I’ve had a bit of bad luck this past week; For those who don’t know, I currently have Harper’s Blue Shift geard hub uni. I’ve been riding it every chance I get but last week I wasn’t able to get home from work before dark so it’s gone un-ridden for a few days. It’s bad luck to have to work late.
Friday night I did get home before dark - barely - so the first thing I did was throw on some riding shorts and head for the garage to get a ride in before it was too dark. Alas - Blue Shift had a flat tire. Bad Luck! However, I did jump on my 29er now equiped with Harper’s Nano Raptor tire and took it for a spin.
After I returned from my ride I put a new 29" inner tube in the “Big Apple” tire that’s currently mounted on Blue Shift. The Big Apple is easy to get on and off the rim. I changed the tube just like I’ve done 100?? times before, but this time (and the first time this has ever happened) I guess I failed to get the bead of the tire completely seated before airing it up with an air compressor. BANG! Thought I’d been shot. The new tube was blown to bits. Bad Luck. Good thing I bought two 29" tubes the other day. Installed the second one with no problem. Blue Shift was readly to go for a nice long ride sometime Saturday.
About 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning I woke up with stomach flu (I guess). I haven’t been so sick in years and I spent ALL DAY Saturday in bed sicker than a dog. BAD LUCK! By Saturday night I felt like I might live to see another day.
Today, Sunday, I’m feeling pretty good but have spent most of the day just tinkering around assembling a couple frames I have into functional unicycles. One is a new design but based on the same basic idea as the others I’ve made. The other frame is an early design that’s never been assembled because the red anodizing job it got was ugly.
Last week I got some parts for work powder coated white so I had this ugly anodized frame powder coated white too. I scrownged spare parts - mostly from my original Sem XL from five years ago - and made a pretty nice 26" uni with 125mm cranks. There’s pictures of both the new black MUni and the white 26" here in the first nested album:
All in all not a bad days work. Next week should be calmer at work and the weather is supposed to be nice so maybe my run of bad luck is over. Blue Shift here I come!
i’ve never seen a nicer frame! WOW!
any plans for trials frames like that?
once again, those are very nice indeed! i like the look of the white one, and holes in the black one.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to mandate that a frame be sent down here to sunny Florida. By doing this I can personally test the frames ability to interact with lots of humidity and high temperatures.
You really are a genious Steve. Thanks a lot for posting that link and making that great set of galleries of yours. More to the point though, those frames, hubs, and other acessories are amazing! There are some really great photos in your albums and I had a great time looking at them. It’s all beautiful, but I still particularly like that stainless steel muni of yours. Come many unicycles do you own?
Hmmm… That was strange. Well I’m tired and I was replying to a lot of posts at the time so I was thinking of a lot of different sentences at once.
That reminds me of a few years ago in english at school when I was reading out a passage from a book. It said something along the lines of, “Suddenly they broke out into a Mexican song and dance” (or something like that) and for some strange reason I replaced the word Mexican with Russian. I have absolutely no idea why I did this but it sounded pretty funny.
Back to my real question though, How many unicycles do you own?
You have received this message because you are in possesion of a POWERFULL CURSE. The only way to rid yourself of this CURSE is to add your name and that of a friend to the list and send this message and the CURSED ITEM to the next person on the list.
One Seattle man held on to the CURSE and was thrown to the grownd without any protection- the pavement was completely flat and there was no one near by with a stick. He added his name and that of a friend to the list and posted the CURSE -he has since received the affection of Buster and a Fireball tyre COMPLETELY UNSOLICETED.
Another person kept the CURSE and it rained every day with the temperatures in the low 40’s. He added his name and that of a friend to the list, posted the CURSE and now enjoys long rides every day with sunny, warm weather.
Keep the CURSE at your own peril, send it on it’s way along with the karmaticly chained names and receive unparalelled riches.
A machinist in Idaho received the CURSE and began adding frilly lace to all his sadles. There is no hope for this man.
Signed,
A. Friend.
john childs
harper
rhysling
cokerhead
accordnsx
klass bil
You keep doing gorgeous work. I thought the black frame was going to a cruel man with a questionable name of doubtfully Dutch origin. I’d await payment on that one.
I remember the first time a tube crept under the tire bead as I was inflating it in my basement. I remember cleaning my pants afterward, too.
You have Blue Shift? I wondered where I put it. Don’t get any potatos (potatoes, Quayle sp.) on it.
Jagur - I decided some time ago that I would only make frames that use a 27.2mm seat post. Just makes sense since they’re easy to come by and cost as little as $6.95 for a Nashbar special or as much as $180 for a Look Ergopost 2. I just got a new Colorado Cyclist catalog and by far the most common size they carry for both mountain and road bikes is 27.2mm. But 27.2mm is a pain because it’s not very close to the inside diameter of any standard available tubing. To get the i.d. to 27.2mm I’ve been using 1" i.d. tubing, boring it close in a lathe, then finishing up with a reamer. This takes some time.
28.6mm is VERY close to 1 1/8" (a common tubing size) and needs to only be reamed to size so it’s quicker. 28.6mm seat posts are available from the big manufacturers like Kalloy and Thompson but the selection is nothing like for 27.2mm posts. I’m trying a 28.6 to 27.2 sizer just to see how well it works but the sizer is just another thing to deal with. I’ve bought a couple of 28.6mm Kalloy posts so I’ll use them on the next couple frames I make. However, I feel like a sell-out … lilly livered … takin’ the easy road when I know that 27.2mm is the way to go so I’ll probably buck up and go with 27.2mm in the future.
Andrew - I like the stainless steel frame too … even if it’s twice as heavy as the new black frame! By the way - the black frame weighs just over 800 grams. Right now I have three complete unicycles: 24" MUni with the black frame swapped (for now) with the stainless frame, 26" white frame that I just put together and a 29er.
AccordNSX - Sorry I can’t send a frame to Florida for heat and humidity testing just now but I AM sending some food equipment (along with my business partner) to Fort Meyers the end of this week. Maybe you can get involved in testing some of that stuff!
m_extreme_uni - I don’t have any plans for a trials frame at the moment. I’m going to concentrate on 24" and 29" frames for now.
Again - Thanks for the kind words … that’s what makes it so much fun. As for the curse … I’ll not suffer with the CURSED ITEM much longer. It’s probably about time to pass it along and get on with the “unparalleled riches” thing.
Steve,
I’m 35 minutes away from Ft Myers. You should send the frame down with your friend, and I’ll taste and test it while he’s down. Last week I rode 7 hours down at Ft. Myers Beach… so I can definately put one of the frames up to some testing. Please re-think your decision…
tell’em how you really feel!