I think that might be true for some riders, but I don’t think it will be true at the top levels of the sport, assuming sufficient competition. Carrying an extra two pounds of rotating weight up a hill is not conducive to winning competitive races.
This is correct. But with all due respect, neither is lying on the ground in a heap.
Hey great thread, lots of good ideas in here that I agree with, and a future I look forward to being a part of.
Keep in mind, when considering professional bike racers, that they are full time professionals. Great athletes for sure, but also in a position where they can train all day, every day. I think its safe to say there are no professional, full-time unicycle racers, but if there were, they would be very very fast!
But how far will it go?
Presume a uni with multiple gears - how fast would you really want to go? Would 30mph on a long downhill be too crazy? 40mph?
ro
You’re right that pro bike racers are way more involved in cycling than we are. But what if one of them learns to ride a uni? 
Also… I don’t think doing 24-25mph on 150 cranks in 1.5 mode is too scary. It’s nerve-wracking, but doable; I could see doing 30mph on a long downhill, yeah. If you’ve got the right gear and can balance with a sane cadence, why not? It sure would be fun!
I think I’d be scared stiff doing 40mph down a hill, though. I think I could stomach 30mph, but not 40. I can’t wait to find out what 30mph feels like, but I don’t think I’ll find out with only a 1.5x36 gear unless I put scarily short cranks on. At this rate, I think Arne is going to be the one who finds out first what 30mph feels like
in memory of Paul de Vivie (alias Velocio) who adressed the same concerns when dérailleurs where introduced for bike racing.
this leads me to another related point:behind competion there are numerous people who benefit from the progress of racing just to simply ride and tour.
As an “old geezer” I have limitations and would dearly love having multpiple gears on a unicycle .. I know, I know this is against the thrill of simplicity , but I think more people would go into the sport if climbing steep hills would be possible (hence different gear ratios in the opposite direction) …
(though I am a fairly good climber on a mountain bike I am unable to climb long and steep hills on a Uni … I should practice practice again but at this rate of progress I will not enjoy unicycle touring until I am 80 old :o , hence my day dreaming of total gearing)
I am pretty sure you can have only 2 gears with a planatary system
Such as the Shlumph. Basically, to add a third gear, or make low not 1:1, is impossible without a new invention IMHO. Perhaps Harper will comment on that. I read somewhere he made a planetary hub before Shlumph.
Motorcycles may have 5 gears, but these are always enmeshed, to much drag, never mind how to stuff it in a uni hub.
I am sure the top gear can go up to at least 2 :1 , because I had a boat with a 2:1 planetary reduction gear in it a while back. I am sure there is a practical upper limit, perhaps higher then anyone would want.
By the next RTL the top teams will all have 3 hubs with different top gears. from 1.3 to 2 :1. That is likely IMHO. If Florian has them for sale by then.
One of the great truisms of racing is that the top teams keep spending more money !
Wow…
Wow that was awesome, your post was full of dare I say it:
“Awesomeness”.
Keep up the great work Chucky.
You can have more than two gears in a planetary system, but it requires an entire additional set of planetary gears; the hub would be huge and too heavy.
The theoretical maximum amount you can gear up via a single set of planetary gears is just under 2:1. The practical maximum is quite a bit lower than that, because it’s a function of the size of the planetary gears, and you can’t make them too small. So we’re fairly near the practical limit of planetary gearing for our application.
Now that gearing has been clearly identified as a major benefit for this kind of riding, I expect there will be more interest in jackshaft designs and other possibilities for gear ratios of 2:1 or higher. It’s hard to design a shifting mechanism for a jackshaft on a unicycle; maybe there will be a combo system with a Schlumpf geared up by a jackshaft with a 1.3:1 ratio: that would give you two gears at 1.3:1 and 2:1.
Now THAT would be awesome. Maybe unisk8r can rig this up on one of his set ups and see how it rides.
Nice idea. You could change gear with a remote lever, too, rather than a button on the crank
I love how these sport has grown in the short period of time I’ve been participating in it.
Chuck, I agree with virtually everything you’ve said, except the self-degrading parts. I’m humbled by your humility.
What’s exiting about this, is that events like RTL are CHANGING THE WAY PEOPLE PERCEIVE UNICYCLING. I think our sport is attracting more atheletes as people discover what is becoming possible. We are being taken more seriously as a sport.
Regarding the 29er vs. 36er thing, I don’t think we should get too caught up in that debate as it has been discussed ad-nauseum in other threads. Obviously there are advantages both ways. My personal preference would be for a bigger lighter wheel, but I’m not the one pushing the envelope. At RTL, the 36er GUni riders raised the bar and the 29er GUni riders underscored it. The biggest gear is the fastest (at least with what’s currently available).
