Coker ride leads to -->An upgrade to my Qu-ax - Jim C's

Unicycles and Equipment
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So, I went on a long coker ride to Wal-mart…with no intentions of buying anything. Anyway, I rode the entire uphill/downhill-urban-sidewalk 4 mile or so trip without a single upd. This doesn’t sound like too much of an accomplishment until you see the hills and traffic I swiftly conquered.

Anyway, I arrived at Wal-Mart really thirsty. I spotted some soda machines out front and confronted them. I reached into my wallet, but to my dismay found two lonely $5 bills; both of which would not work in the machines.

Disappointed and dehydrated, I headed back about a half a mile to the Dunkin Donuts where I got a Large Iced Caramale Latte (with whipped cream, caramel, cream, and sugar) for $3.99. :slight_smile:

(I feel its appropriate to include my favorite ‘quote from a non-rider’ right here) “Ohh you go boy, and don’t you neva come back oh oh!”

I casually made my way back down mainstreet and took a short detour through a park to show off to some little kids and their mothers. As I approahed 1st street I figured I’d stop at the only bike shop in the area (Merdocks)…again without intentions of buying anything…but merely to look cool walking into a ‘bike’ shope with a 36" unicycle.

At the door one of two young kids asked me if I was getting my tricycle fixed at Merdocks. I kindly replied, “Unicycle, and nah, I’m just having a look around.”

I took a look at their helmets (skater style), but even the largest size wouldn’t fit on my large head :o . Then I looked at the pedals. I saw they had some Jim C’s…so I bought a pair for my qu-ax back at the dorm.

On my way out of the shop an old man asked me if I was going to ride it, and how big the wheel was. I made my way back about 2 miles or so from that point with the blue bag swung over my shoulder.

I took the pins out of one side of one pedal (i’m going to go out now and try and grind a bench) and went to put it in. Like a complete idiot, I spent the better part of 15 mins trying to shove the pedal in, cursing both qu-ax and jim c for the lack of compatibility. I managed to get it in all the way…but sat there puzzled, examining the other pedal…

“L,” I read. Hmmm. %$#@&!*(! What a freakin moron. I didn’t know it matter which pedal went on which crank. I took of the pedal, and to my delight found that the other one went in smoothly, and that I had not completely stripped the crank :o .

Then I had to go through the hassle of putting the pins back into one pedal and taking them off of the other.

So…thats my story, just thought I’d share. Here’s a pic:

Doesn’t really match…but who cares?

The pedals feel really good…very sticky. I’m going out to test them further right now. Peace :slight_smile:

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I think it looks awesome!

I recently bought new pedals. Bright green, with my red rim, red cranks, and red saddle:)

3

Haha nice.

Yea, I kinda like it. It just looks upgraded.

EDIT: Just came back from the ride btw. They are SWEET! I grinded about a foot on the bench…I’ve got to get the hang of that lol.

But I just felt more controlled. I defintely beat my hopping record. I hopped up to a ledge that I’m certain is close to the height of 6 pallets. I’ll have to measure it somehow (I don’t have a ruler or anything). I required much less prehops. Also, pedal grabbing onto ledges felt much more controlled. I think it has to do with the thinness and platform shape of the pedals in comparison to the bulky ones that came with the qu-ax.

I’m paranoid that my left one is going to come loose after I probably semi-stripped the crank :frowning:

4

That is sweet, I think that random colored pedals look cool.

I have been thinking of getting some new pedals for my qu-ax to. I was looking at Oddesy twisted, but maby I should take a better look at Jim c’s.

Are they much lighter then the stock pedals?

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I’m all about the odyssey twisted plastics.

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I can’t note any significant weight difference now that they are on…and I didn’t think to compare them side by side off of the unicycle either lol. They look lighter though, don’t they?

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Take it to a bike shop and have them check the threads on the left crank to see if they got partially stripped. They’ll be able to tell you what the situation is.

If the threads are too damaged to be reliable you can fix it by getting a helicoil insert put in or by getting new cranks. The helicoil insert should be cheaper than the new cranks. It’s a machining operation to retap the damaged threads and then insert the helicoil. The helicoil looks like a spring and becomes the new threads. A good bike shop should have the correct helicoil and tap for pedal threads. You might have to shop around at several bike shops to find one that has the proper tooling.

Darren Bedford has the helicoils and taps if you want to send the crank off to him. But you should be able to get it done locally without having to deal with shipping back and forth to Darren.

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valuable information: pedals should screw in nice and easy…

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How much did you pay for those Jim C’s at the bikeshop? I’m thinking about replacing my pedals with those sometime, and I think buying from a bikeshop would be cheaper then ordering off the internet. But so far I’ve been too laszy to call my LBS and find out…

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Same price as UDC…something like $35. I was hoping they’d be cheaper too. They seems like really good pedals.

Thanks for the info John…and for that pointer Brian lol.

I took a look inside of the crank myself before i put the pedals in a second time. Everything looked okay…There is only one bike shop that i know of within 30 miles of here so…I think i’m just going to hope for the best with the crank.

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I’m surprised you were able to get that pedal to go in at all. Just keep an eye on it until you can get it fixed properly (the Helicoil mentioned earlier). And don’t ride too hard on it until then.

Anyway. Really nice looking pedals.

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Thanks.

Gee, the more people that reply to this thread, the more of an idiot I feel like lol. See the thing was…the pedal went in relatively easy about half way. I thought it was strange…but assumed maybe qu-ax had put some sort of grease/glue-like substance in there to keep it snug so it’d just require a bit more elbow grease.

I really don’t feel like going through the hassle of this hellcoil process…I really think it’s okay.

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I was wondering how you had enough money. :thinking: :thinking:

2x 5 dollar bills = $10.00

$10.00 -$4.00 (for Iced coffee)= $6.00

$6.00- $35.00(for pedals) = $-29.00

Where did the extra $29.00 come from?

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Debit card :wink:

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This thread might get bumped occasionally just for fun. :smiley:

Send an email to Darren to see what his charge and availability and turnaround time is for a left crank helicoil. You are almost certainly going to have to do it.

Don’t feel too bad. Many other people make the same or similar mistake and damage the pedal threads in the crank. If it didn’t happen much there would be no need for shops or Darren to stock a special reverse tap and special helicoil for the left crank threads. Everyone who does maintenance on bikes or unicycles has messed up a thread or done something to mess up a part at some point. I’m no exception.

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Idk are you sure? I rode it pretty roughly right after i put the pedals on and it was fine. I haven’t ridden it since then (I’ve been taking the coker).

Is this ‘helicoil’ process not doable after a certain extent of damage is done?

What if I waited it out to see if any damage was actually done?

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I’m just taking an educated guess that you are likely going to need to helicoil the threads to fix them. It’s possible you only munched the first section of threads and that the pedal is getting all of its support from just a few threads at the back of the crank. Those few threads aren’t going to last too long but they may be enough to hold for now.

The helicoil process will be easier if there are existing threads for the tap to follow. But that’s not necessary. What they do is tap the hole to a larger size with threads designed to hold the helicoil. Then the helicoil is threaded in and secured with Loctite. The result is a hole with new threads the size of the original threads.

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Nice dude I have the same pedals they rock! Go Jimmy C’s!!!

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I like to call them JCs. Not that I have a selfish reason to have that opinion or something. :slight_smile:

-JC

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lol