Could someone please tell me the benefits of a 29’er over a coker other than a stronger wheel(although i have seen the pic’s of the indistructable coker).
You could ride your Coker anywhere Petawawa has to offer all year long. It plows through the snow that the 29r wouldn’t. I’m sure both me and Ryan will have a Coker and a 29"r at the race.
Don’t puss out with the 29r!
A 29r is like a suped up Civic that is still merely a Civic
The more I hear people dis the 29"ers, the more I want to try one out. (Put a lid on it Jag, it’s just a matter of time). Uni57, where are you?
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
To be fair, I wasn’t dissing it
Huh?
Re: coker vs. 29’er
In article <spickydoo.n1f9n@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
spickydoo <spickydoo.n1f9n@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Could someone please tell me the benefits of a 29’er over a coker other
)than a stronger wheel(although i have seen the pic’s of the
)indistructable coker).
There are a number of benefits, but mostly it’s about versatility. A
Coker is really good at going fast in a straight line; if you want to
do something other than that, you really will be better off with a
different unicycle. 29ers are a lot lighter than even the upgraded
Coker and much more easy to control and idle. You can ride them in
crowds. They can handle light technical and singletrack off-road
riding better than the Coker. You can fit them in a Cooper Mini, and
various other places you can’t fit a Coker. You can hop up stairs on
one without worrying about buckling the wheel.
I’m sure others will honk on about the virtues of the Coker, but a 29er
is a much more accessible beast.
-Tom
Hey, now!
I have a 29er and I drive a souped up Civic. Not really. But I do have a 29er. And I would NEVER trade my 29er for a Civic! No way.
Dave (uni57)
I think 29er’s are all about choice. Lots of rims to choose from, not just two. Lots of tires to choose from, not just one. Many frames that will accomodate the 700c rim and 700, 28, and 29er tires and more on the way. I think there are now two stock Coker frames. Isn’t the KH the only other “stock” Coker frame?
Handling and mounting a 29er is much easier than a Coker because it is a much more intuitive wheel size. Manueverability difference between a 24" and 29" is small. Between a 29" and a Coker that difference is much more noticeable.
I’ve ridden my Coker as much as off-road as on-road.
On-road you can put short cranks on and nothing can beat it.
Easy off-road isn’t bad.
Mixed and technical off-road is another matter :
- It feels like you’re really fighting the unicycle
- Sharp turns and dips require (relatively) huge efforts to turn and re-accellerate
- If you throw my (stock) coker wheel into a turn it quite often folds over. Sometimes it springs back on its own sometimes you have to stamp on it quickly
Switching to a 29er
Tarmac - not as fast except uphill
Easy off-road - almost as fast but suprisingly not quite as comfortable as the coker.
Mixed and technical off-road
Over the same ground (to use a b*cycle analogy) it feels like you’ve ditched the pig of a butchers delivery bike and are riding a sleek (albeit lower geared) x-country single speed.
Leo White
Re: coker vs. 29’er
Tom Holub wrote:
> In article <spickydoo.n1f9n@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
> spickydoo <spickydoo.n1f9n@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
> )
> )Could someone please tell me the benefits of a 29’er over a Coker
> other )than a stronger wheel(although i have seen the pictures of the
> )indestructible Coker).
>
> There are a number of benefits, but mostly it’s about versatility. A
> Coker is really good at going fast in a straight line; if you want to
> do something other than that, you really will be better off with a
> different unicycle. 29ers are a lot lighter than even the upgraded
> Coker and much more easy to control and idle.
There may be a size and strength issue here.
> You can ride them in crowds.
This is a real difference; ride toward a crowd on a Coker, and the crowd
parts.
Are you asking:
Which should I buy NOW, and which should I buy NEXT.
Others have way more, but I’ve got somewhat ltd. experience on both. I chose the 29er NOW because of $$, Memphis terrain, versatility…
I could immediately ride up, idle, ride backwards some, turn on a dime, and zzzip off of the 29er. Stopping and accelerating are much easier. I average around 8 mph over 12 miles and top out at 13 mph or so.
Unless I bust a Uni, my next will likely be Coker.
Fitting these things in cars is not an issue for me. I tie beautiful knots thanks to the BSA and can strap virtually anything on top of my car. 
Lots of people mention that the 29" is more nimble, therefore more effecient. These people searching for effeciency , mind you, choose to ride a unicycle through the woods.
The sheer exhileration I get every step of the way while riding my Coker through the woods is something that can’t be matched.
To already own a 24", and then get a 29" to be faster? Sure, you’re welcome to buy whatever you want, but you are still basically riding the same thing, just a little quicker.
