Hey all,
My birthday present (a new torker dx unistar) arrived today and i put it together. My problem: i’m not sure how tight the wheel needs to be attached to the fork. The bearing clamps feel rickity when the wheel spins at a good speed, but when i tighten them, the wheel seems too hard to be ridden easily. I’m not sure if this is just a new uni thing, just a torker dx thing, or just a sam can’t put a unicycle together thing.
It’s probably a you-can’t-put-together-a-unicycle thing. I don’t know what could be wrong with it though…maybe try greasing it a bit?
Is your birthday today, or the 27th? I can never remember.
The bearing clamps need to tight enough to be snug, but not so tight that they bind the bearings. The wheel should spin just as smoothly when the bolts are loose as when the bolts are tightened.
Hold the unicycle upside down and spin the wheel while the bearing cap bolts are loose. Notice how well and free the wheel spins.
Now tighten the bearing cap bolts till the wheel spins with a little bit more resistance. Now loosen the bolts about an 1/8 or 1/4 turn and you should be good.
If you have problems with the bolts spontaneously getting loose then use medium strength or low strength Loctite Threadlocker to keep the bolts tight.
OMG i know whats wrong!!!
look very closely at your bearing clamps, they are probably deformed!!
if so, make sure they are not wearing a groove in the hub
if they are/did its not that big of a deal… it doesn’t make it any weaker
umm
take the bearing caps off and spin them around then clamp them back on… i colored mine w/ a black sharpie on the inside so that I knew which side goes in
this is a serious flaw in their design…
my new ones are like this as well… but i just screwed them on because I don’t give a crap if both sides of my unicycle match because of a 1/8" groove made by a bearing cap is there
they almost look machined in it
lol
I always turn the short end of an allen wrench till I cnat no more with me left hand. Then you don’t have too much on there.
umm
one more thing … i tighten mine until they are more than snug, if i can move them with my thumb pushing as hard as possible they are too loose.
45 in/lbs baby
thats less than 4ft lbs
it takes more than that to get the bolts through the locknuts
WHAT THE HECK!!!
ok, thanks for all the help, i think i got it fixed, and i’m gonna have matt look at it tomorrow (assuming we ride)…wow…my ears just started ringing…