Stumbled upon this page surfing the 'Net.
http://www.geocities.com/skullfracture/Unicycle.html
that was weird.i take a guess that it never turned out to work or he/she just gave up.
Re: Coasting unicycle?
On Fri, 17 May 2002 18:08:45 -0500, jagur
<jagur.4tljm@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>that was weird.i take a guess that it never turned out to work or he/she
>just gave up.
Jagur, how could you get to the page? My browser says it’s offline 17
- 19 May for maintenance.
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“IACIS, Siemens, Carlos”
klass
i guess i got lucky,the whole thing was pretty uninformative and old anyway. you arnt missing anything.
check it later i guess if your curiousity does’nt die down.
Re: Coasting unicycle?
> >that was weird.i take a guess that it never turned out to work or he/she
> >just gave up.
>
> Jagur, how could you get to the page? My browser says it’s offline 17
> - 19 May for maintenance.
Same way I did, probably.
Remember the old coaster brakes on bicycles? Wouldn’t that work on a
unicycle? Sure, you couldn’t pedal backward, but so what? Lean forward too
far, pedal faster. Lean backward too far, brake a little.
Re: Coasting unicycle?
> Remember the old coaster brakes on bicycles? Wouldn’t that work on a
> unicycle? Sure, you couldn’t pedal backward, but so what? Lean forward too
> far, pedal faster. Lean backward too far, brake a little.
>
> About 15 years ago I built a mini-giraffe and put a bicycle coaster hub in
it. I was thinking the same thing. As it turned out the distance you need
to pedal to engage the brake was too great. By the time the brake could be
enganged I’d already hit the ground!
I am interested to know if anyone has succesfully ridden a unicycle that had
a coaster hub.
-mg
Re: Coasting unicycle?
“Michael Grant” <michael_j_grant@msn.com> wrote in message
news:OvQnSj4$BHA.1980@cpimsnntpa03…
> > Remember the old coaster brakes on bicycles? Wouldn’t that work on a
> > unicycle? Sure, you couldn’t pedal backward, but so what? Lean forward
too
> > far, pedal faster. Lean backward too far, brake a little.
> >
> > About 15 years ago I built a mini-giraffe and put a bicycle coaster hub
in
> it. I was thinking the same thing. As it turned out the distance you
need
> to pedal to engage the brake was too great. By the time the brake could
be
> enganged I’d already hit the ground!
>
> I am interested to know if anyone has succesfully ridden a unicycle that
had
> a coaster hub.
If you have access to someone who knows how to fiddle these hubs I think
there’s something you can do to them to decrease the amount you have to
pedal backwards, I think it may involve machining a new brake shoe though.
A better way to do this on a giraffe would be,
make a two chain giraffe (like a DM)
buy two bmx freecoaster hubs, cut the non drive side off both and weld them
together to make a two sided freecoaster, with a drive cog on each side of
the hub. This hub will go backwards when you pedal backwards, go forward
when you pedal forwards and coast when you don’t pedal.
From what I can see on the web, freecoaster internals aren’t very wide, so
you could probably make the two sided freecoaster hub the same width as a
normal freecoaster, so you wouldn’t need a new axle.
The problem with this would be backpedalling if you were going forwards
fast, because you’d pedal backwards a bit, the backwards freecoaster clutch
would kick in and the pedals would want to turn forwards rather fast I
think.
I think this would mean that you’d be buggered if you wanted to go fast
downhill and I don’t really see any other point in coasting, it doesn’t save
you any energy on the flat, so this is a bit of a pointless solution.
I reckon you could learn to ride with a normal freewheel combined with a rim
or disc brake, it shouldn’t be that much more difficult than riding around
in a wheelie on a bike should it?
Joe
Re: Coasting unicycle?
> I reckon you could learn to ride with a normal freewheel combined with a
rim
> or disc brake, it shouldn’t be that much more difficult than riding around
> in a wheelie on a bike should it?
Excellent!
Re: Re: Coasting unicycle?
Maybe I’m picturing this differently from you, but I can’t see this working. When either of the hubs are going backwards (as one always will if the wheel is turning) then that will be causing the cog, and therefore the chain, to turn. The other hub may have the potential to freewheel, but as this is linked (via the chain) to the cranks which are being turned by the first hub, then the cog will not be freewheeling but turning at the same speed as the wheel.
I hope that made some sort of sense.
Have fun!
Graeme
Re: Coasting unicycle?
“Graeme” <Graeme.4ybwy@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:Graeme.4ybwy@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
> Maybe I’m picturing this differently from you, but I can’t see this
> working. When either of the hubs are going backwards (as one always
> will if the wheel is turning) then that will be causing the cog, and
> therefore the chain, to turn. The other hub may have the potential to
> freewheel, but as this is linked (via the chain) to the cranks which are
> being turned by the first hub, then the cog will not be freewheeling but
> turning at the same speed as the wheel.
No, it won’t, that’s why you have to use a ‘freecoaster’ hub rather than a
normal freewheel hub. Freecoasters only engage when you pedal forwards.
This is something for bmx bikes which means the bike can go backwards
without turning the pedals backwards, useful for any backwards trick that
you need a foot on the pedals for.