Regarding different categories and having respect for the ungeared records; I think there’s no doubt that people respect the accomplishments that have been done ungeared. In RTL, my team (Totally Doable) did battle with the Lost Wheelers (fastest 100% ungeared team). I think there’s little doubt that we wouldn’t have beat them had we been on the same equipment. They we better athletes.
I think ungeared records will always be noted and respected. Still, geared unicycles are STILL UNICYCLES even if less traditional. This is to say that a world record held on a geared unicycle is 100% valid as a unicycle record. That being said, I think ongoing records will noted as geared or ungeared. People will still be interested in what the ungeared records are even as they are unsurped by GUnis.
I agree with almost everything said here except the fact that a category 1 racer would be a faster unicyclist. Chuck you may not be beat by a category 1 racer even though you think otherwise. It is not just the power and speed needed to spin the cranks it’s also being able to do this without loosing balance and having the courage to do it. Not everyone can be an excellent cyclist like Lance Armstrong and today not everyone can be an excellent unicyclist like Chuck no matter what anyone says.
+1
Very good written!
I think that with unicycling it is more than just your max oxygen recorded that counts. Unicycling have even more factor that counts than perhaps any other sports. Balance, speed, toughness, power… And I think that you Chuck, probably could be a World Champion in many other sports.
Congratulations!
Very good work Chuck, I’ll add my thoughts when I have some more time, untill then can everyone please check this?
http://eenwiel.nl/index.php?menuid=59&pageid=162
It’s all the geared and ungeared unlimited records (except for the 2008 female records), if everyone is OK with this layout I will translate it to English, but I’m sure everyone will understand what it says, as it’s just times and distance.
Combined, all the fastest times including geared AND ungeared.
Geared, all the fastest times ridden on geared unicycles, including the Unicon 13 fastest geared times and Pete Perron’s hour record.
Ungeared, all the fastest Ungeared times.
Cheers,
Dustin
I’m not sure this is a problem, but the 24-hour records show “m” (for miles?), and I believe those records are in km. Also, don’t know if this is possible, buyt it would be great to see the equipment (wheel-size, gearing, etc.) used for each of the records.
How does a world record apply to the marathon if it is held on the road with variable terrain/elevation changes from year to year? Can’t the course change a lot from year to year?
EDIT: I think I am stuck in a Unicon mindset, I guess the Marathon record means the fastest 26.2 miles on a unicycle, and it doesn’t necessarily have to apply to Unicon.
it’s euro writing - the . in the number is the same as our ,
and the m means metres.
so what they are writing is 453,800 metres for Sam’s world record.
Also, one thing about the geared records - do we really want to count any record at all for geared if there is an ungeared one that is higher? Or does someone (chuck?) with a geared unicycle want to go out and set an hour record. The geared hour record is a joke - any bugger with a schlumpf and access to a flat loop could set that higher tomorrow - whereas the ungeared one is hard (although I presume chuck will beat it).
Joe
That’s an important point about records for off-track races (e.g., road races) that folks should keep in mind. I should have brought this up earlier, but I didn’t want to disrupt the excellent discussion.
In the road racing world, world records for the marathon were not officially recognized by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) until January 1, 2004. Previous to that time, there had been too much variance in courses and race rules. IAAF member federations developed a set of requirements that a road course has to meet in order to be eligible for the establishment of a world record.
I’d certainly agree with that. Going fast on a unicycle has a lot to do with unicycling skill as well as physical strength and fitness. Obviously you’ve got to be fit as well to keep it up for any length of time, but actually being able to ride a unicycle fast at all is a skill that you don’t need on a bicycle.
I consider myself a fairly strong bicyclist (and tend to spin higher cadences than a lot of cyclists, rather than pushing a huge gear), but I can’t go all that fast on a unicycle. On my coker I top out at 16mph in a “sprint” and usually average about 13 on a flat road if I’m trying to go fast. That speed isn’t limited by strength, it’s limited by the fact that I’m really not that good a unicyclist - any faster and I fall off (or at least feel very unstable). I can’t get on with short cranks (they make my knees hurt, contrary to popular opinions, and don’t make me any faster) and always ride 145s. That’s pretty much shown by my 10km and marathon times last week at unicon: 28m40s for the 10km and 2h01m for the marathon (42km) - pretty much exactly the same average speed! In theory a guni should suit my bicycling background and help me go faster, but I find them extremely hard to ride when I’ve borrowed them - the higher the gear the harder it is to stay on the things.
I think Chuck deserves more credit than some people are giving him. He’s using the gear that suits him, which shouldn’t be called cheating. Like somebody mentioned, even in fixed gear track cycling you’re allowed to pick the gear to suit you’re body and technique. Put me on Chuck’s unicycle and I wouldn’t automatically beat the record, or even be any faster than on my normal 36er - I’d just fall off more.
Rob