RE: Geared Unicycle
Chris Neal is a fellow Cokerhead in my neighborhood. We rode together
on Saturday, he on his Coker and me on the Uni.5. I counted my pedal
rotations and watched his. It appears that the Uni.5 is geared to a
wheel size slightly larger than 36 inches. Covering the same ground at
the same speed, my pedal strokes were fewer.
First impressions: Mark Scarbrough and I both had difficulty mounting
it at first. Free mounting was quickly ruled out after three tries. We
got on the old-fashioned way: we held onto the dumpster behind our
warehouse, and then carefully got on. Then we both managed only two or
three revolutions before losing control and stepping off the front.
After we got the hang of it and congratulated ourselves for doing so, it
was a fun ride.
The slop that Chris mentioned in the gearing felt strange, but after a
mile or so I wasn’t thinking about it. Some behaviors mimic the Coker,
such as the momentum factor and the difficulty in shifting weight to
maintain balance at low speed. But these are overcome as quickly as on
the Coker.
We dressed up the Uni.5 with a few improvements:
-
Sun BFR black 36-spoke rim
-
Kovachi wheel building services
-
IRC Metro 24 x 2.0 street tire (85 psi)
-
Viscount saddle (Greg's preference over Miyata due to
available seat post lengths)
currently have no alloy 125-mm cranks)
The most startling thing about the Uni.5 is the speed. You don’t
realize how fast you’re going until you follow and then pass a Coker
that’s going fast. It’s difficult to imagine riding at Coker speeds on
a much smaller wheel.
Chris and I rode Cokers home from church on Sunday, about 5 miles. Our
oldest son Casey rode the Uni.5. Our two youngest sons were on bikes.
Casey left us all in the dust. I attribute much of that to his youth
and the fact that we waited while the bicyclists took frequent water
breaks.
Several of Casey’s unicyclist friends at church tried the Uni.5 again
and again. Some of their dads asked how much it’ll cost. That’s a good
sign 
In summary, the Uni.5 geared hub is a thoughtful leap into a technically
advanced unicycle. It’s one fun ride. For those who travel and want to
take their distance cycle with them, it’s perfect. We’re anxious to try
it out on a 700c (28-inch) rim.
Best regards,
John Drummond
1-800-Unicycle
-----Original Message-----
From: rsu-admin@unicycling.org [mailto:rsu-admin@unicycling.org] On
Behalf Of Nealc54@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 10:19 PM
To: rsu@unicycling.org
Cc: john@unicycle.com
Subject: Geared Unicycle
I had the opportunity to ride your geared unicycle in Marietta, GA, with
John
Drummond. I am impressed with the speed of the cycle. I have a Coker
with 6
inch crank arms and the geared unicycle was faster than my Coker. In
addition to the speed I was also impressed with the size.
John said to offer my comments both positive and negative. I’ve
mentioned
the positive. On the improvement side, the play in the hub makes the
ride
less smooth than if there was no play. I was also uncomfortable trying
to
turn the unicycle.
It was fun to ride the cycle. What a great concept.
Thanks!
Chris Neal
Marietta, GA
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