I started a thread about which saddle I should get recently, and Domesticated Ape mused about how my crank length (140mm) on my 20" uni was mad, and very hard to learn on.
So this morning I have tried my son’s uni, which has 127, and did 50m straight off- the best I have ever done! SORTED!
(Cue Simon running to unicycle.uk.com and ordering a pair of the aforementioned cranks!)
Great stuff! THANKS!
Haha, I’m all embarrassed now :o
Glad you like the shorter cranks, with a bit of practice you’ll be getting a lot more than 50 metres!
go Domesticated Ape! you rock my jocks
You didn’t buy the uni of ebay did you? I bought mine from some cycle shop on ebay, and it came with 20"/140mm cranks and we never understood why. They used to hit the ground all the time, were strange to balance with, and should have been slow (except I like spinning fast with long cranks!)
After I’d learnt, I started using 100mm cranks, which were much better. The plus side of the 140s was that I was able to ride over a strange obstacle we found in the park, and nobody else has managed it yet
Yes, I got it from St John Street Cycles from ebay. The long crank makes it VERY twitchy, which just gets worse; my lad who can uni realy struggles to do more than 10 metres on it- no wonder I struggle. Can’t wait to get the crank arms- then I can RIDE!
Simon
ehh… whats the big deal, I have ridden 175’s and 170’s on a 20"
hahah that was insanely hard to turn … you had to jump and turn… and I bent the axle doing that 
you can ride over anything w/ 170s on a 20" … its cool
and aren’t 135s average size for a 20"
5 mm shouldnt make too much difference
I do agree that it is easier to balance out the 100’s (good to learn on) but I think 140s are a good size for a 20" once you learn (I’m pretty sure thats what I have)
I suppose that that is the point- I have not learnt, and it has taken nearly 6 months (off and on) to get this far; then I jump on a 127mm crank uni, and ride about twice as far as I ever have!
Worth £7 on a new pair of 127mm’s, don’t you think?
hmm. I think it might just affect learning, because I ride 145’s on my trials uni. that’s a trials uni though.
140s and thereabouts are fine for trials and jumping around a bit, but they’re rubbish for actually going anywhere. When I play hockey it’s with my trials uni with 140s; the pedals are always hitting the floor and it’s much slower than other unicycles with shorter cranks on.
For general purpose use of a 20" unicycle I’d say 125s or 127s are the way forward; long enough for good control while learning but short enough to be able to actually go anywhere without your knees flailing all over the place. For £7 you can’t go wrong!
Phil
has anyoen used the 80mm. koxx cranks?
Ryan atkins runs 80mm Koxx cranks on his 29er. But I guess thats nothing compared to Dustin riding his 80mm (I think, they could be smaller) on his coker.
Mike