It is a lot harder to ride with cranks on. I can ride a UW 24 forever, the one on that site. But I can’t even take 2 pedals on a cranked UW. Spend the money the money on an actual UW.
Yeah, with the frame off the uni, its not like a UW at all. SO much harder.
Give it a shot though, and wear shin guards, cause I know perfectly what is gonna happen to you. Muwahaha.
Umm, if you really want, there was an UW I saw on some site a while back, with the hub modded so the cranks fit inside the spokes, and the pedals would screw in and be right on the outside of the spokes.
I think you should atleast try making one. all you need to do is take a frame off. if you don’t like it you can put it back on then decide to buy one. if you do like it, then you just saved a bunch of money.
I made one out of bits I had lying around- can’t ride it at all though. Bloody difficult!
I went into a bike shop and asked for a knackered 26" wheel.
Chopped all the spokes, cut a disc of plywood to fit inside the rim and then screwed through the spoke holes into the plywood. Plenty of rim tape and then you are ready to fit the tyre…
The hard bit is mounting the cranks to the wood.
I bodged it. It is ugly but it works.
The critical thing is to get the pedals as far inboard as possible- using a unicycle without a frame is just a recipe for a broken ankle in my opinion.
Were I to do it again (unlikely considering I can’t ride the bugger)
I would put the extra effort in and make up plates to screw onto the wood and weld mounts for the pedals onto.
I believe that there is someone out there who sells plates to do just this but I couldn’t find them at the time.
I think it probably cost me about £15 in bits. Definitely worth trying the DIY route before splashing loads of cash for a nimbus one.
You can buy the plates from unicycle.com if you can’t find someone local to weld some and cut a pedal thread for you (remember the the left pedal needs to be reverse threaded).
Homemade ultimate wheels are much cheaper but the wooden center makes them really heavy compared to the Aluminum wheels you can buy.
If you are making one from an old wheel it is best to use a 26" or 700c with a smooth/road tire for learning on as the knobbly tires can dig into your leg.
1) That’s not a bad idea actually. 2) I wonder if titanium is a good choice considering they are built tough. The only problem is, would it be heavier?? 3) I think this would be more appropriate i think.