My Sclumpf geared uni (“guni” I call it) has arrived!!!
First of all, it’s a thing of beauty. I love the black frame and tire, and the chrome bits look super. I will prolly change the pedals to something grippier, but they’re a lot better than the old Schwinn pedals we used to get back when. The seat is a lot like a KH, and I happen to like those seats for my riding (10 miles/day), tho for REALLY long rides, I’d prolly switch to a Sem air seat.
Most important – how does it ride!!!
That’s where the real beauty of this uni comes out. I bought the 28" -> 42" version with a Big Apple tire. At 28" (1:1 ratio), it rides almost exactly like a regular 28" uni would, tho it’s overall a bit heavier and due to the hub. There is nearly zero slop – you don’t feel like it’s flipping bw gears. Harper’s fantastic uni.5 definitely had more slop, tho in both cases, one gets used to it after awhile. In this case, the ‘getting used to it’ period was approximately one minute.
I rode it at 1:1 around a quiet bike loop that has one moderate uphill and one moderate downhill section. The 3.35-mile loop took 17 mins, and my top speed was about 15mph. Then I gave it a shot in the 1.5:1 setting. It took me a few tries to get going, and my legs were tired from the previous loop, but I managed to stay on for the whole ride and to complete the loop in just under 15 mins. This time, my max speed was a whopping 19.8 mph, and I was still taking it easy (out of fear). In fact, I set the seat height too low (by nearly an inch), so it should be easy to break 21 mph when the conditions are even better. Whether I can knock off another minute in my loop record remains to be seen. The sub-14-minute time I achieved on my Coker some years ago was accomplised using 110m cranks, and since then, I’ve gone to 125s on both my Coker and on my guni.
There was definitely a bit more slop at the 1.5:1 setting, but it was almost negligible and was definitely easy to get used to. What is NOT so easy to get used to is the idea that if you UPD, you’ll be running a LOT faster than your gams can take you, and you’ll have less reaction time since you’ll be closer to the ground than with a Coker. I hate that part. I’m looking forward to some spectacular UPDs. Definitely can’t go riding sans wristguards at the geared-up setting.
As for switching ‘on the fly’ – I was able to manage that the first time I tried and pretty much each time since then. I find it a lot easier to switch up (from the low to the high gear) than to switch down. I used my ankles, and I rode slowly when in transition.
It’s a blast. And I have a name for my guni: Queen Gunivere. And given how breathless I was during the ride, that makes me Sir Pants-A-Lot.
David Stone
