Ok, I suppose this is primarily directed at Gilby, but if anyone else has
info, I’d be interested.
A 2 wheeler would be really cool to learn. (Or maybe it wouldn’t, but I’m
not debating that now.) However, I don’t know too many places that make
them. Aside from Semcycle, do any other manufacturers make 2 wheelers, or
is a custom job the only option? Either way, any guesses what kind of
costs would be involved?
I love my semcycle XL unicycle, but I don’t know if I really like the
method by which the second wheel can be attached. I hear enough people
posting slight problems with the tires having proper friction between each
other, and ignoring that, it seems like a very small portion of the frame
(or interface between frames, however you look at it) will be subjected to
a large amount of force.
Pichler (http://www.pichlerrad.de/) makes them. I would say that their 2-wheeler is the best commercially available one. It looks like they have two models now of it. One that is a direct extension to the second wheel that I think is welded on to the bottom of the bearing holder. The other one they make has two tubes on each side to extend down to the second wheel. I’ve only seen that one before.
I thought Siegmono also had one, but I couldn’t find it on their website (http://www.siegmono.de). I think it might be the same thing as the Semcycle one.
Other than those, custom is the way to go. You can order a custom one from TUF (Tom Miller), but expect it to take a long time. You can also order from from Paul Wyganowski, which is what I have and the best that is available, IMO, but also the most expensive. Or you can build one yourself.
If you have a schwinn unicycle, building an extention is pretty easy. All you need is 2 metal plates that are 2" wide and 1/4" thick that are about a meter long. Then you just drill two holes on the top of each to use to fasten the beam to the flat frame of the schwinn. You need to cut a larger hole on the plates to fit around the axle, and then cut a slit on the bottom end of the plates to slide the bottom wheel into. This was my first 2-wheeler. However, it is very heavy and this can make it hard to do some tricks (like hop on wheel).
> If you have a schwinn unicycle, > building an extention is pretty easy. All you need is 2 metal plates > that are 2" wide and 1/4" thick that are about a meter long. Then you > just drill two holes on the top of each to use to fasten the beam to > the flat frame of the schwinn. You need to cut a larger hole on the > plates to fit around the axle, and then cut a slit on the bottom end
of > the plates to slide the bottom wheel into. This was my first 2- > wheeler. However, it is very heavy and this can make it hard to do
some > tricks (like hop on wheel).
I don’t suppose you have any photos of this. (I found the ones of you
riding it on your site… I was hoping for close ups of each wheel.) I
take it the hole for the axle of the top wheel is to be larger than the
hole in the schwinn frame, so it doesn’t interfere with the bearing
holders. I suppose this doesn’t make a big difference, but do the
extentions go on the inside or outside of the schwinn frame? As for the
bottom wheel, if I picture this correctly, you are talking about using
an
axle such as would be found on the front wheel of a bike. For tension
between the wheels, do you just space the wheels as close as you can
with
them deflaited, tighten the bolts, and inflate the tires?
That should answer all your questions, except the tension one. To “tension” the wheels, you’ll want to squeeze them together while they are deflated and you’ll want them squeezed together quite a bit, about as much as contact with each wheel as there would be with the ground on a normal uni, maybe even more. The top tire you can adjust the pressure to get the desired contact between the tires.
thanks. That’s so simple I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.
(oh yeah, I’m good at thinking up needlessly complicated things) That
hole
for the hub to fit through looks pretty close to the 2" diameter of the
extention. I guess that’s why it’s got to be so heavy. (I assume you
used
steel). I take it since it’s survived your and several other’s learning
stress is not a problem there.
Of course, now that I think of it, my only goal at the moment is to
learn
to ride a 2 wheeler. If I become interested enough to learn lots of
tricks, I’d be interested enough to spend lots of money. Now, if I
could
only figure out where I put that schwinn.
lutkus
> I just took some pictures of them and they are available here: > http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/old2wheeler > > That should answer > all your questions, except the tension one. To “tension” the wheels, > you’ll want to squeeze them together while they are deflated and > you’ll want them squeezed together quite a bit, about as much as > contact with each wheel as there would be with the ground on a normal > uni, maybe even more. The top tire you can adjust the pressure to get > the desired contact between the tires. > > > > > – > Gilby > Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums >
I have just got a 2 wheeler, I was playing with it at York Convention.
