I ordered myself a Coker yesterday Tony and I are due to triple the number of Coker’s in New Zealand, bringing the grand total to 3.
I was wondering what things we should upgrade on our Cokers to make them better / more rideable.
I’ve heard tell the bearings need replacing because they are really crappy. What other problems have people had with their Coker’s and what do you view as the most important things to upgrade?
Unfortunately a new rim is not an option due to postage costs (unless someone is visiting NZ and wants to bring a couple over for us, hint, hint
At this stage we will be putting new bearings and shorter cranks on. Is it worth putting in a suzue axle (and do you need to go to a 4 cross spoke pattern to do so?)
Peter,
The stock Coker is pretty nice as long as you add a comfortable seat that
you like. The old ones (1999) had terrible bearings that some people only
rode for 100 miles before they siezed. But my new Airfoil wheel came with
nice looking ones, and I had heard that this was improved so maybe no
problem there.
The stock 152mm cranks are a great length for all around riding. If you’re
not doing any serious hills though, I recommend you go down to 140 or even
127/110 to ride faster and smoother. If you’re doing lots of steep hills,
you’ll actually need to go longer - even 175mm was barely long enough on our
recent White Mountain Peak ride. For rides with lots of steep hills
(thousands of feet), I really like the 165mm cranks so far. Obviously you
want adjustable…
The Suzue axle is nice (I guess), but then again I never had a problem with
the stock one in 3 1/2 years of riding - lots of offroad, well over 2000
miles, lots of drops, etc. I don’t know if you must use 4-cross with the
Suzue, but my new Airfoil wheel with Suzue certainly is 4-cross.
The other improvement is a brake - VERY nice for killer downhills, and a
cheap upgrade. But all in all, once you put on a seat you like, it’s a great
unicycle as is. You’re going to love it!
—Nathan
“peter.bier” <peter.bier.aqftc@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:peter.bier.aqftc@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I ordered myself a Coker yesterday Tony and I are due to triple the
> number of Coker’s in New Zealand, bringing the grand total to 3.
>
> I was wondering what things we should upgrade on our Cokers to make them
> better / more rideable.
>
> I’ve heard tell the bearings need replacing because they are really
> crappy. What other problems have people had with their Coker’s and what
> do you view as the most important things to upgrade?
>
> Unfortunately a new rim is not an option due to postage costs (unless
> someone is visiting NZ and wants to bring a couple over for us, hint,
> hint
>
> At this stage we will be putting new bearings and shorter cranks on. Is
> it worth putting in a suzue axle (and do you need to go to a 4 cross
> spoke pattern to do so?)
>
> Peter
>
> Soon to be a Coker head
The first batch of Coker’s had bearings that were only sealed on one side (that’s the way mine came). They were sly and put the unsealed side next to the flange so it was hard to see that the back side was not sealed. Being sealed on only one side, they quickly got dirty and seized. The new Cokers have proper sealed bearings. The bearings you get should be fine unless the place you’re getting your Cokers from has a bunch of old Cokers lying around.
My Coker came with loose spokes. You should get the wheel tensioned up. Getting the spokes tensioned will make for a stronger wheel.
You only need to run 4-cross if you are using the new Airfoil rim. The Airfoil rim is deeper (an aerodynamic shape). Since it is using the stock Coker spokes it needs to go to a 4-cross to take up the extra length in the spokes. I believe the stock Coker hub and the Suzue hub both have the same flange size (or very close) so changing hubs should not change the spoke pattern.
A BMX seatpost clamp is a nice upgrade for the Coker. I could not get the stock clamp to keep the seatpost from twisting.
Tony and I are due to triple the number of Coker’s in New Zealand, bringing the grand total to 3.