Am I the only one who hates pedals with pins? I ride on pavement only, I do not need to be locked into the pedal like the muni guys. What I need is to be able to adjust my foot freely as I ride. To say nothing about my boot getting stuck to the pedal pins a couple of times so that I ended up falling hard on my butt. Ugh!
I suppose I would not hate these pedals as much if I could unscrew the pins. I did just that on a pair of Fooker pedals that I got for my 24", but on the Hatchet pedals you can not do that. I was going to cover up those pins with epoxy, but I got fed up with half measures and went for a set of Shimano urban pedals instead. If I need more grip on them I can always stick on some grip tape. So now I have a set of perfectly good Hatchet pedals left over, good for nothing.
[Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest, I hate wasting equipment.]
You use the Hatchet for pavement only? With the original tire? Why don’t you just use a road uni? Or are there road tires i this dimension available? I strongly believe, the Hatched was designed with only Muni in mind …
I’m sure, you’ll find someone who would take these pedals in the trading post.
Pins in pedals are great not just for muni. If you’re riding a 36" having all the grip you need is very handy when you need to put a lot of pressure on the pedals for hill climbs and faster riding in general. Not to mention if it’s raining the pins help stop your feet from slipping off the pedals.
As for not being able to adjust your feet with pins you can learn to lift your feet half a centimetre off the pedals to readjust without a dismount.
I am generally also very happy with pins. Last week, though riding on a sandy path with potholes, I nearly UPD’d. I was going at near top speed and hit a bump, but my feet were stuck on the pins, so I couldn’t hop off. I managed to pedal out of it. Apparently I could spin a bit faster. On my 24" I don’t have pins and I always ride with shoes with flat soles, so the pins can more easily bite into them. Occasionally there are bumps on cycle paths as well, so my feet would slip on the pedals without pins. I might even replace them.
I like the pins, and I only mostly ride on road. Nothing worse than your foot moving when pedaling under load or being dislodged going over bumps. Often I will cruise with a high cadence, balls of my feet on the pedals pushing forward and down as I go, need grip on the pedal to do that.
Good morning. As for the reason for the Hatchet, I started on a Sun with a fat wheel, but their axles slip, I went through two of them, both covered by the warranty. So I needed another fat wheel, I like the softer ride. With the Hatchet I pump it up to 20 psi and it still gives me more suspension than any other alternative that I can see. Plus I wanted the bigger wheel, it has a true 30" diameter (I got the 26").
As for removing the studs with a wrench, I don’t see how. Maybe pop them off from below with a small drift or an awl?
Finally, as for grip, grip tape is safer for me. Those damn pins are almost as bad as toe clips, when they hook into your boot sole!
I hope you don’t feel attacked by everyone questioning your choice of unicycle for riding on the road. A unicyclist being pressured to conform with other unicyclists is a bit of a chuckle for me. If you wanted to switch to a more road oriented tire on the fat wheel the Vee tire speedster might be interesting option as a 26x3.5 semi-slick. I plan to try it on my fat-tired commuting e-bike once my other tires wear out.
For removing the pins you should be able to grip the outer edges of the pins with a suitably small socket. The sockets needed usually come in a kit with a screwdriver handle. But you have new pedals anyway, as pointed out you could probably off-load them on the trading post section of this site.
I am not a fan of aggressive pins. I don’t do giant drops, riding conditions in SoCal are generally dry, and I am driven crazy by having a less than perfect foot placement. Also, as I’ve improved, I tend to keep weight / leverage in the seat and hold on with both hands. This has helped me keep contact with the pedals despite their relative smoothness.
Just a note on the Vee Tire Speedster…I tried the 2.8 version on my 29 and holy cow it has a lot of camber sensitivity. Tried high and low air pressure and couldn’t get rid of it. I use it now on the front tire of my mountain bike and it has a lot of self steer on the bike also. I put the WTB slick tire on the uni and no camber sensitivity at all, but it is only 2.2 inches wide. A joy to ride with that tire.
If I feel stupid here it is not because I do things my own way. It is because I do not see obvious solutions, like screwing off those pins Like UniMyra showed. I was sure they were integral to the cross-bar. So I was thinking about prying off the entire bar. Too much thinking is not good sometimes.
