My father restores antique cars, and buys many hard-to-find tires from an
antique and custom tire maker, Coker Tires. Coker’s catalog lists a 36" unicycle
that sports their 36" by 2" inflatable tire ($295). They also make a “giant
cruiser” bike using these tires, and a smallish penny farthing.
Has anyone had experience with this beast?
Coker Tires (800) 251-6336 or http://www.coker.com
David Maxfield Seattle
Re: Coker Tire’s 36" Unicycle
Text item:
David Maxfield wrote:
>My father restores antique cars, and buys many hard-to-find tires from an
>antique and custom tire maker, Coker Tires. Coker’s catalog lists a 36"
>unicycle that sports their 36" by 2" inflatable tire ($295). They also make a
>“giant cruiser” bike using these tires, and a smallish penny farthing.
It sounds absolutely fascinating. I’ve never heard of a Coker unicycle(?), or a
Coker 36" tire. Are they selling a unicycle, or the most expensive cycle tire
I’ve ever heard of?
I didn’t find any reference to unicycles on their web page.
John Foss
Text item: External Message Header
The following mail header is for administrative use and may be ignored unless
there are problems.
IF THERE ARE PROBLEMS SAVE THESE HEADERS.
Reply-To: maxfieldd@aol.com (Maxfield D) Precedence: bulk Sender:
owner-unicycling@winternet.com Xref: paladin.american.edu
rec.sport.unicycling:5156 Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Admin:
news@aol.com NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder02.news.aol.com Message-ID:
<19980309165600.LAA05561@ladder02.news.aol.com> Lines: 11 Date: 9 Mar 1998
16:56:21 GMT Subject: Coker Tire’s 36" Unicycle Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
From: maxfieldd@aol.com (Maxfield D) Path:
auvm!paladin.american.edu!cpk-news-feed4.bbnplanet.com!
cpk-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplane
t.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.wli.net!portc04.blue.aol.com!audrey02.news.ao
u.com!not-for-mail To: UNICYCLING@winternet.com Received: from
AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU (NJE origin NETNEWS@AUVM) by AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU (LMail
V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 8272; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 17:33:57 -0500 Received: from
AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU by AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 2493;
Mon, 09 Mar 98 17:33:57 EST Received: from auvm.american.edu(147.9.1.2) by
icicle.winternet.com via smap (V2 .0) id xma019004; Mon, 9 Mar 98 16:38:33
-0600 Received: (from adm@localhost) by icicle.winternet.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id
QAA19169 for <UNICYCLING@WINTERNET.COM>; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 16:39:15 -0600 (CST)
X-Authentication-Warning: icicle.winternet.com: server set sender to
owner-unicy cling using -f Received: (from server@localhost) by
icicle.winternet.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id QAA19349 for unicycling-outgoing; Mon,
9 Mar 1998 16:39:50 -0600 (CST) Received: from icicle.winternet.com
(icicle.winternet.com [198.174.169.13]) by thalia.fm.intel.com (8.8.6/8.8.5)
with ESMTP id PAA28530 for <JohnX_Foss@ccm.fm.intel.com>; Mon, 9 Mar 1998
15:24:02 -0800 (PST) Received: from thalia.fm.intel.com (thalia.fm.intel.com
[132.233.247.11]) by fmm ail.fm.intel.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id
PAA21293 for <JohnX_Foss@ccm.fm.int el.com>; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:19:57 -0800
(PST) Return-Path: unicycling-owner@icicle.winternet.com
Re: Coker Tire’s 36" Unicycle
Maxfield D wrote:
> My father restores antique cars, and buys many hard-to-find tires from an
> antique and custom tire maker, Coker Tires. Coker’s catalog lists a 36"
> unicycle that sports their 36" by 2" inflatable tire ($295). They also make a
> “giant cruiser” bike using these tires, and a smallish penny farthing.
I want!
MONSTER-MUNI
Roger
----------------------------------------------------
Roger.Davies@Octacon.co.uk
Stockton, North East England
For information on the Durham Juggling Festival
http://homepages.enterprise.net/mini/fest98.htm
For information on The British Unicycling Convention
<a href="http://homepages.enterprise.net/mini/buc5.htm">http://homepages.enterprise.net/mini/buc5.htm</a>
Re: Coker Tire’s 36" Unicycle
My dad read me the description out of their catalog. I talked to a sales rep who
said he would fax me a description of the unicycle. I didn’t receive anything,
so I emailed their staff asking for more information.
My father swears by their tires. I will keep pursuing, and keep the
group informed.
Last week I was in Los Angeles on business and spent one evening calling used
bike stores asking about unicycles. I found a Miyata 24" for $59. It is great! I
just spent the last hour practicing on a winding hilly park road. My legs burn.
I also found a nice 24" Schwinn which goes to a niece. I need 3 more for other
nieces and nephews. I’m looking for Schwinns, Semcycles, or Miyatas at $75 or
less. I don’t suppose that this group is the best place to troll for these
unrecognized treasures.
David Maxfield Seattle
Coker history
Hey, came across this in a search, and thought it would be fun to revive – note the post by John Foss; he hadn’t ever heard of a Coker unicycle at that time! Wow, how things have progressed. 
Usually I am a bit annoyed by people who bring back dead threads without adding anything of value, but those posts combined with the year 1998 kicked me in the cerebellum and reminded me of how quickly our sport is evolving.
Nice find.
lol, I totally thought John Foss was joking with the guy for being ignorant about unicycles until I saw the date : P
Hey unishark - Missoula, MT alright! I’ve hit rattlesnake a couple of times. 
Haha- yeah, I agree with that principle, but I figured the historical context was enough to justify an exception.
Also, not totally clear from his post, but I wonder if this thread was also the first that Roger Davies had heard of Cokers?
Hi - yeah, that’s a great area to ride – give a holler if you’re up this way again. 
Yes it was, and it took me over 6 months to get one! it was unfair. I was right though, they did suit me.
Roger
Very cool.
Mine should arrive this week!
The first Coker unicycle I saw was at the 1998 USA Convention (July). It arrived along with David Coker and was available for all to try out. Then it was raffled off at the end of the convention to Gilby, who started a tradition of winning Cokers in raffles.
But I think it still took several months before Cokers were available for people to buy. I was skeptical, as the cycle was made from basic Taiwan unicycle parts (other than rim, tire and spokes), so it seemed pretty weak. Also I didn’t like the way it rode, because I was used to a big wheel with solid rubber tire. Those tires have very low friction, and can turn on a dime and do spins easily. The Coker only wanted to go straight, even after I added a lot of air into the tire.
It took me until 2001, when I borrowed one to race in the 10k, for me to appreciate that going straight is not a bad thing. That race was over very quickly for me, and I really enjoyed the ride.
As of 1998 I had heard of Coker Tire before, but only from the car side. But it didn’t take them long to gain a reputation once they got into the hands of unicyclists. Despite what many of us thought, those narrow wheels with their flimsy rims held up to all sorts of abuse, both on-road and off. Before Coker unicycles, long distance riding was a rare thing, done only by the hardiest of unicycling souls!
I will. I’ve got family in the area : 