crank length for muniing ??

Unicycles and Equipment
1

hey municyclists,

I plan for the future to build me a 26" municycle. Gazzaloddi 3.0, Onza Hub (with 140mm cranks) and so on… . Are 140mm cranks to short for muniing with a 26" unicycle ?? What do you use for that ?

thanks
hop and go
_Felix

2

Ideally you want cranks of between 160-170mm

The longer the crank , the more torque you get for uphill climbs, and slowing yourself on the downhills

Too long and it interupts your pedalling fluidity

3

I was just trying to choose a good muni crank length for myself. I’ve decided to get a 24" unicycle instead of a 20". That way I can do trials, muni and freestyle. With the 20", I could only really do trials, freestyle, and really light muni. Anyway, I looked on unicycle.com and the KH24 has 170mm cranks. Anything over and including 24" seems to usually have at least 170mm cranks and sometimes 175mm. I’d say there must be a reason for this.

Good luck,
Andrew

4

I have 175mm cranks (from my bike)

they are too long. I can ride with them, but they feel ‘choopy’

I tried out 170mm cranks and they were ideal.

They just aren’t long enough to justify shorter ones.

I am 5’11, with a 32" inseam

This is on my 26"

5

Hmmm, thank to both of you for the answer’s. I think I must try out if it is comfortable to ride muni with the short 140mm cranks. If they are to short, I’ll sell them and buy other ones with 170mm length…

greets
_felix

6

Hi Felix,
I use on my 24" (with 3.0 Gazz) 158 mm Monty Cranks and I feel very good.
170mm to long for me and 140mm to short.

Roland

7

Depends what you mean by MUni. Do you mean serious steep descents and occasional long slogs up hill? Do you mean riding obstacles on rough and broken ground which is mainly horizontal. Are you planning to leap off large rocks? It matters because…

I tried 170s on my 26 and found them brilliant for steep down hills, but a bit unwieldy for uphills and riding on the flat. What they gave me in extra torque, they took away in lack of smoothness. On 150s, the 26 is more generally useable.

I have 102s on my 24 and it will go across all sorts of broken ground, but it’s a bit hair raising on descents and hard work on uphills. But it is smooth, and that sometimes means it will go up things that might stop the 26. No logic to it.

With 150s on a 26, there is a long 1:7 hill that takes me several stops to climb, which I sailed up on my 24 with 150s.

If you’re leaping off large rocks, I’d guess that shorter cranks are less likely to break - but I’d stand corrected if any of the lemming class riders say otherwise!

So I’d say choose a comfortable size around 140 - 150 mm, see how you get on, and then decide whether you can shorten them for more speed and zip, or whether you need to lengthen them for more torque. (Do you want a hovercraft or a tractor?)

And remember, it’s not a life-changing decision. Bog standard cranks are cheap, and can be swapped in 5 minutes, and swapped back in 5 more minutes.

8

Re: crank length for muniing ??

On Sat, 26 Oct 2002 07:29:41 -0500, foxx
<foxx.d4rwy@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>I plan for the future to build me a 26" municycle. Gazzaloddi 3.0, Onza
>Hub (with 140mm cranks) and so on… . Are 140mm cranks to short for
>muniing with a 26" unicycle ?? What do you use for that ?

I have 170 mm on my 24 x 3". Note that the actual diameter of that
tyre is 25.5". They suit me fine and I need the leverage. I have 175
mm on my b*ke and I can turn that smoothly as well but the cadence is
generally lower due to the gearing. Whether 170’s would be too long
for you also depends on your inseam. I didn’t measure mine but I am
183 cm tall. HTH

Klaas Bil

I posted only a single copy of this message.

9

I ride a 24x3 muni with 175mm Profiles, they are perfect for me, but I’m also about 6’2-6’3. 140mm sounds more like a trials size. you would have very little torque on hills, but you’d be able to go comfortably fast on level ground.

Dylan