Freecoasting hub thoughts.

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Ok, yes I posted this in the freewheeling unicycle thread, but I figured I’d also start a new topic as it may not get read by people interested in the idea if just left in the other thread.

Anyway, here’s what I thought anout the other day.

Would I be correct in saying that any freewheeling unicycles that have been made only operate in one direction, IE: forwards?

Also, I imagine engagement of the wheel would happen the instant you started to pedal, so would it be an idea to have a bit of ‘‘play’’ in the system?

Which leads me to the freecoaster hub, for those who don’t know what a freecoaster hub is, it’s a hub that allows you to roll backwards on whatever bike it is fitted to, without the cranks rotating.

Has anyone toyed with the idea of a freecoasting unicycle?

Anyway, a stock freecoaster hub would be of little use to us, so I thought about it, and come up with this:

We could take two freecoaster hubs, half each of them, and keep the right hand side of each hub and all the internals. We could then have the two right halves of the hubs modified so that they will bolt together, giving us a two piece hub. This would then leave us with a hub that would allow us to pedal forwards and backwards, it would have a ‘‘dead zone’’, a certain area in which pedaling would have no effect on the drive of the wheel, meaning that we could then coast on it in either direction.

If this hasn’t been done and someone now does it before I do, at least give me some credit, and a hub to test, lol.

Anyone have any thoughts / questions on the idea?

2

really interesting concept, I suppose this would be easier to ride as you can regain control in both directions, rather than the traditional go faster and faster until you fall off because you can’t slow the wheel that you see with traditional freewheelers. Riding it normally apart from some play between forward and backwards riding, as exhibited by giraffes and geared hubs.

In short, sweet idea, i think the sensitivity, i.e. how much you can rotate the cranks before drive engages, would be vital to the success of the project.

3

The setup on my bmx is a 36t sprocket with a 14t driver on the free coaster, and I can have from no play in the engagement, up to half a revolution of the cranks, so that is a lot of adjustment avaliable. Something like general riding wouldn’t need much ‘‘play’’ in the engagement, whereas riding ramp would require more ‘‘play’’ due to the more often and larger changing of angles between the cranks and frame. I think that with a unicycle, about 20 degrees of movement would be more ok as standard for a hub like this, bearing in mind that it’s adjustable anyway.

The freecoaster I have on my bmx is adjustable off the bike, by putting more or less washers in, depending on how much play you want. I have heard of other freecoasters being adjustable on the bike, by means of an allen bolt in the hollow axle, or something like that. The unicycle hub could inially be set up with washers, to see if the idea works, and if it does work, then better means of adjustment could be brought in.

4

You are correct that freewheeling unis are only made to operate in one direction. The freecoasting uni you describe may possibly be the most sick, twisted idea I have ever heard of. I would like to know how many unicyclists in the world would even be capable of using this uni’s backwards coasting ability. I would absolutely pay to see someone who has mastered one of these contraptions!

5

It sounds as if it would work, and potentially quite well at that. Free wheeling backwards would be insane :sunglasses: !

6

Lol, what about freewheeling forwards, 180-ing, then freewheeling backwards?

7

Wait, so this would make it so that you could pedal forward and backwards almost normally, but when the cranks are horizontal you coast?

8

Basicly, yes.

9

WOW that would be amazing!

I’ve seen a problem, with the cranks horizontal to free wheel, trials goes out the window… unless you have a magura too.

10

The cranks don’'t need to be horizontal for it to freecoast, it’l be wherever you decide for it to happen. Besides, how many trials bike riders run freecoasters? I can’t see freecoasters being popular with trials bikers, due to the weight of the freecoaster. Also, I imagine that the ‘‘play’’ in freecoasters could be a problem in trials biking, have you ever tried kick hopping with a freecoaster on? It’s horrible. However, street unicycling would take some new lines, and as for ramp, there’s loads of fun to be had.

I do see what you mean about the cranks being horizontal, there’s always the option of a brake, seeing as there will be potential for greater speeds, and another option would be rolling hops.

11

Yeah the potential for new street lines is immense, How about down a roll in, into a half pipe!

12

Or spines.

13

yeah, this hub could finally get unicycles into skate parks and do everything bikers can… that in turn introduces more riders into the sport, and gets unicycling huge amounts of recognition too. Seriously you have GOT to make this hub!

14

Lol, I’m drawing it up at the moment. I have draughts of the hub shell and the drivers, in exploded format. I will be drawing up the axle to connect the drivers in a bit.

15

Re: Freecoasting hub thoughts.

On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 11:31:59 -0500, iAmVincent <> wrote:
>
> You are correct that freewheeling unis are only made to operate in
> one direction. The freecoasting uni you describe may possibly be
> the most sick, twisted idea I have ever heard of.

Mechanically, it already exists (though not in a unicycle).

My daughter has this tricycle:

(the web site is hard to link, but look for childs toys, tricycles,
‘Kettler happy plus’)

The rider of this can pedal in both directions, and freewheel in both
directions. That is, pedal forwards and it drives forwards, pedal
backwards and it drives backwards, stop pedaling and it free-wheels
either way.

If it’s being pushed forward and the rider pedals backward it engages
and stops the front wheel, but there’s no progressive braking. If
it’s free-wheeling and the rider pedals slower than the speed it’s
going already, the mechanism does not engage - just keeps
freewheeeling. That is, the mechanism is either engaged (cranks
rigidly engaged with the wheel) or completely disengaged - there’s no
back-pedal braking effect.

I have no idea what the mechanics inside are, though the description
on the web site calls it “Kettler’s automatic freewheel facility” and
says it is patented.

regards, Ian SMith

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16

Cool. I know the perfect manufacturer too, florian Schlumpf!

17

Cheers for that Ian Smith, I’ll look into that.

If that system is patented, and it turns out that my idea is different and gives us the same end result, but stronger, then would I be correct to assume that it might be worth my while in getting a patent for it?

I can’t imagine that the “Kettler’s automatic freewheel facility” would be as strong as street unicyclist’s would need it, seeing as it is on a kid’s trike.

18

Lol, I had thought of that, or I could go to a freecoaster manufacturer.

19

even better, I would imagine florian would be quite expensive.

20

If it was that strong it would be an expensive trike :roll_eyes: I recon you could patent it.