I ride my 36 stock Coker often and love it. Great feel.
I’ve been mulling the purchase of an upgraded 36: airfoil, wider hub, strong wheel build, maybe even a nicer frame. Just kinda want the best riding model – not that I need it cuz my stock Coker is still in perfect shape.
All the recent talk about the Schlumpf Geared Uni has got me wondering whether I might instead throw my money at a 28" Schluni. (I believe goldenchicken came up with that great suggested name, Schluni, for the Schlumpf Geared Uni.)
So my questions to you 36 riders and you fortunate Schluni testers are:
Which should I get: 36 Coker or 28/42 Schluni ??
How might the feel of the Schluni in overdrive compare with the Coker ?
Besides the large price difference, what else should I consider ?
Pros of the Schluni—1) The SGU will turn shaper and be more agile. 2) There are a lot more 700c tires ou there than the 2 known tires for a coker. 3) stronger wheel 4) Its a effective 42in wheel (speed!) 5)Its cool and one of a kind
On a new thread, Schlumpf Geared Uni?!, weeble posted a detailed description of his Schluni test ride and some considerations that I hadn’t seen mentioned elsewhere.
It seems the Schluni would be easier to travel with. Takes up less space on an airplane…
It would also be a sleeper. Think of a Mustang LX with an HO engine. Nobody expects the LX to take you off the line in a race. Of course most of us could spot a Schlumph hub a mile away, but the average bicyclist wouldn’t have a clue. Just imagine the look on their face as you leave them behind.
My train of thought would be… I have a Coker already (no matter what condition it’s in), so why not get the “new” toy instead?! You can always fix up your Coker at a later time. If you even want to ride the Coker after you’ve tasted the speed from the Schluni.
We had a fairly extensive write-up when Florian Schlumpf visited Seattle from which you may get some more info. There are links to photos of the cutaways and videos of people riding and shifting in this thread.
I personally would recommend buying the Schlumpf but I don’t have to pay for it and I already have something similar and adequate. It is beautifully crafted and with a 28" tire will be a really versatile speed machine.
But the average non-unicyclist has no clue about how fast a unicycle goes. That said, it still goes faster than people are likely to think.
The Schluni will not be as “interesting” to bystanders. They like big. But it will definitely store better, and be easier to bring on the plane, for example.
I don’t think the ride is as easy as on a Coker. From my limited experience, I feel more solid on the full-sized wheel than on any geared version I’ve tried (a half dozen or so). With a big wheel, you have higher leverage, hence more immediate response to a command to slow down, for example.
Also the mass of the wheel can work for you. Actually, this may apply to both types. Because there is so much resistance on the pedals (either from the heavy wheel or the gearing system), you don’t always have to change the speed of the wheel to make corrections. You get an action-reaction effect as well, pushing you back up into your “balance envelope.”
So there are plusses in both directions. I would lean toward the geared cycle, because I already have a Coker (and a 45" wheel).
eh?? I might be getting the wrong end of the stick but I would have thought you had less leverage the bigger your wheel got, unless you were increasing your crank lengths in proportion.
Thanks for the insight, all of you. What interests me the most is the ride FEEL difference between the 36 Coker and the 28/42 Schluni. I have been riding exclusively on the Coker for many months, so that’s what I’m familiar with and enjoy. I should retrieve my 28 Yuni I loaned out long ago and ride it to refamiliarize myself with the feel of smaller wheels. That might help me guess at the feel on the Schluni.
John Foss, I too would like more info as to your, “big wheel, higher leverage” comment. I don’t understand what you mean, but I’m sure that’s because I am still such a newby.
Any more feedback on the FEEL of the 36 Coker relative to the 28/42 Schluni would really be appreciated.
On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 02:04:05 -0600, “theamazingmolio” wrote:
>eh?? I might be getting the wrong end of the stick but I would have
>thought you had -less- leverage the bigger your wheel got, unless you
>were increasing your crank lengths in proportion.
Maybe for the purpose of this thread, John means to distinguish “big
wheel” (36" non-geared) from “small wheel” (29" geared). Because of
the gearing on the 29" you have more leverage on the big wheel.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
people who unicycle are shyly exhibitionistic - GILD
Yes, this was not a physics comment. Physics people often jump in and cloud the real-world experiences some of us have. So regardless of the ergs of force needed to be applied to the pedals, I “feel” more able to get quick speed-change responses from my 36/45" wheel than from the various geared giraffe and non-giraffe unicycles I’ve tried over the years. Some of this is no doubt due to less experience on the geared cycles, though I did a 75k charity ride on a geared Schwinn Giraffe once. Those suckers were just hard to ride.
The tiny amount of play you will experience in the Schlumpf or Harper hubs may seem a little unnerving at first, but once you get used to it you won’t even notice it. This is not a factor.
For Klaas, yes, when I say “big wheel” I’m referring to anything beyond normal bike-sized wheels. For us that means anything over 700c. More specifically it means Cokers and anything larger.