Yup. I don’t really know what, if anything, I did. While riding yesterday, I had to slow down quickly and also may have bumped a curb lightly at the time. Later I noticed that the uni wouldn’t downshift, so I hopped off and tried it by hand. But then today, I tested it and was unable to downshift under any conditions, either riding or otherwise.
Help! I don’t want to have to send it back. This is a 2nd gen hub, and I want to use it at NAUCC. Thanks.
take it to the bike shop or if you know anyone that knows a lot about unicycles. they should be able to fix it for you.
Hmmm… not able to shift when off of it? I never had that problem. I’d ask Florian about it and send it back if needed.
Why would you want to downshift at NAUCC? Wouldn’t you be using it for the 10k?
This may be the post that makes my sabattical permanent.
It might be that the shift lever has got messed up a bit. It’s maybe worth taking off the shift buttons and looking at what’s going on under there. If it doesn’t look like there’s anything bent, maybe taking off and putting back on the shift buttons might fix it, if they’ve just got a little bit bashed?
I’ve never done it, but I think you need to use the two little tools that came with it to take off the buttons, I think you hold the button still with the flat thing, and unscrew the tiny allen key in the middle.
Joe
Tom, I feel your pain. But don’t go. We need you…sort of 
Don’t leave us, Tom!!! Just do what I do: Take any advice with a grain of salt. If the advice giver is under 20, apply a 2nd grain.
You’re exactly right. In fact, I told Florian that I wouldn’t send it back till after NAUCC – unless it fails me completely before then. I’ll be riding to work today; round-trip it’s 9 miles. If it holds up for now, I’ll just have to get used to riding in high gear.
I have a feeling that I can repair it with some button-jiggering. I don’t think that I’ve damaged the shift buttons, but perhaps one of them got wonky anyway.
To clarify, the buttons can move in on both sides as they normally do when we shift, but when I put it into low gear, nothing happens.
See you at the races!
Will the button push across but then nothing happens or is it stuck?
Joe
The recumbent bike shop here in State COllege has schlumf geared hubs on some of their cycles, Florian even stopped by the shop once, I gather from talking to the store owner. Is there a recumbent specialty shop in NYC that would have such things and the technical know how to help you?
This is the exact reason why i gave up Mountain biking and Bmx, too many complicated mechanisms to go wrong.
Just when i thought unicycles were the most basic form of cycle, someone goes and invents the shlumpf!
Rock on!
Edd
Did you move or are you no longer working in Manhattan?
hmm… i dont know if any bike shops would know much about a Guni hub, but i guess they could figure it out.
You could even take it apart and figure it out yourself.
There must be some local recumbent bike specialists. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into it. There are now three local gunis, so it might be good to have someone around here who can service our special hubs.
We’re still in Brooklyn (tho we have a lot of connexions to Manhattan) for the next few months. We’re going to move this summer (some time before mid-August).
The NYUC will continue to meet at 122nd and RSD in Manhattan – under my continuing dictatorship; New Paltz is only an hour away from Grant’s Tomb.
It works! (?)
I took it out to try it today, and it didn’t work – at first. Then I just pushed the wheel around and spun it around and lo and behold, it works. But it didn’t work the next time. But then on my way to work today, I tried to downshift and was happy to discover that it worked.
When it fails, what happens is that the button goes in but the hub stays in high gear. My hunch is that I can ride it in high gear safely as long as the hub is set to high gear.
well that’s good news!
I would make sure that problem is fully corrected before you put on your superman suit. You have no idea how it will jam next time your cruising.
Adam
That’s a good point. Now I’m worried. But I did ride 10 miles today without problems.