My first (and only so far) unicycle was a 20" norco, and I have been using it for about four months. The style of unicycling I have been interested in was trials, but being the chicken i am, i find it hard to find the courage to do certain things like; going down stairs, going down ledges, hopping down things. And also my hopping is very low and i dont have the patience to improve it. So I have given up trials for a while. But anyways, a couple of nights ago I had this dream where me and some buddies of mine where riding down this street, them on their bikes, and me on a Coker. So one of them said, “Lets have a race,” so everyone starts going as fast as they can, as do i, and surpisingly, I was passing everyone, and i won the race. So now i want to get a Coker because I really like to ride my uni around, but i cant keep up with my buddies on bikes, and i heard that Cokers can reach speeds of 30 miles an hour!!
So now I have a couple questions:
I am 14, and about 5’3, would I be able to ride one, i saw in the gallery some videos of some younger kids riding cokers, is it harder if your short???
How much faster is a coker then a 29", and what are some pros and cons of both???
there are TONS of threads about the two, use the search feature.
Here is a summary:
Coker…fantastic!
29"…fantastic (according to those who don’t have a Coker)
My mom’s unicycling dream was of her blowing past me on her pearl white Coker, leaving me riding alone. (her only unicycling dream, and she doesn’t ride)
A Coker on 150mm cranks and a 28 or 29 on 110mm cranks would be broadly similar in maximum speed. However, the smaller wheel needs a more frantic cadence (more rpm!) so I find that I can’t sustain high speeds for as long on my 28 as on my Coker.
The 28/29 is safer in traffic and crowds, stronger, more versatile, but (I think) less fun.
As for 30mph…
I trained hard on my Coker for several weeks, and in ideal conditions, I averaged 12.5 - 13 mph approx. over an hour’s ride. That was with a maximum recorded speed of 15mph. More general riding produces an average of around 10mph, falling to 8mph off road.
That’s still very fast, and a fall at 15mph can hurt. With shorter cranks, I’m sure I could get up around 17 - 18mph for short bursts. I’m 40 yrs old and 145 pounds. A younger rider might manage a bit more.
Anything over 20mph is extreme, requiring lots of technique, practice, and short cranks. The 30mph you may have heard mentioned is not 'the norm!
Cokers are great fun, and can be a practical medium to long distance vehicle, on and off road. 50 mile days are acievable. They are not as fast as a bicycle with a rider of similar ability. 28/29 inch unicycles are fun, but I find mine more like a big 24 than a small Coker.
I competed in the marathon 10km race on my 29er, with 3.5" cranks, and i came in 6th. Behind 5 cokers, and ahead of many many more than 5. I was also ahead of a blue shift anyways, the 29er can be quite fast indeed. i’m not sure of my time, but when they post the results i’ll be able to find out my average speed. I really like my 29er, it’s amazing on uphills, and much lighter/ more nimble/more practicle than a coker.
As for coker dreams, i made a dream a reality, after trying a 7.5ft drop on a coker at NAUCC. The right crank was very mangled, but the “world’s strongest coker wheel” was still almost perfectly true!!!
I just got a Pashley 29er, I have owned a Coker for three years, and if I had a choice it would be the Coker. It is fun, fast, and with long cranks, good for hills and trails. A Coker will make you a better unicyclist and probably teach you some things about mechanics as well; [evil laugh].
Let me ask you this, where will you be riding? Country roads or lakeside trails-Coker. Inner city sidewalks-29er or fat tire muni.
I’ve only had the Pashley for a few days, when I have ridden a few more trails I will Write a review of it. I plan to be fair and unpartial. Happy Shopping! carjug
I hope it was the 150’s that got mangled and not the 170’s. Better to wreck a crank than the square taper.
I tried 4" on a 28 and found for my riding level downhills were out of control. In the 10K I was on U-Turn’s Coker still way before the turn when Ryan went by the other direction, he was flying. I find 125’s on the 28 very ridable but definity not as quick. I have a feeling 110’s will be the length for me.
On a coker with 125s I have had a max of 18.3 mph. I also have some 102’s but they scare me. Get a coker!! It is completely different to anything else you will have ridden and they are so much fun.
>I hope it was the 150’s that got mangled and not the 170’s. Better to
>wreck a crank than the square taper.
I agree with the second sentence but I don’t see the relation with the
first one. Could you explain, UniBrier? Sure, longer cranks are more
‘dangerous’ to the square taper, but if a drop or whatever can bend
the crank, it could also damage the taper. So regardless of whether it
was a 150 or a 170 crank that got ‘very mangled’, the taper was
equally at risk.
In fact we haven’t heard Ryan say that the taper was OK, only that the
wheel was almost perfectly true after the event. Intriguing use of
‘almost’, BTW.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“the helmet is to protect the brain, not replace it. - iunicycle”
The winning time was 25 minutes by Elijah Parker. Don’t know how that compares to last year. This course was a lot less flat than last year, and bumpier. Huh? There were several large hills (including one that was not recommended for Cokers to ride down), plus the bike path had lots of cracks and other small bumps in it.
I have a picture of Ryan crossing the finish line on his 29". This means he was at least a minute or more behind me. I was over 2 minutes behind Elijah. This does not mean a 29" is not faster. If you switched unicycles between him and Elijah, I have a feeling Elijah would have smoked us anyway.
Not that Ryan should feel bad, he won the MUni a few hours later. Not the easiest combination to have the 10k and cross country race back to back! Not to mention that at 3 or 3.5 miles, this was the longest MUni race we’ve ever done!
So Coker or 29". Both will be tons faster than your 20". But be realistic; the bike will still average out to be faster
The 170’s were a much beefier crank, I forget the brand. U-Turn put on the 150’s for me for the 10K, I believe they were just steel cranks. Between the extra length and strenghth of the 170’s I think the taper/hub would be damaged from a drop that big.
Roger Davies won the UNICON 11 10K unlimited division in 24:12:63 as compared to Elijah Parker’s NAUCC 2003 time of 25:21:50. Your 2002 10K unlimited time was 27:15:51. If you finishd third, your NAUCC 2003 time was 27:30:22
Xu Chen won the UNICON 11 2002 10K standard division with a time of 30:22:32. Sorry, but I’m not sure who won the 10K standard division this year. I have all of the finishing times for the 10K and the MUni cross-country in an Excel file I dumped from our 500 splits stopwatch, but I don’t have the order of finish (i.e., the pull off tags).
Ok so he is getting faster then if the cause was hillier. I am interested because I only race once every 2 years and at UNICON 11 I knew I could go faster, but did not (I kept the speed down to 16mph) but two years before I did about a minute faster, I think, on a very hilly course including being stopped and held by the Chinese officials after one lap for about a minute… It did make me mad and you should have seen me charge up the hill after the Chinese lad they had allowed past me… that was full speed!
anyways, the 29er can be quite fast indeed. i’m not sure of my time, but when they post the results i’ll be able to find out my average speed. I really like my 29er, it’s amazing on uphills, and much lighter/ more nimble/more practicle than a coker.
