I’ve been riding my Coker around Fullerton University lately. Latest
practice maneuver is front seat drags (The ultimate Coker wheel
training!).They have some cool steps that are pretty big. At this point I
can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about 30 inches. Tonight the
spokes gave a bit- and bent on impact after a large drop, but they sprung
right back!. Cool.
So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
your Cokers?
Chris C
chris_carey@yahoo.com writes:
>I’ve been riding my Coker around Fullerton University lately. Latest
>practice maneuver is front seat drags (The ultimate Coker wheel
>training!).They have some cool steps that are pretty big. At this point I
>can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about 30 inches. Tonight
>the spokes gave a bit- and bent on impact after a large drop, but they
>sprung right back!. Cool.
>
>So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
>your Cokers?
OK, here is the thing. I am not sure Cokers were meant for jumps. If you
recall, Mark “Cokerhead” broke his HUB (never mind a spoke) simply slowing
down on a downhill. And he had taken pretty good care of the Coker to that
point if I recall correctly. At this stage, I won’t even go off a 4" curb
on my Coker if I can help it – why risk ruining my commute vehicle (I
haven’t’ even seen my 26" wheel since I discovered the joys of Cokering to
work). Jumping up seems a bit less dangerous to the hub, but not much, and
I have attempted no jumps.
When you drop down 30", are you on the seat? Is the seat low to absorb
the impact?
Anyhow, I’d love to practice these sorts of maneuvers in Toronto. Chris,
can I borrow yours?
David
You did a 30" drop on your Coker?! And it didn’t explode into many tiny
pieces? I think that’s amazing! I’m careful even riding off a curb on it
(ride smooth and straight). I’ve ridden down stairs a few times but don’t
do it anymore for fear of tacoing or otherwise damaging the fragile wheel.
David Maxfield tacoed his just hopping up a curb once, and was not able to
rebuild the wheel successfully.
If you do one of these larger drops again, could you please take a
photo/video so we can see it?
Good luck,
Nathan
PS How much do you weigh anyway?
“Chris Carey” <chris_carey@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4ZKK6.153$uW4.215712@news.pacbell.net…
> I’ve been riding my Coker around Fullerton University lately. Latest
> practice maneuver is front seat drags (The ultimate Coker wheel
> training!).They have some cool steps that are pretty big. At this point
> I can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about 30 inches. Tonight
> the spokes gave a bit- and bent on impact after a large drop, but they
> sprung right back!. Cool.
>
> So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
> your Cokers?
>
> Chris C
I’d like to get a Coker someday but wonder about it’s capacities. My scale
currently tips at around 285. I wonder if the wheel can be double spoked
for more strength and support…
Bruce
Nathan Hoover wrote:
> You did a 30" drop on your Coker?! And it didn’t explode into many tiny
> pieces? I think that’s amazing! I’m careful even riding off a curb on it
> (ride smooth and straight). I’ve ridden down stairs a few times but
> don’t do it anymore for fear of tacoing or otherwise damaging the
> fragile wheel. David Maxfield tacoed his just hopping up a curb once,
> and was not able to rebuild the wheel successfully.
>
> If you do one of these larger drops again, could you please take a
> photo/video so we can see it?
>
> Good luck,
> Nathan
>
> PS How much do you weigh anyway?
>
> “Chris Carey” <chris_carey@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:4ZKK6.153$uW4.215712@news.pacbell.net…
> > I’ve been riding my Coker around Fullerton University lately. Latest
> > practice maneuver is front seat drags (The ultimate Coker wheel
> > training!).They have some cool steps that are pretty big. At this
> > point I can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about 30 inches.
> > Tonight the spokes gave a bit- and bent on impact after a large drop,
> > but they sprung right back!. Cool.
> >
> > So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
> > your Cokers?
> >
> > Chris C
> At this point I can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about
> 30 inches.
> So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
> your Cokers?
You may be the holder of a record nobody else wants to challenge. I am not
a Coker owner myself, but I have had a big wheel long enough to see the
effects of long term use.
Though the Coker’s air tire can absorb a lot more impact than my
hard-tired wheel, the Coker wheel itself is inherently weak. This is not
to say the Coker isn’t a good quality cycle. You can’t even come close at
that price from any other maker, and that’s why the Coker is so popular.
But as you take the typical bicycle-type wheel and make it larger, it
automatically becomes weaker. As the rim gets further from the hub, the
leverage required to taco the wheel gets less. Also the spokes are further
apart at the rim. The Coker rim is made of a more heavy-duty cross section
than a typical smaller rim, but large size counts against it.
My big wheel was prone to getting flat spots in the rim. This should be
much less of a problem with the air tire, unless your drops are
compressing the tire until the rim hits (bad idea). But the Coker wheel’s
other main weakness is its narrow hub. If you increase the wheel diameter
without increasing the width between the hub flanges (the Coker uses a
standard unicycle axle), it makes the wheel more prone to collapsing due
to side forces. My big wheel has something like 6" between the flanges
(closer to a real 6" than a Sarah Miller 6"), plus a pretty big diameter
on the flanges.
