Alloy cranks

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Do alloy cranks make any difference to the feel of general riding (24" wheel)?
If they have wider offset or q-factor is it easier or harder to turn?
Any help please.

2

Alloy cranks will be lighter so high speed spinning will be easier, although this effect will be less for a 24" than larger wheels. Larger q factor makes the unicycle easier to control, but harder to go fast on.

3

Welcome new user Martyn! Please try to phrase your question in the subject line.

I will disagree with kington on the wheel size thing. The smaller the wheel, the easier it is to notice different weights on the cranks. As for whether a wider stance makes it harder to turn, it depends on the type of turning:

  • Turning the wheel (pedaling)? Same
  • Turning while going fast (smooth, swooping)? Maybe slightly
  • Turning while going slow (rough terrain for example)? No, easier

But I think Q-factor is a personal thing as well. Some people prefer the wider stance (again usually for technical terrain) while others like to keep their feet as close together as possible.

4

All rotating weight makes a big difference. The further that weight is from the centre of the uni, the more difference it makes.

Light alloy cranks help to make a uni more responsive. It will be easier to speed up, slow down and idle.

However, the difference will only be slight.

Lovely cranks with low Q factor are the Qu-Ax freestyle ones which come only in 114mm and 125 mm. They are light, smooth and elegant.

Increased Q factor makes steering easier, but at the expense of straight line stability.

5

One other advantage of alloy cranks (assuming you’re talking about square-taper) is that they are far less likely than steel ones to come loose. Presumably it’s because they deform more when fitting to the axle (because they’re softer) and form a better interface. I’ve never had a crank come loose since I put alloy (ProWheel) ones on my muni. The steel ones I used to use (and still do on the coker) tend to work loose, especially if the unicycle gets dropped (which of course is pretty often for a muni).

Rob