I just got a 24" Hunter Uni with the profile cranks/hub/axle from unicycle.com.
When I first got it out of the box, I spent about 20 minutes admiring the
craftsmanship and attention that went into building it. The welds and the
glossy paint on the frame are really beautiful. My Pashley’s paint is already
getting scratched off in places, but I doubt that will happen with the Hunter.
I didn’t realize the 3.0 Gazz tire was so wide – almost as wide as my fist.
Out on the trail, this thing rides like a small tractor with an air-cushioned
seat. You don’t go very fast, but you can roll over just about anything.
The rocks give me a bump rather than a jarring jolt like they did before.
Turning is harder, so I often roll over stuff now instead of steering around it.
The tire makes me feel glued to the ground. However my arms flail
around a bit more, as the tire seems to want to get into “leans” and
not recover easily. And on the street, it’s fairly tiring to ride.
Before I was using a 28" Pashley with a 2.1" tire and 150mm cranks – far from
optimum for Muni, but still a lot of fun. The same trails on the Hunter
almost feels boring in comparison. Terrain now falls into one of
three categories: easy, impossible, and stuff that I’m scared of
riding on for fear of hurting myself when I fall (mostly jagged rocks).
After the second day of riding, something in the hub/cranks started to develop
a creak. It was soft at first and then become louder. It was there even
when holding the Uni aloft and spinning the wheel. I stopped riding,
took it home, and removed the main-cap holders, and felt the bearings.
They were fine, so I put it back together, and the creak is gone for
now. I read in the archives that the creak is “normal” for the Profile
setup, so I probably won’t worry about it further.
Thanx for the review. My main concern with the 3" Gazz is the added weight- although they say this is more than made up for by other characteristics. I wonder, though, if this is a better downhill set up than a climber…
If you don’t have one, I would recommend spending some time on a Coker, developing your ability to manuver it at low speeds and tight confines; the 3" Gazz will seem agile forever after.
dsholt@hotmail.com writes: > >After the second day of riding, something in the hub/cranks started to >develop >a creak. It was soft at first and then become louder. It was there even >when holding the Uni aloft and spinning the wheel. I stopped riding, >took it home, and removed the main-cap holders, and felt the bearings. >They were fine, so I put it back together, and the creak is gone for >now. I read in the archives that the creak is “normal” for the Profile >setup, so I probably won’t worry about it further.
I don’t own one, but Joe Merrill has a Profile in his monster muni and
explained that the creaking is due to the splined setup. I have a feeling
this is true, and tho his is pretty creaky, it rides great. He’s had it
for over a half year.
David
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
> After the second day of riding, something in the hub/cranks started to
develop > a creak. It was soft at first and then become louder. It was there even > when holding the Uni aloft and spinning the wheel. I stopped riding, > took it home, and removed the main-cap holders, and felt the bearings. > They were fine, so I put it back together, and the creak is gone for > now. I read in the archives that the creak is “normal” for the Profile > setup, so I probably won’t worry about it further. >
Ya, this is pretty normal for the Profile hub/crank setup. I have the same
wheel as you and I agree, it is fantastic! However, it never started to
creak for me for about 4 months. I regularily had to tighten my crank bolts
and I also found that my bearings could creak if they were clamped in too
tightly. Make sure they are held in place firmly, but not super tight, the
wheel should still spin freely if you pick it up.
Anyway, my hunter creaks all the time now, especially doing trials riding.
There are some advantages though, an officer won’t tell you to have a bell
to warn people that you’re approaching, you can always be heard.
I regreased and cleaned all my bearings, splines and it stopped the creaking
completely. unfortuneately that only lastest 2 days and it is now back to
the usual old noisy self. Oh well, I could care less as long as the thing
never breaks and doesn’t ever creak the circus tune…
The 3" Gazz is a great off-road climber. When climbing with a standard 2" MTB tire a single thumb sized rock can cause you to fall off because that little bitty rock can cause you to loose traction if you try to roll right over it. With a 3" Gazz you can safely roll right over those small pesky rocks and other trail obstacles without falling and without loosing all traction.
But if you’re climbing up a paved road or a well groomed walking path, a lighter, skinnier tire would be a better climber.
While on the subject: I stuck my steepest decent Saturday. Although it wasn’t very long, the main part droped 9’+ in a letter J shape. Key was being able to actively think my way through the drop- break, balance, unleashing gravity. It was really satasfying to have my body and skill catch up to what I would like to do- and then have a modicum of experience to allow me to judiciously approach the problem.
Anyway, I rode this with 6" cranks- even so, keeping my feet on the pedals and in controll was an issue. While the longer cranks on the Profile set up would offer more torque- won’t they exacerbate foot speed problems?