It arrived by UPS yesterday morning and my nephew and I took turns riding it
last night. It is awesome! (and I use to think a 24" wheel was fast).
John and Amy Drummond (Unicycle Source, 1-800-UNICYCLE ), thank you for
suggesting that I also get the knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards. Neither
one of us fell down, but when you can ride faster than you can run, it’s best to
have protection.
I was able to free mount it very easily, but rocking is kind of hard. In fact,
it is easier to slow ride than rock.
As soon as I get done with my morning coffee and some breakfast, I’ll take
another spin around the neighborhood.
The Coker can be that fast. A cruising speed of 10-11 MPH is easy to maintain.
Occasional bursts up to 14 MPH can also happen. I’m not good enough at spinning
to go much faster than that.
If you dismount at about 10 MPH you can usually run it off and stay on your
feet. If you dismount at higher speeds you are going to end up sliding on your
hands, knees and elbows till you stop just like a baseball player doing a head
first slide into second base.
With the proper safety equipment you won’t get injured. Try it withoug the
proper equipment and you’ll look like road pizza and the ride for the day (and
the next week) will be over.
Find some comfortable inline skating pads with a hard plastic cap. The hard
plastic caps let you slide on the pavement without digging in. Pads with a soft
cover will bite in the pavement and probably will not stay in place as you
slide. Gloves and/or wrist guards are also a must.
Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet are all good things to wear when
playing on the Coker.
From: “UniCoastie” <exfloridians@ecsu.campuscwix.net> > >Kevin L. Seaman wrote in message <37A86173.64ADCA98@home.com>… > > snip > > >guards. Neither one of us fell down, but when you can ride faster than you > >can run, it’s best to have protection. > > > > It’s really THAT fast???
I just got back from Unicycle across Minesota. Lots of fun. I did most
of the ride on my 28" with 114mm cranks but on the last day I got a flat
in my air seat so I rode on the spare Coker we had along. the big
difference I noticed was that the coker was faster. I could go about 11
or 12 mph by just pedaling comfterbly and going faster wasn’t too much
extra work. on my 28" I would go about 8 or 9 with the same effort and
going faster was alot more work. The coker acellerated much slower than
my 28" and also took alot longer to slow down. the other thing that
happened was that I was taking alot less breaks on the coker. I would
take a break about every 5 miles where I was taking them about ever mile
or so on my 28". I think if I had my own coker I would probibly put on
125mm cranks instead of the 150s that it comes with. three of the four
people on the ride with cokers had short cranks and they all liked them.
I would also put on good metal pedals and probibly a break as well after
seeing how well Roger’s worked. It was deffinently a nice uni however I
think I would prefer my 28" in a situation that required lots of
turning, stoping and starting like riding in a city.
>Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet are all good things to wear when >playing on the Coker.
I had one crash on the coker. when coming into International Falls we
where riding i a big groop going about 8 mph. I was watching a van back
out of an intercetion and not paying much attention when I hit a big
crack and got launched off the uni 3 or 4 feet. I didn't get hurt but I
was glad that I had gloves or my palms would have gotten torn up.
besides gloves, I don't think that the other protection equipment is
nessisary if you'r paying attention.
Peter
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In message “Coker sighting in Southern California”, Kevin L. Seaman wrote… >I LOVE MY NEW 36" COKER!!! > >It arrived by UPS yesterday morning and my nephew and I took turns riding it >last night. It is awesome! (and I use to think a 24" wheel was fast). > >John and Amy Drummond (Unicycle Source, 1-800-UNICYCLE ), thank you for >suggesting that I also get the knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards. Neither >one of us fell down, but when you can ride faster than you can run, it’s best >to have protection. > >I was able to free mount it very easily, but rocking is kind of hard. In fact, >it is easier to slow ride than rock.
I have been rocking on this afternoon. The secret is not to let the wheel flow
UNDER you, as in normal rocking, but move WITH the wheel. This is the exact
opposite of rocking on a normal uni.
>As soon as I get done with my morning coffee and some breakfast, I’ll take >another spin around the neighborhood. > >Then it’s off to work… > >Kevin > >
Regards, Jack Halpern Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society, http://www.kanji.org
Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323
Oh yes it can be very fast. I’ve had mine up to 18.1mph, but Kevin Gilbertson
has hit 24.5mph(!!) and lived to tell the tale, crashfree. After riding mine now
for 4 months, I can maintain 12-13 ok, and burst up to 17 no problem. I can tell
you, avoid crashing at 18.1mph!
—Nathan
John Childs <john_childs@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:19990816200907.41350.qmail@hotmail.com… > The Coker can be that fast. A cruising speed of 10-11 MPH is easy to maintain. > Occasional bursts up to 14 MPH can also happen. I’m not good enough at > spinning to go much faster than that. > > If you dismount at about 10 MPH you can usually run it off and stay on
your > feet. If you dismount at higher speeds you are going to end up sliding on your > hands, knees and elbows till you stop just like a baseball player
doing > a head first slide into second base. > > With the proper safety equipment you won’t get injured. Try it withoug
the > proper equipment and you’ll look like road pizza and the ride for the day (and > the next week) will be over. > > Find some comfortable inline skating pads with a hard plastic cap. The
hard > plastic caps let you slide on the pavement without digging in. Pads with
a > soft cover will bite in the pavement and probably will not stay in place
as > you slide. Gloves and/or wrist guards are also a must. > > Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet are all good things to wear
when > playing on the Coker. > > john_childs@hotmail.com > > From: “UniCoastie” <exfloridians@ecsu.campuscwix.net> > > > >Kevin L. Seaman wrote in message <37A86173.64ADCA98@home.com>… > > > > snip > > > > >guards. Neither one of us fell down, but when you can ride faster than you > > >can run, it’s best to have protection. > > > > > > > > It’s really THAT fast???
