In a dramatic UPD resulting in a literal high-speed face-plant, the hub of the uni.5 geared unicycle locked up 15 miles into alpha testing. The owner and crazed inventor, Gregory C. Harper, miraculously retained all of his face in the accident and seems to have gained a 10% increase in the diameter of his right knee which was the first part of his time-worn body to “hit the road”. Roars of approval were heard from the 35,000 students at the University of Washington, all of whom seemed to be on hand to witness the embarassing incident. The inventor, only a few hundred yards from his place of employment, was seen scurrying off into the brush.
My apologies for necessarily cancelling the beta-testing tour. When I get an opportunity to dissect the hub I will post photos of the failure mode and speculate on the possibility of a remedy. I will spare you all from viewing photos of my altered knee…you’ve seen plenty of those. I feel fortunate that it was not another rider who experienced the failure.
Oh, and what the heck. I’ve got another one. This just makes it really difficult to break even.
It would be a nice gesture on your part to send flowers.
I’m walking with little difficulty. Tomorrow it will be really sore but my serious problem is always from the neck up.
I think the 440 stainless steel planet shafts galled up and seized against the planet gears. That was my weak link and, as I had mentioned before, they are not located accurately and I had to turn down the shafts by 0.003". This is only a guess so far. I’d have to use hardened steel as shafts and maybe bronze bushings in the planet gears. Machine the planet cage off of the axle and press an accurately machined one on with a keyway.
Sorry you were hurt; I hope you have no major problems from it. I find it ironic that Chris is telling you to see a doctor … he never seems to make it in. Yeah, I know, the doctor wasnt available … still.
Anyway, take care of the knee, and good luck on phase 2 of alpha.
I don’t have your address so here is one snapped by a friend of mine with his digital camera:
Ouch… that’s no good, but glad to hear you’re already talking about
possible causes of the problem. Uni.5.rev_b here we come
Hmm, kinda gives new meaning to an unstable alpha version.
> In a dramatic UPD resulting in a literal high-speed face-plant, the hub
> of the uni.5 geared unicycle locked up 15 miles into alpha testing. The
> owner and crazed inventor, Gregory C. Harper, miraculously retained all
> of his face in the accident and seems to have gained a 10% increase in
> the diameter of his right knee which was the first part of his
> time-worn body to “hit the road”. Roars of approval were heard from the
> 35,000 students at the University of Washington, all of whom seemed to
> be on hand to witness the embarassing incident. The inventor, only a
> few hundred yards from his place of employment, was seen scurrying off
> into the brush.
>
> My apologies for necessarily cancelling the beta-testing tour. When I
> get an opportunity to dissect the hub I will post photos of the failure
> mode and speculate on the possibility of a remedy. I will spare you all
> from viewing photos of my altered knee…you’ve seen plenty of those.
>
>
> –
> harper - Greg Harper: Frequent Faller (oops)
>
> -Greg Harper
>
> “It takes twice the man to ride half the bike (one and a half times as
> fast, now).”
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> harper’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/426
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/16595
>
>
