So the new orange frame Bedford MUni has arrived and I have been busy the last two days getting aquainted with this awesome machine. So far it has been fantastic!
I haven’t been on any heavy duty off road rides but on the short stretches around town the MUni with its Suzue hub and Alex downhill rim covered in a Stout tire has been a delight to ride. Over bumps and lumps so smoothly and so solid on the flats.
The thing I have really enjoyed and came as sort of a surprise was the longer cranks. The 6 inch cranks really are great for hill climbing and so easy on the descents. Now I want to swap my 5 inch cranks on my Sem XL commuter uni to something longer. I am thinking of going for 5 1/2 inch cranks on the Sem. Do they come in that size? Will I need any special tool to take off the cranks - having never done this before I am kind of in the dark on changing cranks… any suggestions?
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to the weekend when I hope to carve out some time to take the MUni for its first real major off road ride.
Cheers,
Erin
Erin-
Don’t forget to post the photos of your new, ORANGE unicycle with you riding it with the wind in your hair.
Unicycle.com has crank tools here. Skip the inserts, the crank tools are the two items at the bottom of the page. Your local bike shop should have them also.
Long cranks give you great leverage and so help with the uphills and downhills. They cause you to begin to wobble sooner when you spin fast because your legs have to traverse such a distance so they lower your top speed somewhat.
Lots of 5.5" (140mm) cranks exist. Schwinn makes some steel ones with low “Q”. Dotek makes aluminum alloy 140mm cranks that are almost zero “Q” that I have on the Blue Shift.
What color are the pedals? Wellgo makes some dark blue and some bright yellow pedals both of which would be stunning on an orange frame.
Erin, you’re in Canada, Mountain Equipment Co-op has the best deal on bike tools ever.
You need a membership though ($5, good forever)
If you don’t have a membership # email me and I’ll tell you mine
And do, by all means, get a PARK TOOL crank puller
Ahhh, MEC… If I ever needed an excuse to visit Canada, then that place is reason enough! Just need to find some spare cash to fly over (spare cash? whassat?) Friends of mine visit relatives in Canada every year and come back with loads of stuff from MEC. I’m sure they just do it to make us jealous!
Have a look here to see what I’m drooling on about:)
Have fun!
Graeme:)
Yeah Harper, you are right those Dotek cranks look great, I think I’m going to spring some some for the Sem XL.
And Sofa, excellent suggestion about MEC, they in fact have the same crank puller that Harper linked me to in his post. I’m a member of course, what upstanding Canadian wouldn’t be a member at MEC? but thanks for the member # offer anyhow 
Harper, sorry I haven’t posted any pic’s. I’m still trying to find some unsuspecting techie with a digital camera to kidnap so as I can get some cool uni shots.
Right now I have a black Bedford seat and black Wellgo B 37 pinned pedals on the MUni. That colour combo looks pretty sharp against the creamsicicle orange frame.
As for wind in my hair, how did you guess? Yesterday when I took the MUni out for its second day of riding we had gale force winds! Funny thing was that at first I was so focussed (insert ‘obsessed’ here) on the new machine, I thought I was just having a little trouble adjusting as I had these ocassional moments of feeling off balance … it was only later that I realized how strong a wind storm we were in… go figure, eh!!!
Cheers,
Erin
Re: Cranks - the fun never ends!
On Fri, 13 Dec 2002 00:40:59 -0600, Erin
<Erin.fl7pn@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Now I want to swap my 5 inch cranks on my Sem
>XL commuter uni to something longer. I am thinking of going for 5 1/2
Erin,
Does your commute involve a great deal of steep slopes? Otherwise I
can’t see why you want longer cranks than 125 mm for a commuter uni.
What’s more, most people tend to evolve to shorter cranks as their
riding ability increases.
Klaas Bil
Dragonflies have a life span of 24 hours.
QUOTE]Schwinn makes some steel ones with low “Q”.
[/QUOTE]
I have read this in several threads… What does it mean? Is it good to have a high Q factor?
please help me
Daniel
the farther out from the sentre (looking down) the pedals are, the higher the Q factor.
Bicycle cranks have a high Q, because they need to bend out as to not hit the frame while pedaling
I really like the feel of nice long cranks! they’re sweet. my first uni was a 24inch with 170s then i got the 3inch setup with profile 170s, then i got a trials uni 140s. when i finally tried 150s and the 125s, they felt sooooo weird! but now i ride the one with 125s to school and it’s okay. much faster! for general skills, i find longer is better, but speed shortness is good. keep the 5 inches on your sem (IMHO) ride it around, but use the MUni for all the fun stuff. Oh, and do some trials on that sweet ride! 24s are great for trials (second to 20s) get out there and hop! save your money from those cranks, get some more money, and get the KH saddle when it’s avaiblible!
just my thoughts,
-Ryan
Well I think I’ll have the best of all worlds: 20 inch uni with the 127 mm cranks, think I’ll throw some 140’s on the 24 inch commuter machine (its Vancouver afterall, a bit of a hilly place) and enjoy the 150’s on the MUni. And then just take my pick depending on my mood and the ride of the day! How is that for luxury?!
Erin
it would be really fun if you got some 170s for your MUni!
Now that is control. Have fun with your new uni!
-Ryan
Re: Cranks - the fun never ends!
Erin wrote:
>
> So the new orange frame Bedford MUni has arrived and I have been busy
> the last two days getting aquainted with this awesome machine. So far
> it has been fantastic!
> I haven’t been on any heavy duty off road rides but on the short
> stretches around town the MUni with its Suzue hub and Alex downhill rim
> covered in a Stout tire has been a delight to ride. Over bumps and lumps
> so smoothly and so solid on the flats.
> The thing I have really enjoyed and came as sort of a surprise was the
> longer cranks. The 6 inch cranks really are great for hill climbing and
> so easy on the descents. Now I want to swap my 5 inch cranks on my Sem
> XL commuter uni to something longer. I am thinking of going for 5 1/2
> inch cranks on the Sem. Do they come in that size? Will I need any
> special tool to take off the cranks - having never done this before I am
> kind of in the dark on changing cranks… any suggestions?
> Meanwhile, I am looking forward to the weekend when I hope to carve out
> some time to take the MUni for its first real major off road ride.
> Cheers,
> Erin
>
> –
> Erin - 1 wheel is more than enough for me!
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Erin’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/2036
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22165
Re: Re: Cranks - the fun never ends!
you forget a message in there?? because I didnt see it…