Tony,
Thanks for that. The hub and cranks on the standard model are a set that I haven’t ever seen before on any brand of unicycle. All I know about them at the moment is that they’re 48-spline and chromoly. I saw a photo of them and they looked pretty nice. One thing I particularly like about them is that they’re black. I’ll check whether the parts are available separately. I should have an answer for you in a few days.
Thanks,
Andrew
what’s the good word?
any news on the hub and crankset?
I’ll hopefully have an answer for you in the next week or so. Gary’s looking into a cheaper splined hub for the standard models at the moment. Just to compare it. I’ll soon be able to tell you the retail price for:
I haven’t forgotten about all the questions I’ve been asked, it just takes a while and we’ve just had the 24hr which Gary was very involved in.
Thanks for your patience,
Andrew
Just a little update…
The first two frames will arrive some time this week. When they do, I’ll take some photos and put them in my gallery. They’ll have a flat crown and will accomodate a 3" tyre with ample clearance.
As for the Gazz 24" x 3", Gary’s sorting things out with the new distributors and should soon have a price for them. It’ll probably be somewhere between $70 and $100 (Aussie dollars).
I’ll get back to you in a few days hopefully with some more info. I don’t have any new news on the hub and crankset but I’ll find out some more about it eventually. Bear with me.
Thanks,
Andrew
Gazz’s
Nokian 24" x 3" Gazz’s are now available from the Gap Bike Shop. The new web site is not the one I said before, but http://gapbikeshop.com . They will retail at $112, but if you place an order now and make some sort of deposit, Gary said you can have them for 10% off. This really is as low as he can make it, because they’re coming in from Europe and apparently not that many are made.
Hub and Cranks
Sorry, still no more news, but I’ll post any here as soon as possible.
Frames
The two prototype frames arrived today and Gary has built his muni around the 24" one. There are some corrections to be made, but they generally look quite nice in my opinion. I couldn’t get any photos this afternoon, but I will soon. They have a flat crown which feels good to me for gliding and other one-footed stuff (of course I’m not biased or anything :)), beautiful machined bearing holders, and will soon have GP and gapbikeshop.com stickers on them (which should look nice). They will come with nice chrome two-bolt seat post clamps.
They come in black, but if you want a different colour, that can be easily arranged. I’m going to track down a sample of the colours available. For these custom colours, it’ll cost (about) $20 extra and the stickers may or may not be different to the standard black and white ones (depending on the colour chosen).
The things that will be corrected for the final product will be:
They will be available separately for approximately $350 AUD. I got my custom frame done for $323 and spent many hours choosing measurements and sorting annoying stuff out (but it was sort of fun) so that’s not too shabby.
Please get back to me if you’re interested in a tyre or frame or if you have any questions. Sam, please check your PM’s.
This is exciting!
Andrew
Prototype Frames
Okay, I’ve taken some photos and measurements of the prototype frames. Remember, they’ve still got some work to be done on them so they should look pretty damn nice when they’re all finished.
With a 3" Gazz fitted, there will be just over 5mm clearance each side between tyre and frame and, with a little arc cut away from the plate, about 15mm above the tyre. The separation of the insides of the legs is 82.5mm.
I took one for a test ride today and there was no flex going up some pretty steep slopes. Crimping doesn’t seem neccessary so they’ll remain quite flex-free.
Sorry if I added too many photos, but they’re not too big and i just learned recently how to add them this way. :
Comments would be greatly appreciated as these are just prototypes.
Thanks,
Andrew
Rockey and Tony,
Sorry to mislead you before, but the hub and cranksets will be 8-spline (I think) for the standard models. The original plan was to use those 48-spline ones I mentioned before (I don’t know what they’re called) but they’re too expensive and Gary thought it would be best to have more of a gap in price between the standard and pro models. The brand name for the 8-spline ones is Article.
Andrew
Sexy looking Frame Andrew. Well Done. I can’t wait for the completed Finish. I don’t mind Black at all. I’ll see later in the year Andrew If I want one one day. Keep up the work Mate Cheers.
David.
Very nice! That looks like a good frame. The welds look nice in the photos. Looks like a good design. The bearing holders also look nice. Good strong bearing holders do a lot towards making the uni work better and towards keeping the wheel from rocking back and forth or side to side and possibly rubbing the fame.
I wouldn’t expect a steel frame of that design to be flexy. It actually should be very very stiff. I’d be surprised if you had any flex problems at all with that frame.
Is the gusset on the front or back of the frame? The gusset should go on the back of the frame where it will help keep rocks and sticks from getting wedged between the frame and the tire.