I
can ride it in a straight line but my cornering is not very good! I
also
got to the stage where I could get a freemount about 50% of the time.
There
is so much new stuff to learn, I tried wheel walking it and boy is that
hard! Dave Wheelwright got a nice picture of me trying to wheel walk it
with Kaleigh’s assistance. http://www.unicycle.uk.com/picture.asp
“Jeff Lutkus” <lutkus@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:mailman.1012102774.29396.rsu@unicycling.org… > Ok, I suppose this is primarily directed at Gilby, but if anyone else
has > info, I’d be interested. > > A 2 wheeler would be really cool to learn. (Or maybe it wouldn’t, but
I’m > not debating that now.) However, I don’t know too many places that
make > them. Aside from Semcycle, do any other manufacturers make 2
wheelers, or > is a custom job the only option? Either way, any guesses what kind of > costs would be involved? > > I love my semcycle XL unicycle, but I don’t know if I really like the > method by which the second wheel can be attached. I hear enough
people > posting slight problems with the tires having proper friction between
each > other, and ignoring that, it seems like a very small portion of the
frame > (or interface between frames, however you look at it) will be
subjected to > a large amount of force. > > thanks, > jeff >
Hey, Roger: that bottom wheel has cranks! I presume the bottom bracket was removed from an existing uni and replaced by the extension and canbalized wheel?
“Roger Davies” <Roger@unicycle.uk.com> wrote in message news:ky958.41155$Ph2.6966610@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com… > I have just got a 2 wheeler, I was playing with it at York Convention.
I > can ride it in a straight line but my cornering is not very good! I
also > got to the stage where I could get a freemount about 50% of the time.
There > is so much new stuff to learn, I tried wheel walking it and boy is
that > hard! Dave Wheelwright got a nice picture of me trying to wheel walk
it > with Kaleigh’s assistance. > http://www.unicycle.uk.com/picture.asp
Wow, it has cranks so you could put a second rider on the bottom wheel!
Now
that just has to be tried, I guess they’d be at the back holding onto
the
seat post or the forks and standing up. That’d be a pretty cool trick,
even
more cool if two people could juggle on it, the bottom person could feed
props to the top one or whatever.
Yes the bottom wheel is as a standard unicycle wheel. The cranks would
have
come off but I was in such a hurry to put my new toy together that I
couldn’t find my crank extractors… someone at the last unimeet
borrowed it
from my travel pack and… grumble, grumble, grumble.
“rhysling” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:a33n19$cg2$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu… > Hey, Roger: that bottom wheel has cranks! I presume the bottom > bracket was removed from an existing uni and replaced by the extension > and canbalized wheel? > > Christopher > > > > > – > rhysling > Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums
Ok, one last question (until I can justify spending money to start building
something like this): can you take a few measurements?
I want to know: distance from the center of the hole for the crank of the
upper wheel to the top of the slot cut out for the bottom wheel. Also, I
suppose the length of the bottom slot would be good to know as well.
I am making the assumption you are using standard 20" wheels (what diameter
tire?). and the assumption that I will too (does the size of the bottom
wheel make a big difference – I was figuring of 20", 24", and 16", I could
just go with whatever is cheaper)
thanks,
jeff
> I just took some pictures of them and they are available here: > http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/old2wheeler > > That should answer > all your questions, except the tension one. To “tension” the wheels, > you’ll want to squeeze them together while they are deflated and > you’ll want them squeezed together quite a bit, about as much as > contact with each wheel as there would be with the ground on a normal > uni, maybe even more. The top tire you can adjust the pressure to get > the desired contact between the tires. > > > > > – > Gilby > Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums >
