So what do you do to get a right crank arm that has no spider on it? For our
first one, we bought a used right crank with a spider and cut it off and ground
it down to where there is no longer a spider there. But what we are wondering
about is the feasability of buying two left cranks, one with half inch threads
and one with 9/16 inch threads. Then the half incher we could drill and tap for
9/16 right handed threads, no spider. Then we have a left and a right. Will this
work ok? What do you guys do? Chris
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>Chris wrote: >>So what do you do to get a right crank arm that has no spider on it?
>We buy unicycle cranks. Sometimes, though, these can be hard enough to find
that >it’s almost worth doing all the stuff you described . . .
I had pretty good success by finding a set of used alloy bicycle cranks and
cutting off the sprocket from the right crank. We happen to have a neat place in
Eugene, Oregon called the Center for Alternative Transportation and it has a
small room full of old discarded bike parts, includng about 50 old sets of
cranks. The crank I found didn’t really have a “spider”, just a flange that
connected the sprocket to the crank arm. So it was pretty simple to cut it off
with a hacksaw and file down the surface. So for maybe $5 I have a good set of
alloy cranks. The bigger problem is that most cranks for bicycles are too long
for most unicycling - usually about 6 1/2 inches (not sure how many mm that is).
Another possibility is to buy cranks from a tandem bicycle manufacturer. We also
have several local companies that manufacture bikes, including at least a couple
that make tandems. I am told that they have right handed cranks on tandems that
don’t have a sprocket. But getting what you want from Tom Miller at the Unicycle
Factory makes a lot of sense unless you like the challenge of making your own or
want to have some really cheap cranks.