150s, and a very versatile MUni on 170s. Crank length is only part of the equation. A suitable tyre can make a huge difference.
It’s all to do with directional stability, and confident steering.
It’s not imaginary, because other people have posted on here decrying the Gazz 2.3" as a horrible tyre, and Rob Northcott, who rode my MUni with the Gazz/150s found it almost unrideable too.
