I have heard that people have put 29er tubes in their cokers to save wieght and money. How much weight is saved? and in your opinion, is major weight saving a good idea for the wheel? – in other threads people have said that it is good to have a heavy wheel for more balance…
Also, is there a lot of stress put on the 29er tube, to flex to go around a 36"? I imagine this method puts much stress on the tube and causes it to wear out faster.
I am planning on reducing the weight of my new coker significantly by putting the 29er tube in it, and Nimbus X cranks (really light), plus i will be getting an airfoil rim (light). Is this a good idea or will it be too wobbly from the lack of weight?
Though I haven’t went the tube route, a lighter wheel will take some time to get used to. Once you do, your average speed will return or get better. I did try the Nimbus X cranks and didn’t care for them. The large square end at the hub threw me off a few times hitting my heal (again, may get used to it). I ended up using the Monte’s (140 at 369g), which are a little lighter than the Nimbus X (152 at 460g).
I have had success using a 700c tube in my Coker. Been fine for over 6 months now. The weight reduction was about 1/2 pound – I noticed it right away and liked the added responsiveness.
On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 16:19:23 -0600, “leeman180” wrote:
>I have heard that people have put 29er tubes in their cokers to save
>wieght and money. How much weight is saved?
A coker tube is about 540 grams. My Schwalbe 29’er tube was 214 grams.
So you save between 300 and 350 grams.
>Also, is there a lot of stress put on the 29er tube, to flex to go
>around a 36"? I imagine this method puts much stress on the tube and
>causes it to wear out faster.
I’ve heard that it is no problem.
>I am planning on reducing the weight of my new coker significantly by
>putting the 29er tube in it, and Nimbus X cranks (really light), plus i
>will be getting an airfoil rim (light). Is this a good idea or will it
>be too wobbly from the lack of weight?
May depend on your riding style. For road/distance riding, heavy
weight is not a bad thing, it can add to the notorious ‘cruise
control’ feeling. For XC or off-road, lighter is better.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
people who unicycle are shyly exhibitionistic - GILD
A Coker wheel is ridiculously heavy (500g tube, 2kg tyre, ?1kg rim)- the more weight you can save the better. I think the flywheel effect is vastly overated. If you want more stability on a lightened Coker wheel, use shorter cranks!
Since lightening my Coker wheel (stainless steel spokes, and tubeless kit)- I can almost go up a gear (ie, my 110mm cranks feel like what the 125’s used to feel like, except I go faster because I can pedal faster).
A lighter wheel will let you accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver much better than a heavy one. You want to be riding your wheel, not having your wheel riding you.
If you can spare an extra hour or two, I’d recommend going to the trouble of ordering a tubeless kit from Stans, rather than doing the 29er conversion- it saves just as much weight, and rides better, with less risk of punctures.
Ok I think im going to do the 29er tube in my coker (once that pops i might consider the tubeless conversion - thanks Gizmo). What is a good size for a 29er tube in my coker? I called up my Local Bike Shop and they have 29er tubes, with a width of 1.75". The guy there said that it wouldnt be good to put a 1.75" wide tube in a 2.25" tire.
So what is a good width? and where can i get it? It would be great if I could get it from unicycle.com since im placing an order there soon…
Ok, so I got my airfoil wheelset and 29er tube. So… how do I mount this thing? For the life of me, I don’t see how it’s done. I normally don’t have any problems mounting tires, but this just seems impossible. Any of you 29er tube riding cokerers have some tire mounting tips?
Get the widest one they stock. What the bike mechanic is talking about is good advice in the case of ordinary bicycle tyres. The Coker tyre, however, is no ordinary tyre. It is built like a car tyre - heavy and tough. This means that even though the 29" inner will be stretched pretty thin, it won’t be a problem being susceptible to punctures.
Daino - did inflating the tube before mounting it on the rim help at all?
Unless you hit a rock with low pressure = snakebite
Tubes are pretty stretchy things. a 26" tube will fit fine on a 29" tyre- we did that when we punctured in the middle of nowhwere during our Queen Charlotte Walkway ride a couple of weeks back.
Hey gang,
I just bought this tube but it comes with Presta valve.
And I need to put about 60psi but the tube direction says to hand pump only. Is it wise for to use use the gas station pumps?
On Wed, 6 Jul 2005 16:00:39 -0500, “leadpan” wrote:
>I just bought this tube but it comes with Presta valve.
Buy a little conversion connector thingy (how do you call those) and
then use your own pump. They cost next to nothing. Your LBS will
probably stock them.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“As with all great social movements, the origins of mountain unicycling are unclear. - Hannah Nordhaus (Los Angeles Times)”
There are stem adapters so you can properly fit the skinny presta stem in the bigger Schrader rim hole. Wheels Manufacturing makes one style and biketoolsetc.com carries it.
I don’t know how well that adapter fits in the Airfoil rim. The Airfoil rim has a unique shape inside the rim and I don’t know if the Wheels Mfg Stem Saver will fit in flush.
Arrggghhh!!
The new 29’ tube I bought today popped when I put air in it!
I did get a stem adapter for the presta valve and the install went good. The tube was tight but I stretched it to make it fit, put the tire back on the fork then the air and POP!!
Has this happen you any of you?
I am really discouraged now and wondering if it’s even worth the effort of putting another 29’ tube to save on some weight.
Going to put back my old 36’ tube back tomorrow.
A set back maybe. Oh well.
I used a 29 tube in my new coker and it was a little bit of trouble getting it in but it is working great. I over inflated the tube and left it overnight then let most of the air out before I installed it. It was a kenda from a bike shop in Durango and I think it was a 1.75/2.125 and with a presta stem. They didn’t have adaptors so i wraped the stem with electric tape then used a razor blade to cut the extra tape then I bought a small brass adaptor that stays on the stem so I can use a schrader pump and it is there when I need it.