Basically what this means is that you’re riding on eggshells. There is no
guarantee your wheel won’t collapse on the next drop. I am constantly
amazed at how well the Cokers hold up though. When I first saw it, the
compromises that were made to keep the cycle affordable were obvious. I
didn’t think the wheels would last as well as they have. But it’s
definitely not a MUni.
Stay on top (don’t ride a taco), John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com www.unicycling.com
“He who dies with the most toys is dead.”
> I’d like to get a Coker someday but wonder about it’s capacities. My
> scale currently tips at around 285. I wonder if the wheel can be double
> spoked for more strength and support…
>
> Bruce
>
Bruce, I weighed 255 when I started riding my Coker. The least I’ve
weighed since is 209. I’m scared to hop or jump much on any uni. I
never felt like the Coker couldn’t handle my weight for regular riding
tho. -Mark
That surprises me that you don’t own a Coker, John. I think that you will
be surprised how much abuse they can take. Along with my other post that
spoke of all the parts on my Coker that are broken or used; I failed to
mention the tire. It got so old i thought Id let this one go “until it
pops” to get more milage for my buck. It has been BALD for 2 months, then
it went into this thread / BALD combo,. It has been like this for another
3 months . You can see huge holes of rubber all over the tire. Still no
tire pop. Luck may be on my side.
-Chris C
“John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote in message
news:52CD02C3DAD2D411A3170002A528514206B4EB@SERVER…
> You may be the holder of a record nobody else wants to challenge.
> I am not
a
> Coker owner myself, but I have had a big wheel long enough to see the
> effects of long term use.
…
> But as you take the typical bicycle-type wheel and make it larger, it
> automatically becomes weaker. As the rim gets further from the hub, the
> leverage required to taco the wheel gets less. Also the spokes are
> further apart at the rim. The Coker rim is made of a more heavy-duty
> cross section than a typical smaller rim, but large size counts against
> it. Stay on top (don’t ride a taco),
…
> John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com www.unicycling.com
>
>
> “He who dies with the most toys is dead.”
I will surely try to get some shots next time.
Ive dropped that far on this coker at least 50 times already. I weigh in
at 155lbs. My coker is 2 years old or so. It seems to me that the sand and
salt on the thing is killing it, not the drops. After riding at the beach
on a number of occasions the wheel is rusted and the bearings are shot.
The post and seat are toast from doing seat drops and drags. Pedals are
broken in half from drops. Its definately time to get a new one… Though,
I still manage to ride it every day.
http://sublimespot.com/chris/unicycle/
-Chris C
“Nathan Hoover” <nathan@movaris.com> wrote in message
news:tfoer11d9ff3ba@corp.supernews.com…
> You did a 30" drop on your Coker?! And it didn’t explode into many
> tiny pieces? I think that’s amazing! I’m careful even riding off a
> curb on it (ride smooth and straight). I’ve ridden down stairs a few
> times but don’t
do
> it anymore for fear of tacoing or otherwise damaging the fragile wheel.
> David Maxfield tacoed his just hopping up a curb once, and was not able
> to rebuild the wheel successfully.
>
> If you do one of these larger drops again, could you please take a
> photo/video so we can see it?
>
> Good luck,
> Nathan
>
> PS How much do you weigh anyway?
>
> “Chris Carey” <chris_carey@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:4ZKK6.153$uW4.215712@news.pacbell.net…
> > I’ve been riding my Coker around Fullerton University lately.
> > Latest practice maneuver is front seat drags (The ultimate Coker
> > wheel training!).They have some cool steps that are pretty big. At
> > this point
I
> > can hop up about 12 inches and jump off drops about 30 inches. Tonight
the
> > spokes gave a bit- and bent on impact after a large drop, but they
sprung
> > right back!. Cool.
> >
> > So my question is, what is the highest drop or jumps YOU’VE done on
> > your Cokers?
> >
> > Chris C
On 11 May 2001 09:15:53 -0700, john_foss@asinet.com (John Foss) wrote:
>“He who dies with the most toys is dead.”
Obviously true. Still puzzles me though.
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “USS Cole, EP-3 Aries, Patriot”
I need a coker. I bet I could get some half-respectable drops out of one considering my mouse-like weight of only 120 lbs. (Though that would be a considerable mouse.)
But first I need to get a monitor for my comp… I’m stuck with a 14" old monitor that will go no higher than 640 x 480 for a resolution. It’s insane. I’m gonna get a 17". Oh, yes.
THEN, I’m gonna get a MUni… after I get the voltage regulator module to enable the second processor… Imagine! A dual Pentium Pro 233 when it should only be a single processor P Pro 200. The joys of overclocking.
Oh yeah, that was a bit “OT”. So sue me.
that is how you choose to revive this thread?
maybe i’ll think twice about linking old threads for referance in new theads like keaners… 