Joe
Re: Re: Coasting unicycle?
Okay. That’s the bit that I meant to put in “unless BMX hubs do something I’m not familiar with” and that definitely fits the description. Do you know how they work? I’m just wondering how they can tell the difference between pedaling forward and rolling back/not pedaling. Do they use some sort of frame connected arm (like geared hubs)?
Have fun!
Graeme
RE: Coasting unicycle?
> I reckon you could learn to ride with a normal freewheel
> combined with a rim or disc brake, it shouldn’t be that
> much more difficult than riding around
> in a wheelie on a bike should it?
Yes it should. The handle and leverage provided by the “rest” of a bike in a
wheelie does a lot to help you balance it. This is very true for going
foward, but a lot less true if you’re trying to turn a lot. Holding onto all
of that bike gives you more leeway for correction of balance. On a unicycle
with a brake, your corrections have to be faster and more accurate.
JF
Re: Re: Coasting unicycle?
I think Michael Grant’s question here is the most appropriate. It would take a highly skilled rider to balance a unicycle like that and they would be doing alot of work if the surface were at all irregular. Has anyone done it?
RE: Coasting unicycle?
> I think Michael Grant’s question here is the most
> appropriate. It would
> take a highly skilled rider to balance a unicycle like that and they
> would be doing alot of work if the surface were at all irregular. Has
> anyone done it?
Ken Fuchs made one about 10-15 years ago, and brought it to some
conventions. He was able to ride it with some success, though the difficulty
level is still somewhere in the area of coasting with feet on the frame, or
riding a B.C. wheel.
I believe Ken’s unicycle used some form of needle bearing that was a one-way
type, so it pedaled forward, and did nothing backward. You accelerated until
you stopped pedaling.
But then I think the bearings died, and I don’t know if he ever rebuilt it.
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
“Vehicularly-Injured Sperm-Count seat: better known by it’s abbreviated
name, Viscount.” David Stone, on saddle preference
Re: Coasting unicycle?
John Foss <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote:
>Ken Fuchs made one about 10-15 years ago, and brought it to some
>conventions. He was able to ride it with some success, though the difficulty
>level is still somewhere in the area of coasting with feet on the frame, or
>riding a B.C. wheel.
Tom Miller and I made it together.
>I believe Ken’s unicycle used some form of needle bearing that was a one-way
>type, so it pedaled forward, and did nothing backward. You accelerated until
>you stopped pedaling.
It used a special needle bearing. The bearing would allow the axel to
rotate in one direction (free wheel), but not the other direction. The
needle bearings can move slightly in the direction of axel movement in
depressions that are normal depth on one side (i.e. the clockwise side) and
shallow depth on the other side (i.e. the counter-clockwise side). Each
bearing turns freely on the deep side of its depression and binds tightly
against the axle on the shallow side of its depression. Thus the axle
turns freely in the clockwise direction (freewheels) and binds to the
bearing after a few degrees axel movement in the counter-clockwise
direction.
Instead of a normal hub, the unidirectional unicycle has a hub shell,
axel, a normal bearing on one side and a unidirectional bearing on the
other side. These two bearings are press fitted into each side of the
hub shell and the axel is placed inside these bearings. This hub
assembly is attached to a standard unicycle frame via two normal
unicycle bearings just like a normal hub would.
>But then I think the bearings died, and I don’t know if he ever rebuilt it.
Yes, the unidirectional (clutch) bearing failed after at least two
months of daily use of 1-2 hours each day. I bought some spares and
later reversed the direction of the seat, making it a backward-only drive
unicycle. It was originally a forward-only drive unicycle.
I don’t think the unidirectional bearing was up to the stress of
human powered crank torque. Also, the press fit seemed to get looser
after thousands of clutch uses (everytime pedaling was engaged), and I
switched the clutch bearing to the other side of the hub shell.
(Alternatively, the inside of the hub shell actually may have been
machined down too much on one end when originally made.) A
unidirectional bearing on each side might deal with the stress much
better. Or beefer clutch bearings, if they exist and are reasonably
priced. The ones I have were a little more than $10 each.
Sincerely,
Ken Fuchs <kfuchs@winternet.com>
Re: Coasting unicycle?
“John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1021916682.16441.rsu@unicycling.org…
> > I reckon you could learn to ride with a normal freewheel
> > combined with a rim or disc brake, it shouldn’t be that
> > much more difficult than riding around
> > in a wheelie on a bike should it?
>
> Yes it should. The handle and leverage provided by the “rest” of a bike in
a
> wheelie does a lot to help you balance it. This is very true for going
> foward, but a lot less true if you’re trying to turn a lot. Holding onto
all
> of that bike gives you more leeway for correction of balance. On a
unicycle
> with a brake, your corrections have to be faster and more accurate.
Doh, silly me, I worked that out on the way home, saw some kids with bmxes.
What about a unicycle with one of those coker handlebar things on it, maybe
that would help. Maybe a bike without the front forks would be a good start.
You could remove the handlebars and put the brake lever on the downtube when
you got good, then go to a coker handlebar once you’d worked out that and
finally onto the full on coasting unicycle.
Joe