Yesterday I rode the same 41.2 miles on my Coker as I did on UNI5 last week. Last week on UNI5, I completed the course in 3 hours 47 minutes for an average speed of 10.87MPH. This week on my Coker I completed the same course in 3 hours 42 minutes for an average speed of 11.14. Conditions were close to the same. I tried to keep the intensity of both rides as close as I could. Since I am out of shape, keeping the effort the same was fairly easy. I simply survived. I felt yesterdays ride neither harder nor easy than last weeks. Also worth mentioning is that the same crank length was used on both rides.
I can only assume that the intention of the testing is not to replace one with the other. Obviously no one should set his or her Coker aside for a set up like uni5. Their characteristics are close to identical. However if you are like me and like speed and distance unicycling, you should consider the Harper hub with a 700C in order to gain inches of travel per revolution. As long as you are in good enough shape to turn a 42-inch gear, you will travel both further and faster without sacrificing comfort and overall enjoyment.
With the Harper hub combined with a 700C, (provided I get in better shape) I will be able to travel along side your average recreational cyclist at local (flat to rolling hill) centuries. I predict that with this set up someone will do a much longer 1-day ride then what we have been seeing. If this set-up (preferably 1-1.6 ratio) gets in the hands of the right person you will see over 200 miles in 24 hours traveled. You will also see 100 miles traveled in less than 7 hours.
All records aside, the most important value associated with the Harper hub combined with 700C is that it will allow the unicyclist to ride along side the bicyclist. We have never in the past had a vehicle light enough, fast enough, and portable enough to allow this to happen. Whether it be your local century, multi-day tour, or commute-- provided you are fit enough, you can ride along side most recreational bicyclists. Ultimately this will give the sport more exposure and us a much larger group of people to socialize with.
Dan