Sitting atop the Coker, towering over other cyclists on the trail, having to think every move, plan well in advance all your actions, and not to mention work way harder on all the hills, to be rewarded with blinding speed when the flats come, well that just can’t be duplicated. It becomes way more of an achievement to conquer the lines that would give your 24", and most likely the 29", no problem.
You know the wheel is weaker, so you pick your lines carefully, needing to stay alert, and the times that you lose control? You generally just ride right over the stuff anyways.
Your feet don’t get wet going through ‘typical’ water crossings
Certainly there are disadvantages. The paths aren’t groomed of the branches at your head level (although really, that’s only another thing that I enjoy. Now I have to negotiate the terrain, and still pay attention to what’s at eyeball level)
The Coker is a completely unique machine, that cannot be matched, in terms of fun, and the feeling of accomplishment.
Everytime I come out of the woods with ol’ Cokey, I am blown away by what I was just able to accomplish. Not becasue I knocked 10 minutes of my ride time.
To each his own, of course
Beautifully written, Sofa!
A 28 has a wider choice of rims and tyres. Wheel parts are readily available from bike shops. It’s light and portable. You can gear it lower (170s on a 28 would be pretty low geared; on a Coker, it’s still fairly high geared for hills.)
But a coker demands a different type of riding. It demands that you read the trail, plan, judge, adjust your speed, time your rushes at the obstacles.
And ultimately, a Coker is more relaxed, because at any given speed, your cadence is lower.
I have a back bedroom full of unicycles. The 28 is a lovely little machine, but I can seldom find a reason to choose it in preference to the barnstormin’ Coker, or the nimble 24, or the rugged 26.
I’ve had nice rides on the 28, but it can be a bit bland.
You guys sure make cokers sound great, if I had £225 going spare I’d part with it tomorrow!
I especially liked: -
sofa: -
‘Everytime I come out of the woods with ol’ Cokey, I am blown away by what I was just able to accomplish.’
The more you ride a Coker, and the better you get at it, the more fun it gets.
It’s not just that you can do more. It just gets more fun, because you can do it better, smoother, and faster, and for longer. And you can do more, of course, but that isn’t the only thing.
On other unicycles, it’s easy to reach a point where you have to really go looking for challenges. Whether your thing is hopping onto street furniture, riding bridge hand rails, climbing mountains, plummeting down gullies, or doing freestyle, the emphasis always seems to be on finding things to make it more challenging. Riding for the sake of riding becomes almost a non event on smaller unis.
But riding a Coker well on just flattish single track with the odd bump is just fun and somehow satisfying.
Perhaps it’s just a personality thing. You either love Cokers or hate them. I wonder how many of the ‘haters’ don’t give the Coker a long enough try.
You all know how I go on about crank lengths, wheel sizes and so on, and how I have ‘the full set’ of standard wheel sizes, blah blah. With all those opportunities, and with that experience, I still feel that the Coker is almost a different sort of thing from a unicycle. I’ve ridden a Penny Farthing, I’ve ridden giraffes, I’ve ridden bicycles. The Coker has aspects of all of these.
Re: coker vs. 29’er
> On other unicycles, it’s easy to reach a point where you have to really
> go looking for challenges. Whether your thing is hopping onto street
> furniture, riding bridge hand rails, climbing mountains, plummeting down
> gullies, or doing freestyle, the emphasis always seems to be on finding
> things to make it more challenging. Riding for the sake of riding
> becomes almost a non event on smaller unis.
You make it sound as though these other activities are somehow less
appealing (I’m sure that is not your intent). I like riding for the sake of
riding, but I also like muni for the rush I get when I clean something I
didn’t think I could. And I like improving the (meagre) freestyle skills I
have. Doing only one thing is dull.
I’ve just built a 29" and intend to use it in the Mountain Mayhem this year.
Others will probably Coker, but I found the going too tough last year,
especially re-mounting off road. The 29" should be a nice compromise.
Only time will tell how much I actually use this unicycle.
> But riding a Coker well on just flattish single track with the odd bump
> is just fun and somehow satisfying.
Definitely.
Arnold the Aardvark
Re: Re: coker vs. 29’er
I still have a long ways to go as far as Coker skills, but I have found that by practicing on flat ground with the Coker the static mount, rollback mount, and idling, my ability to mount the Coker in other situations has improved greatly. Mounting the Coker uphill in rough terrain, and riding away, is quite difficult.
Re: Re: coker vs. 29’er
These activities are certainly apealing. They are just simply activities that can be had on a typical, run of the mill, 24" MUni