so ive been back in the saddle on my nimbus 36" and enjoying 4-6 mile treks a few times a week now for couple months. i decided to get a nimbus 29" and was stoked when it arrived. feels smaller as expected but something aint right…i seem off centered, always tweaked and sitting a little to the right to keep my center of gravity.
its like i have to shift my butt/right side ever so slightly off the seat to stay centered and keep my center of gravity. right turns are easier then left and its just weird.
i thought it was my seat so i switched it out with my 36"er and it didnt help. ive switched out almost everything from the 36 to my 29 with different combinations, cranks, pedals, with handlebars, without,127mm 150mm khs cranks vs stock vcx cranks and posts. no go.
*one thing i did notice after a ride today was a fine, small amount of what appeared to be a fine black dust or residue on the left side bearing holder by the pedal. i checked the bearing holders and re-centered everything, but couldnt see anything that looked worn out of kilter.
then i checked the frame and i noticed when i put in on a piece of glass theres about 2mm of run-out. it doesnt sit perfectly flat, seems a bit skewed because it rocks a bit side to side. its the standard nimbus 29" rounded crown frame.
so is this my problem… can that little bit of play translate into my feeling off center and constant adjustments when riding??
my 36" feels great and ive never felt off tilt, but this 29"er is frustrating cause trying to go distance with constant adjustments makes for exhausting riding. im not an advanced rider but i dont feel off centered on my 36" so why do i feel like im struggling and leaning my body right, partially off the seat to stay centered??
i dont know what else to try,ill have to contact udotcom if i cant figure this to get a new frame i guess.
Hi Courtney, it sounds to me like a camber issue to me. Some tires are much more sensitive to camber than others so if that proves to be the issue then a different tire that is not so sensitive to camber will solve the issue.
Hi Courtney, it sounds to me like a camber issue to me. Some tires are much more sensitive to camber than others so if that proves to be the issue then a different tire that is not so sensitive to off camber surfaces should resolve the issue
I agree with WeaponizedBacon, it sounds like a road camber issue. Different tires handle camber differently. Try it with the maximum rated tire pressure and try riding on the opposite side of the road to see if it makes any difference,
I had the very same problem a few months ago. I had to lean my torso to the right to go in a straight line. Very annoying.
The culprit was a slightly bent seat post. I’m talking about a ridiculously small amount of bend, something I couldn’t see with the naked eye.
Things went back to normal once I changed the seat post.
Just to rule things out, try to reverse the frame (swap the cranks and turn the seat post around). If the problem comes from the frame, you should have to shift your weight to the other side.
If it’s not that, redo the above, this time turning only the seat around, not the seat post.
Also, if you do need to shim your bearing holders to straighten things out (unlikely but possible) thin strips cut from Coke cans will do the job. (Other brands of heavily marketed soft drinks are available,)
so i tried a couple of things suggested here and first pumped my tires up. i guess my tires were a bit low at around 25 psi, considering theyre rated from 40- 60 psi !!, which seems outrageous but thats what it says on the stock tire. i raised the seat and turned it around backwards (pole still attached). i went up the block, (incline) and then back to the house, and i can say, although the seat was backwards, ‘it did’ seem to help a bit.
i cant say it was perfect because these are new changes my body isnt use to, but i definitely can say i didnt ‘feel as’ off centered. ill need to get on a flat surface and do a little distance, as well as turning the frame around, and checking straightness of post (good tips) to see if these changes shake out ok. turning the seat around felt weird but its almost something i think i could get use to. it may well be (duh) a simple matter of tire pressure.
Is your 29" a KH unicycle? There’s been a batch of frames that have a longer leg than the other. You look at them and the wheel is not centered, you flip around the wheel and it has the same offset - which proves the wheel is true and fine. I’ve had the issue on several frames, and as suggested by Mike I ended up cutting a strip of metal from a can of Coke and it was the perfect thickness to recenter the wheel perfectly.
Another thing could be as simple as getting used to it again: when I spend a lot of time on a large wheel, going for a smaller one always feels wrong for a while. I get used to the momentum and also I get used to put more force on the pedals, and the smaller wheel is less forgiving than a bigger one with its “damper” effect.
Courtney,
Be careful about turning the saddle around backwards without also tuning the wheel around. If the right and left cranks/pedals are on the wrong side there is a good chance that the pedals will work loose. Loose pedals will damage the crank threads.
I had something similar with my Hatchet. The stock seat that came with it was just not comfy for me and every time I ended up sitting on the side of it, on which ever part of the cycle path I was, but also when riding on sandy roads, which the fatty is better suited for. First I thought it was the seat, and since I had another Nimbus gel saddle available, decides to shift it out, but the problem stayed. Then I noticed that the screws that hold the frame to the hub were tighter on the one side than on the other. It was only a minor difference, but after straightening them out, it felt much better and I could make much longer trips on it.