Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers say “Waiting is the hardest part”
Heck, I’ll be “surprised” if I can ride the darn (KH36G) thing! I switched cranks (from 150/125 to 165/137) on my Impulse a while back in preparation. I’ve been practicing simulated shifting with my 5.10 Impact HighTops. My SpeedPlay Drillium pedals (those things are already scary should I need to bail at speed) keep my feet in place pretty well. My goal building my KH36G was to keep all the things I love about my Impulse. Same pedals, same tire (Nightrider), same rim (Nimbus Stealth Impulse - could have saved a buck with Stealth Pro but I like my drilled rim), same (Shadow) handlebar, same seat (hoping the new “slim” freeride will be available by then), with the only change being brakes (from Disc to Maggie) and hub.
They sell fixed-torque screw drivers that might be useful on a Schlumpf hub. Apparently the shift-button screw should be tightened to 2 Nm. The Wiha website sells a relatively inexpensive fixed 2 Nm driver (which would need the appropriate allen head–available elsewhere on their website.)
Would the Wiha tools be useful for maintaining the Schlumpf hubs?
Are you sorry you said “Let me know if you have any questions” yet?
Dear Sir,
I hope this email finds you well. I am riding my Nimbus (disc) Impulse more these days in anticipation of my KH-Schlumpf. I’m finding double hole (165/137 Moments) cranks benefit from a Quick Release (QR) seat post clamp. I hear rumor that Hope makes really a nice one and I see UDC has QR clamps from Nimbus and Salsa. I would be interested in your thoughts on best brand. Perhaps, in addition to the 27.2mm Kris Holm Double Bolt Seat Post Clamp (black is fine), I could purchase from you two QR clamps. One 27.2mm for my new KH36G and one 25.4mm for my Impulse.
On seat posts, I see UDC has the 27.2 Pivotal (required for Shadow Handlebar) Seat post in 260mm. I ordered my Impulse with a 4" seat post and it was way to short (I’m 5’ 10" 160) for my long cranks. The 260mm should work fine. I do own a pipe cutter. I’ve got some blue Loctite threadlocker for that “pivotal” seat bolt. Roger says he’s reinforced the latest Shadow handle. Mine (1st gen) broke (right at the weld same as others on forum) fairly easily. I took it to my local welder. It ain’t pretty but it is holding. I check it after each UPD.
I have my Impulse Shadow set up (curve up, grips out just like the main picture on UDC) to protect my Bengal Helix 1.1 brake lever when I drop it. I am concerned the Magura’s Spooner lever may stick out too far. I hope not. What would be ideal is to have an alternate place to mount the Spooner under the seat so I could remove the Shadow handlebar for the trails. I know John Foss has a Shadow on his KH36G. I will ask him.
On the saddle, Kris Holm says his new Fusion “Slim” saddle will be at UDC in 1-4 weeks (as of 04/26/2011). That is the saddle that I want if it’s on time. Otherwise I guess I will settle for another Fusion Freeride (Blue or Black are fine). Finally, I think blue rim strip looks nice in drilled rims.
I an tempted to order spare gear shift buttons (steel, gold plated / chrome plated) but they are CHF 18 per unit so I think I will play it like the others and hope that you’ve got extras on hand. On second thought, go ahead and order me a pair. Do I also need and extra set of “Spare Axel Bolt” CHF 16? I will stop short of buying the CHF 120 Torque screw driver (preadjusted torque of 2Nm) for the gear shift buttons.
That is all I can think of right now and I have again taken up too much of your valuable time so I will close with this. I’m no mechanic so I trust your judgment implicitly. Florian and Kris designed the KH-Schlumpf hub to work best with KH frames and cranks so I am going with genuine KH parts. I will have to learn to deal with Magura Hydro brakes. Did I mention I love the disc brakes on my Impulse? My best speeds to date are dragging that brake on a gradual downhill.
My plan is to break my new hub in slow using only the high gear (buttons off) checking/tightening my cranks every 5 miles for the first 20. Any advice you provide is appreciated. I pledge to do whatever it takes (routine maintenance, mostly road with no big drops) to prevent a hub malfunction but I am keeping my Impulse intact for the worst case scenario.
Sincerely,
David Hood
I think riding the 36 with 110s is probably a better prep for switching to a 36 guni with long cranks. Not sure that shift practice without the hub is much use - practicing moving your foot around on the pedal might be helpful (or maybe practicing riding 1-footed on a smaller uni). One tip for shifting with long cranks - ride with the balls of your foot centered on the pedal.
Probably the best way to practice for riding a 36" in high gear is to ride around on a 54" unicycle. If you happen to know someone who has one. I was fortunate in that I had a 45", and I used to have a roommate who had made himself a 50" and 56" wheels.
Not sure who you are writing to, but those giant paragraphs were a mouthful. If it’s to a vendor I highly recommend separating out each question on its own, and providing an itemized list of what you want to order.
I don’t have an opinion on the various clamps mentioned, though I recommend a non-QR, double-bolt one for any road unicycle with a long handle. You can put a lot of torque into a seat post with a setup like that.
I have mine set up curve down. The brake lever is under the bar, so that would seem the better direction to protect it. But my brake lever is way back toward the seat for upright-seated braking. My Spooner lever is nowhere near ground contact.
The alternate is a different piece of tubing. My inelegant solution is a simple BMX seatpost. It’s chrome and it fits, which were good enough at the time. I added a BMX handlegrip to the end of that, and had me a MUni handle. The purpose of that handle is to be there instead of my beautiful, custom powder-coated Shadow handle for the trails. But yesterday I did several miles of (easy) trails and didn’t even think about having my nice handle on there…
That will be good discipline and force you to learn your high gear skills faster, but you might find it frustrating.
