well I gave in and bought a coker, only rode one once and I think it’ll be a good challenge. It should hopefully come this week, so if this thread stays around long enough i’ll update ya’s on my progress.
Andrew
awesome! im excited to hear how it turns out. i may consider buying a coker in the near future, too.
what did you buy it for, like 350?
-grant
Welcome to the world of the Coker!!! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, I know I’m starting to feel real comfortable with mine 
Alright!
When you first start riding it, you may think to yourself, ‘gee, i thought they would be much faster than this’
Wait till you get some miles in, and all your energy turns from trying not to fall off, to trying to spin the pedals most effeciently.
Also, I would recommend having a set of 127mm cranks handy, because once you get nice and comfy on the stock 152’s, switching to 127’s really increases the speed, and endurance pedalling comfort. It’s a much better, and very different ride.
Welcome to the club!
Cool! Get on the saddle and ride! You’ll like it more and more…
Hey Sofa,
After 3 weeks of Coker saddle time, I’m now to this point where the 6 inches cranks feel a little bouncy at high speed, and are not so comfortable after the 50km mark on paved roads. I really want to get some 127’s, but since I’ve taken the Coker offroad several times, I’m not sure it"s gonna be good for hills climbing. So do you guys have two set of cranks (or two wheels setup), for road/trails?
Do you have a recommendation on which cranks to get?
Vincent
I put 152’s on in the winter, plowing through the snow.
I use 170’s for Coker MUni, or perhaps 152’s if the trails aren’t too hilly.
My general purpose cranks are 127’s. I think I will be dropping those down to 110’s though.
So to answer your question…one coker, many cranks
If you want to climb all the hills you can on your MUni, put 170’s on. It won’t get all the hills, but most of them
Ride it all you can, consider getting a pair of bike shorts. Learn the rolling mount, it isn’t that hard on a Coker.
Welcome to the wonderful one wheeled world with wind in your hair!
carjug
IME, the difference between 110s and 125s is far greater than the difference between 150s and 125s. Freemounting with the 110s is likewise tricky – like jumping onto a big beach ball. You have limited control at the pedels below 5 MPH. And turning with the 110s is like trying to change the course of a batleship with a canoe paddle. In other words, make sure you’re really solid with the 125s before moving down to 110s. I did this prematurely and had to move back up to the 125s and get some more miles in, then moved down.
In short, the 110s are great for flat, straight ahead blazing, but can be a liability for anything else. I also wouldn’t recommend the 110s if you don’t have a brake (I don’t), because once you get a head of steam up, it takes about 50 feet–if not more–to smoothly ease to a stop owing the tremendous flywheel effect of the 36 " tire and the reduced torque afforded by the 110s.
JL
Interesting. I’m Mr. Shortcranks, and use 110s on my 28, and have had my 24 on 89s, but I’ve reverted to the 150s on the Coker after a short flirtation with 125s.
It is fairly easy to ride a Coker on 125s. Mounting is just as easy. However, the loss of control in tight situations, and the extra concentration needed on very irregular terrain put me off. I did my longest ever ride (about 53 miles/84km) on 125s, and I did a couple of other fairly long ones. All my timed rides were on 150s, and my best ride was just under 13 miles in exactly anhour.
A Coker on 150s is an amazing go anywhere machine. On 125s, I guess it becomes primarily a road and easy trail machine. 110s sound too specialised for me.
Might try it though. The gauntlet is lying on the ground, and I wouldn’t want it to get dirty…
thanks
Thanks everyone for the good words and advice, the coker hasn’t come yet but i’m looking forward to it.
I got mine for around 300 dollars. It’s the remanufactured one one Unicycle. com.
Ack!! I just got contacts, and I keep on trying to adjust my glasses : )
Andrew
Wow this dropped fast, gotta keep it alive till the coker gets here, which is tomorrow hopefully.
