building a uw

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Can anyone give me advice or instructions on building an ultimate wheel?

2

Here are two options:

http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/uwmenu.html

and

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/ultimate.asp

I think there was another website with instructions as well. I will post the URL as soon as I find it.

Have fun,
Fred

3

3rd URL

Here is the other URL:

http://members.tripod.com/~igfs/myownuw.HTM

Have fun,
Fred

4

Do ultimate wheels only work when the pedals are really close in to the rest of the wheel? I’m building a custom 24" unicycle and before I send the parts away to get a frame made I wanted to try to ride it as an ultimate wheel (a unicycle without the frame and saddle). Would this work?

5

I have just finished building a UW and had my first try yesterday. From this minimal experience I would not want to learn on an expensive custom wheel. I have come off a few times with my full weight still on one pedal, this hammers the other pedal into the concrete floor.

Some people do ride dismantled Uni’s as UW’s but it is apparently harder than having the pedals close to the wheel.

Keith

6

A solid wooden wheel is much easier to learn on and will take the abuse much better. You can rub your feet on the wood for stability and the narrow Q factor makes it easier to ballance.

If you are making your own pedal plates the steel needs to be pretty thick. I’ve bent several plates over the years. Bunny hopping gives them the most abuse. I beleive one of the uni vendors (unicycle.com?) sells plates but I don’t know what quality they are. The ‘myownum’ link didn’t look very strong, just my opinion.

While youve got the jigsaw out cut an oval hole near the rim to use as a handle. UWs are a pain to carry.

Basically…

get an old bike wheel 24" or 26", a pices of 3/4" plywood, and some old steel cranks and a couple of bits of plate or buy some UW pedal plates.

Remove the spokes from the wheel.

Place the rim in the wood and draw round the inside.

Cut out the wood.

Cut out a small ‘U’ for the valve.

Put the rim over the wood (It should be a tight fit) and screw the rim on through the spoke holes.

Drill a large hole on each side of the wood where the cranks will go. The best way to do this is to use a spade bit but don’t drill all the way through.

If you are making plates then drill a hole for the pedal and a few holes for the screws, weld or braze the ends of the cranks onto the plates and screw the plates to the wood. Use About 10 3/4" screws.

Give it a snazzy, swirly paint job, fit the tyre and pedals and away you go.

That’s it

If anybody want plates welded I can do it for you if you supply the bits (and live in central, south UK)