> I just got back from Unicycle across Minesota. Lots of fun. I did most > of the ride on my 28" with 114mm cranks but on the last day I got a > flat in my air seat so I rode on the spare Coker we had along. > …
I agree with Peter it was fun. It was also hard and I would like to thank
everyone who sent us emails of support, it was enouraging.
Peter sent only one day on the coker so he was able to give a good comparison of
them and 28". What I noticed was that changing to the short cranks reduced
effort and wear on the knees and crouch - hence allowing greater riding between
stops. It did not give me a greater top speed. I did notice that my averages
increased as the week went on after a dip on the second day.
12.2 down to 11.7 and then by the end of the ride it was at 14.1 mph! When ever
I stopped, I would set off at about 12 and then after a mile or so it would
be 13, after another it would be 14, another it would be 15 etc. I always
tried to stop at every 5 miles as I thought it was good for my health to by
that time I would be cruising at between 16.5 and 17 mph. This I think is my
happy cruising speed on the coker with the short cranks, I found I had seat
and kneed problems if I tried to stay at lower speeds.
As for helmet, kneepads and gloves… Yes, I know I should have been wearing
them but I only had 4 un-intentional dismounts (excluding mounts with the short
cranks) in 479 miles. But I did have 2 serious splats - the first being so bad
that the picture of me displaying the wounds was thought to be too bad to show
on the net: but personally I have had considerably worse on a bike and it didn’t
really stop me smiling.
In message “Re: Coker sighting in Southern California”, Nathan Hoover wrote… >Oh yes it can be very fast. I’ve had mine up to 18.1mph, but Kevin Gilbertson >has hit 24.5mph(!!) and lived to tell the tale, crashfree. After riding mine >now for 4 months, I can maintain 12-13 ok, and burst up to 17 no problem. I >can tell you, avoid crashing at 18.1mph!
Has anyone changed the crankarms on the coker. I find it hard to build up high
speed with the current crankarms.
>—Nathan > >John Childs <john_childs@hotmail.com> wrote in message >news:19990816200907.41350.qmail@hotmail.com… >> The Coker can be that fast. A cruising speed of 10-11 MPH is easy to >> maintain. Occasional bursts up to 14 MPH can also happen. I’m not good >> enough at spinning to go much faster than that. >> >> If you dismount at about 10 MPH you can usually run it off and stay on >your >> feet. If you dismount at higher speeds you are going to end up sliding on >> your hands, knees and elbows till you stop just like a baseball player >doing >> a head first slide into second base. >> >> With the proper safety equipment you won’t get injured. Try it withoug >the >> proper equipment and you’ll look like road pizza and the ride for the day >> (and the next week) will be over. >> >> Find some comfortable inline skating pads with a hard plastic cap. The >hard >> plastic caps let you slide on the pavement without digging in. Pads with >a >> soft cover will bite in the pavement and probably will not stay in place >as >> you slide. Gloves and/or wrist guards are also a must. >> >> Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet are all good things to wear >when >> playing on the Coker. >> >> john_childs@hotmail.com >> >> From: “UniCoastie” <exfloridians@ecsu.campuscwix.net> >> > >> >Kevin L. Seaman wrote in message <37A86173.64ADCA98@home.com>… >> > >> > snip >> > >> > >guards. Neither one of us fell down, but when you can ride faster than >> > >you can run, it’s best to have protection. >> > >> > >> > >> > It’s really THAT fast??? > > >
Regards, Jack Halpern Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society, http://www.kanji.org
Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323
Jack Halpern wrote: > Has anyone changed the crankarms on the coker. I find it hard to build up high > speed with the current crankarms.
I replaced the 6inch (approx 152mm) cranks with 165mm ones. The 6inch cranks
scared me–I don’t need to go that fast, thank you. My creaky knees thanked me
for making it easier to speed up and slow down. My average speed on my regular
25 mile ride is only 9 mph, though.
Jack Halpern <jack@kanji.org> wrote in message news:199908170115.AA02006@mail.kanji.org… > Greetings > > > Has anyone changed the crankarms on the coker. I find it hard to build up high > speed with the current crankarms.
I actually like the 6" (152mm) cranks the Coker comes with. Shorter would be
faster, but it’s already hard to get up/down steep hills, idle etc. Longer would
fix these, but make high speed commuting worse. For the riding I do, 6" seems to
be the ticket. I tried riding a 48" wheel with much shorter cranks, 5" or maybe
less - WAY too short.
—Nathan, 11.1mph average on the way to work today!
In message “Re: Coker sighting in Southern California”, Ted Howe wrote… >Jack Halpern wrote: >> Has anyone changed the crankarms on the coker. I find it hard to build up >> high speed with the current crankarms. > I replaced the 6inch (approx 152mm) cranks with 165mm ones. The 6inch cranks >scared me–I don’t need to go that fast, thank you. My creaky knees thanked me >for making it easier to speed up and slow down. My average speed on my regular >25 mile ride is only 9 mph, though.
6" cranks are not for going fast – they’re for going slow! I believe anything
longer than 6" is quite uncomfortable. The only unicycle I ever felt
justification for 6.5" cranks is a big wheel made form a heavy wagon wheel that
I built long ago.
There are some riders in Japan quite happy with 5" cranks on a 42" wheels, and
Guiness world record holder Koike I believe even used to ride with 4.5" cranks!