You won’t regret choosing the KH frame; I love mine and never a hint of slippage or bearing issues.
I was thinking about practicing spinning 165’s on my un-guni Impulse which would be the same as 1:1 on my KH36G. I ride up lots of big steep hills (working those leg muscles) just to get out of my neighborhood. I heard John say he was having second thoughts about 150’s leverage in 1:1.5 gear. I traded out the 125/110’s that came on my Impulse for 165/137’s (skipped 150/125 all together) and I am in no hurry whatsoever to go shorter. Call me crazy for 165’s on a 36er but I do a lot of bumpy sidewalks. Call me even crazier for using SpeedPlay Drillium pedals (stuck to the point of feeling scary clipped in with my 5.10 Impacts) on a 36er. Actually, that is crazy. I’m going with the Wellgo Clear Dx pedals this time to match my blue rim tape and hopefully to be able to at least move my feet a little (unlike the Drillium) so I can shift and bail if need be.
Like I said before, I really think I’ve developed the leg muscles to spin in 1:1.5 gear. If you had it to do over again, would you get the 150s again or would you opt for something a little longer? Perhaps it’s the hilly terrain and occasional light XC but I am really getting along well with my 165’s. Yes, you are spinning big circles really fast to hit 10mph but those flat sections are what the 1:1.5 gear are for. In a lot of ways, I think ordering a Schlumpf was more about being able to retain the stability of long cranks in 1:1 for me at least.
Stupid question: by riding the 1st 20 miles without shifting buttons installed (to make it easy to retighten cranks), am I risking getting dirt in places where it should not be?
The skills and speed will come along eventually. My main concern was breaking her in gently. I wonder if I had done a better job of this (tighten cranks often early on) with my Impulse would that reduce the amount of clickty click creak I hear (presumably from that aluminum hub) when I stand up pedaling hard uphill. I vow to learn more about pulling routine maintenance on my KH36G with the help of all the kind folks in the forum to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude.
I have a gap between the buttons and the hole in the crank. Dirt will get in regardless of the buttons being installed or not. I only retightened the cranks once after the first few kms. Since then I have done about 2000 km without an issue. Reinstalling the buttons is not a major task.
The clickty click creak sounds like spokes or spoke nipple noises to me. If the cranks feel tight on the axle (you can test by trying to wobble them by hand) then I would recommend checking the spoke tension.
I’ve been doing some research digging deep in older message boards before the advent of the KH36 frame. It was interesting to read the debate from 29er fans of why putting a Schlumpf hub in a 36er would never be a good idea Anyhow, I hope unisk8r doesn’t mind me posting this here.
unisk8r post in cyclebanter from November 2005.
If I’ve learned one thing about designing and riding geared 36’s, it’s
the crank length factor. At first I tried the std. 150’s on my Purple
Phaze, and more than anything the problem was speed control. When I
went to 175 cranks, I regained control over the wheel.
If you take the std. 150’s on a 36" 1:1 wheel as the reference, then
when gearing up the wheel by 1.5, isn’t it logical to also “gear up”
the cranks by a similar factor?
If so, 150mm cranks x 1.5 = 225mm cranks, to have the same leverage
over the geared up wheel as 150’s do on a coker. That’s why I think
175’s are relatively “short” cranks for a 36" guni. Of course, even
if we could get 200’s, we still need to spin somewhat, but usually not
over 120rpm with a 55" effective wheel size. So the 175s are actually
a good compromise. Crank lengths for gunis have little to do with our
experience on a direct-drive wheel.
Ok, I will admit that is one deep cut but his theory holds true today. I fell for the “shorter cranks are better” and switched the 150/125s for to 125/110s on my first unguni Impulse. Big mistake. Kentucky is too hilly! So I went to what I thought was the other extreme with 165/137s and now I’m thinking about 170s. But, in the spirit of recreating the magic of my Impulse, I’ll stick with my favorite KH 165/137 Moment cranks.
Resurrecting an old favorite because the Schlumpf hub: setup thread got too technical and I reserve the Schlumpf hub: general thread for learning to ride the darn thing.
The more “mechanically challenged” of us need help ordering and using the tools to fine tune our new toy. A torque screw driver set like the Wiha 29114 (2 Nm handle) and the 28546 (2 mm metric hex blade) cost $50 and provides a life long warranty for lost shifting buttons.
So with the little wrench that comes with every hub to hold the other button against rotation and torque screw driver in hand, I begin to tighten the gold button first. Just when I was thinking “Boy, 2Nm seems really tight” I hear a single click (more like a pop). I sure hope that noise came from my screw driver because it sure sounded like it came from inside my hub.
Setting my tools aside, I roll the wheel around the deck shifting up and down by hand which seems to be a little harder. I pad up and take it to the street. Shifting is a little firmer but works fine. Whew! That made me nervous. I think I will trust the silver button is secure. That thing is going to have to fall off before I go torquing on it again. I hate tinkering with this thing! But, it sure is fun to ride!
How does one contact Schlumpf Innovation? I have been trying to order replacement shift buttons for an FS hub for months. Bronson does not carry these buttons–only ones for the KH hub. So far I have logged two phone calls, at least three e-mail messages and one online order with no response. How do you get the people at Schlumpf to respond?
Anyhow, I hope unisk8r doesn’t mind me posting this here.