Hi Andrew,
Do you have a link to a site with pics of the “Article” brand 8 spline hub/cranks?
Cheers,
Jason
I think you should knurl the crown tubes before they are painted for better traction; if at all possible paint using paint or techniques that will give good traction for foot-on-frame skills.
David,
Thanks.
John,
“Good strong bearing holders do a lot towards making the uni work better and towards keeping the wheel from rocking back and forth or side to side and possibly rubbing the fame.” Thanks, I didn’t realise that. The gussets are actually on both the front and back for aesthetic purposes. They don’t add much weight at all (similar to wearing heavier shorts, etc. as discussed before). The whole uni will most likely be between 6 and 7kg which is light enough isn’t it? (that is a question).
Jason,
Sorry, I don’t have a link for you. I did a little search then but kept finding ‘articles’ about unicycle hubs and cranks. 
U-Turn (I just realised I don’t know your name),
We considered that, but I think you get enough grip from the current crown for the amount of freestyle you’d do on a muni. I added little bits on the crown of my muni frame or grip, but they don’t seem to help much. Just to be sure of what you’re talking about, can you please define ‘knurl’?
Thanks guys,
Andrew
Hey Andrew my name is in my sig.
Check this out. I don’t know if that’s the right tool, but it’s close.
I haven’t found a pic, but the KH seats I think come with a knurled seatpost.
Hi Andrew,
I noticed the retaining lip on the bearing holders is on the inside, towards the wheel, rather than towards the crank which is the typical placement. Was this intentional?
Dave,
So it is…there are a lot of Dave’s here aren’t there. We’ve got two of those tools in the bike shop. I thought their only use was to cut tubes completely. I’m still not sure what you mean though. Wouldn’t little marks just be painted over and therefore not be useful? A diagram might help if you’ve got a minute to spare. Thanks.
Frank,
Thanks a lot for pointing that out, I had no idea. What happened was the bearing holders were made by a different guy and sent to the framebuilder to add to the frames. I guess nobody told him which way they should go. It’s strange though, because Gary’s using one of the prototype frames with a profile-equipped wheel and hasn’t had any problems with the bearing holders. I’ll have a chat to him about that…thanks again for pointing it out.
Andrew
Don’t confuse a pipe cutter with a knurling tool, which scores the surface in a pattern. The paint would smooth out the scores, which is an issue. The DM Off-road Uni has a knurled crown; it is unfinished, I believe.
Okay, thanks for that.
Gary just confirmed that having the little lips of the bearing holders on the inside was intentional. Why would it be a problem?
Thanks,
Andrew
I don’t know whether it would be best to have the bearing retainer lip on the inside or the outside. I don’t know if anyone has actually done any engineering analysis to determine which way is better.
My guess is that the bearing holder lip has been put on the outside to help keep the bearing from slipping outwards. On a standard hub where the bearing is press fit on the hub, if the bearing gets loose it will want to slide out towards the crank. Putting the lip on the outside will help counteract that. However, if the bearing is held in place by spacers, like the Profile setup, then the bearing is never going to move. So if you’re planning on allowing the use of a standard hub with press on bearings it might be better to have the bearing holder lips on the outside. But if your splined hub holds the bearings securely with spacers, like the Profile hub does, then I don’t think it makes much difference whether the lip is on the inside or outside.
An experiment you could do would be to remove the lip from a test frame. Tighten the bearing clamps down very loosely and then ride the unicycle hard uphill and downhill. Look at what direction the frame wants to move on the bearing and put the lip on the side that keeps the frame from moving in that direction.
I test rode one of Steve Howard’s early muni designs. He did not have a lip on either side of the bearing. The frame had a tendency to move on the bearings under heavy pedaling. I cannot remember if the frame was moving inwards towards the hub or outwards towards the crank.
Here is link that shows what knurling looks like:
It adds a grippy diamond pattern. The pattern is pressed in to the metal. The crown of the DMATU and the DM Ringmaster Advanced have a knurled crown for added grip.
I’m not sure how much grip knurling would add to a painted frame. I think the paint might settle in the valleys and on the peaks of the knurl and smooth out the grippy pattern. The DM frames are chromed rather than painted. It’s probably best not to knurl a frame that is going to be painted. If someone wants more grip they can put skateboard tape on the crown.
That’s what my concern was too. I imagine, though, that a deep enough pattern would work at least better than smooth metal.
I’ve tried skateboard tape and it just didn’t last. It also doesn’t conform to curved surfaces well.