My new Summit has finally arrived, well actually it came on Thursday but I was away Friday to now (Sunday). I rode it some, Thurday night just getting introduced. Ya know, the ususal…
Me - “How was your trip?”
Summit - “Good.”
Me - “Thats good.”
It seemed really solid and equally sluggish which was to be expected, but we worked out our differences. I did some bigger gaps and drops then I ever did before on Thursday. I was stoked to come home and ride today, but unfortunately had to pull back. I haven’t had a chance to get the spokes tightened yet, and could here some creaking when hopping. Its Sunday, so no place is open and tomorrow’s a holiday and I feel like jumping off a building. Does anyone know how to do it without a wrench, I mean if its possible.
Also I’m having trouble with the allen bolts. The seatpost twists quite easily, and on thursday I had to tighten the bearing housings almost every ten minutes. Anyone have any input on that?
David
Re: Finally arrived/Out of box problems…
A little creaking won’t hurt anything. Get them tightened sometime in the next couple of months, but don’t put off riding because you think you’ll hurt your wheel. Ride it as much as you like.
You can tighten the spokes by removing the tyre and getting to the other end of the nipples with a screw driver. Well sometimes anyway, it depends on the length of the spokes…they might push all the way through the nipples. It’s worth a look though.
Andrew
cyberbellum,
That makes sense but I’d absolutely hate to hurt my wheel this early on. I have been riding just nothing to big. Also I think i may have a friend who has the right stuff for the job.
To elaborte on the “finally arrived” part. It came from Minnesota, so across the boarder and over half the continent. It was about a week. It ended costing more then it was supposed to but as my mom said, forget it and learn from it, something like that… It had a Torker seat with a handle on it, (a suprise since they told me it had a viscount). It was not like the usual Torker though, from what I see on the internet. It’s leather, has a lift handle, is all black and seems more like a Miyata Knockoff then a KH knockoff. But I’m not complaining since I was thinking I’d have to buy a KH seat later. Its so much fun to ride!
David
You can tighten the spokes with an adjustable (aka crescent) wrench. Summits have notoriously badly made wheels (poor spoke tennsion), but it’s easy to fix. Just go around the wheel and tighten each spoke 1/2-3/4 of a turn, giving more to those that are extra loose. Bring the wrench with you on the ride and check spoke tension after a while. Some of them should’ve come loose, in which you can then tighten them. I carry a spoke wrench that fits all my unis on my rides, and I often tension the spokes on my Onza in the middle or end of a ride. At moab during a break on the trail Kris Holm started truing his wheel. When I asked he said he trued an tensioned his spokes every ride. I think part of why he’s so careful is that he uses a break, though.
He probably means this:
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=432
It’s a handy thing to purchase for not much $.
Re: Finally arrived/Out of box problems…
A little Loctite threadlocker will keep the bearing housing bolts tight. Blue (medium strength) or red (high strength) Loctite will work.
For the seatpost clamp, put some grease or anti-seize on the bolt threads. That will allow you to tighten the bolts tighter and should get it tight enough to stop the seatpost from slipping.
And when you get a chance, put some anti-seize on the crank splines and on the threads of all the bolts on the cranks.