i have been thinking of getting a coker for a long time now and finaly i think i am going to get one. how much do breaks help on a coker? should i get them? in what cases would i use them?
Evan
P.S. how strong is the remanufactured coker from uni.com? as in, what can i and cant i do with it? can it withstand curbs and minor drops?
Re: Breaks on a coker??Yes???No??
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=660 Remanufactured Coker is no longer available.
“Only 3 available.”
this came after the “(no longer availvble)” came up
I was thinking about saying “use the search button”, but that doesnt really lead to any constructive replies. There have been many threads on this, but here is the breakdown:
If you are going to be riding a lot of descents, get a brake. If you are mainly just going to be riding on mainly flat roads, with little hills here and there that arent too steep or long, a brake is not necessary. Also, get an airseat with it.
Edit:
since i do not own a coker myself, I am not sure what the difference in the types of brakes are. The coker comes with a V brake, i dont know how much different this is from a magura hydraulic (sp?) brake.
Re: Breaks on a coker??Yes???No??
andbody got a responce to that?
it will withstand going over curbs, but best not smash into any curbs. Don’t try to hop with it where you might land on an angle.
You can take it through some pretty technical singletrack, if you take time to really learn how to ride gracefully, I know that learning to push the stock coker rim to the limits I really got better being able to manouvre it.
Here is a video of me doing Muni, this is a stock rim, I am 180lbs with gear on, and you can see in a relatively small drop down, how my wheel taco’s, luckily it sprang back to spape before I hit the ground, I was able to ride away fine. (I even did a 24hr race on it after) That’s now on my UW36 though, the Airfoil is very strong, and a worthy upgrade.
And brakes aren’t worth it, until you get down to 110’s, or short cranks, I wouldn’t pay extra for a brake, I just happened to have an extra one lying around so I thought it on. The lever has since broken, and I’m not going to bother to pay $70 to get it replaced
In my most humble opinion, a brake on a Coker is only truly functional unless you use an Airfoil rim, a wide hub, and a good wheel build. With anything less the brake is less useful.
The stock steel rim doesn’t work well with a brake. It is not smooth enough. The braking surface is lumpy and bulgy which will cause the brake to grab more on one section of the wheel than others. You will not have smooth braking. The stock rim is also too flexy so you’ll end up with the brake pads rubbing the rim when you pedal hard, for example when climbing up a hill. That all adds up to making the brake more of a pain than it is worth.
You don’t need a brake on a Coker even if you’re going up and down hills. You can get along without it. If you ride steeper hills regularly and you have difficulty controlling the Coker on the downhills then get longer cranks.
A brake is nice if you have it, and have a good Airfoil wheel. It lets you relax a bit on the downhills and saves some wear and tear on the legs. If you have bad knees you’ll appreciate the brake even more.
Even if the remanufactured Coker is no longer available, you could still buy a regular Coker and an extra-wide Unicycle.com hub. Then have someone rebuild the wheel using the extra-wide hub. You’ll end up with a stronger wheel than a pure stock Coker.
If you can splurge, the Airfoil rim along with the extra-wide hub is a worthy upgrade. Especially if you’re thinking about riding a little bit on the aggressive side with it (which includes riding off curbs).
well, when gb4 did the ride across iowa he had a brake. didn’t use it much despite numerous hills where it would’ve helped. Unless you have and awesomely strong rim and good wheelbulild you’re really asking for your run to come out of true. Coker wheels and a pain to true back up and if the brake is more than just for show you’ll pull a cheap rim waaay out of true right away.
Anyone know the answer to my question. Is there much of a difference between the V brake and the hydraulic? If one were to get a brake, would the optional V-brake that comes with the coker be sufficient for riding with ease down long steep hills?
stopping power is not an issue, as you need little of it to slow your unicycle.
V-brakes would be cheaper and stop you just as good.
Hydraulic brakes look cleaner, don’t have to worry about pointy frayed cable ends sticking into your legs, and you can adjust the pads by turning a knob on the lever to set the brakes pad in to constantly rub the wheel slightly (sy, to take some bite of a long down hill, if you had the brakes slightly on, you wouldn’t have to worry about using your muscles as much for slowing power)
Either brake will pretty much work fine and run smoothly for a long time. People say hydro’s are hassle free, which is true to an extent, but I have broken 3 $70 hyrdraulic levers on unicycles, buy that lever hitting the ground. I have gone through my supply of brake levers and will not be getting more.
One nice thing about the Magura hydraulic brake is that the pads will not move if/when your legs rub against the brake cylinders on the fork. The brake cylinders are also smooth so they don’t scratch you if/when your legs rub them.
The arms on a V-brake will activate if/when your legs rub against them. The brake arm movement will cause the pad to rub the rim. That is not desirable and could lead to a UPD. The brake arms on a V-brake also have angular edges and pointy bits that will scratch your legs if/when you rub your legs against them. A V-brake also sticks out more than the hydraulic brake which causes more brake rubbing on your leg.
Some people have more of a problem with rubbing the brake with their legs than other people. It depends on a bunch of factors like how long your legs are (people with longer legs may not have as much of a problem), how large your thighs are, whether you ride bow legged, the size of the unicycle, etc. Some people may never rub their leg on a brake while others will be constantly rubbing their legs against it.
I have a short little stubby boom that I can install in place of my long touring JC Coker Handle. It’s basically the boom that I used here in JC Coker Handle revision Beta 1 but without the red stem and barend handles. Its main purpose is to protect the brake handle that I have mounted under the seat on my Coker.
So, it would probably be worth the 34 dollar difference between the V brake and the hydraulic. Im not planning on getting a coker until maybe the summer, if i have enough money, so i will have time to try out someone elses coker and see if my legs rub near the wheel. I think the coker i tried at a uni meet in DC had V brakes on it and i didnt seem to have any problems with it. Thanks for your replies.
The Magura brake is worth the price difference. It just works better than the mechanical V-brake. But the hydraulic brakes also have their own issues. If you get a leak in the brake hose or the fittings you will have to bleed the brake and new fluid (the fluid is mineral oil based). That process is messy and a real pain to do. It also requires some special tools to do. You can order a bleeding kit from Magura that contains the necessary equipment (a large syringe, some special fittings, an extra tube, and some brake oil fluid).
If you’re saving up for a Coker I would consider a brake to be the last thing to upgrade to. You’ll do much better to put money into an upgraded wheel and then a better frame before splurging on a brake. Spend the money on the wheel first, heck even consider getting a U-Turn strongest Coker wheel in the world. A brake can be added later in a year or two if you decide you really need it or can justify the money for it.
Yes.
I like having a brake on my coker. I had one on there with the stock rim and now with the airofofil too. I found it usefull even with the stock rim. I used it to give my knees some help on long/steep desents. I have a drag brake, with a friction shifter for a lever so I set it on a bit and let go and the presure remains. my brake was fitted by a bike shop useing second hand bits and pieces.
Sarah