I think i’m really lonely for another unicyclist to ride with. I find myself thinking I might see a unicycle while driving, but as I get closer I find that it’s one of those two wheeled beasts, I won’t say the name, but sorry for even discribing it. I install carpet, and when I go to customers houses if I’m in the garage I look for any unicycles they or their kids might have, Does anyone else find themselves doing this or is it just me??? should I be worried?? is this somewhere on one of the skill levels???
Andrew
Why not invest a few hundred $ and secretly leave a 24" Shcwinn in each garage you work in?
You’ll have riding partners in no time!
Are you anywhere near David Ramos and his club, called The CLUB? I thought they were somewhere near Lancaster.
Email me (using the address below) if you need contact info.
I’ve attached an (old) picture of David.
What so great about a coker?Iv obviosly never ridden one,are they better for speed and distance thats what i hear.
the coker is like no other ride.
it is 36" big, it is heavy, it takes momentum to get it started, and it take forever to get it stopped.
It takes several rides, if not a better part of a few months to really tame it.
It cruises over rough terrain, but you have to finesse it through technical areas, as it’s weak wheel is likely to buckle if you make a poor desicision.
You get to tower over the people you pass on the sidewalks. And once you take it to the trails, it’s mountainbikers that you are towering over!
It plows throw the snowwy sidewalks where your bicycle handlebars would be rocking back and forth with your uncontrollable front tire.
You have to be prepared to take a NASTY spill, and constantly be looking for the softest place to wipe out, or the best alternate route you can take, if a car all of a sudden backs out of a driveway.
There is a lot of strategy to riding one, and once you master the Coker, all other unicycles seem pretty damn easy.
sounds like fun,but theres no way I could afford $300
Thank you for that masterfull rendition Sofa, it brings a tear to my eye, my cokers not hear yet!!! * calms down*…
Your right John that club is near me, actually I went there for the first time last Thursday, and David was even there. It was pretty fun to have other people who unicycled, and they were even doing skills testing, i’m officially level 1. I’m gonna go for awhile but not all the time, theres a youth center I go to on thursdays usually and I have to decide, I pick the youth center, although I might go to club sometimes and take kids from the youth center who are really interested in unicycling and need more inspiration and instruction, but thanks for telling me anyways.
Just to link this post to a coker, I got to " ride " the coker at the CLUB and it was pretty hard, like Sofa said, lots of momentum, so I think it’ll be a good challenge.
Hopefully it comes tomorrow, I kept my eyes open when I got home incase mom thought she’d put it together and hide it from me, haven’t found it yet if it’s here.
Andrew
yayyayayayay!!!
My coker is here!!! The Kris Holms seat is nice, it rides nice, just one thing, the seat post is a little too long!!! I have to get my other posts and see I have one that works else i’ll be trying to trade it for another, oh well, it’s still cool and will be fun to play with.
Andrew
Re: yayyayayayay!!!
A too long seatpost is perfect. I always try to get a seatpost that is longer than I’ll need. Then I cut it down for me, custom, just my size, down to the centimeter.
You can cut the seatpost with a hacksaw. To help you get a straight cut you can wrap a leather strap, like an old leather belt, around the seatpost to act as a saw guide.
If you don’t want to cut it yourself, you can take it to a bike shop. The bike shop will have a special saw guide and they’ll be able to get a nice straight cut with the hacksaw.
You can also use a pipe cutter. I’ll attach a picture of a pipe cutter so there is no confusion about what it is. The problem with using a pipe cutter is that the pipe cutter pushes the material aside at the cut. It leaves a bulge or a ridge right next to the cut. You’ll have to sand or file the ridge down after cutting the seatpost. The pipe cutter gives you a nice straight cut.
Best part, you’ll end up with a custom length seatpost.
Wow, I only posted this like 10 minutes ago, you are fast!
I never even though of that, that would work good cause I have a post thats longer, and a probably too short one, and the one thats being borrowed is probably the same length as the one I just got, plus I have a hack saw I haven’t used much.
Thank you very much, i’ll be riding sooner than I thought, or at least able to ride, that is if I can, ok, you get the picture.
Andrew