Steering a bike or a uni is a matter of leaning. The only time you steer a bike with the handlebar is when you are going very slow. That is sort of like the quick hip snaps we do on uni’s when we are going very slow.
The handlebar doesn’t add stability as much as an altered riding position. The ability to put weight on your hands relieves pressure on your saddle, and makes longer distances much more comfortable. Riding with two hands on the handle takes practice. I remember feeling less stable in the beginning, but as you ride with a bar it becomes second nature. Now I wouldn’t dream of riding more than a couple of miles on the road without one. I think on MUni I’m on my legs a lot more, and as a result I don’t feel the saddle pain as much.
The t bar is mainly for stability and body support. It allows you to shift your weight around much more comfortably and gives you somewhere to hold your hands. For me it doesn’t add any steering power, if I’m turning sharp I let go of it.
I have a question I forgot to ask about cutting the frame. In the back of the frame right where the seat clamps are, there’s an area that’s visible. I don’t know what that’s called but it seems like it’s used to look at the measurements printed on the seat post. EDIT: here found a picture, open top area of the seat tube on the frame, open vertical area.
Is this the main purpose of that vertical open area? I also had in mind that it helps with the clamp to hold the seat post in place, but I’m not sure. Should I recreate that area if I do shorten the frame?
Tell me if you get what I’m talking about, if not then I’ll take and post a picture.
I’ll definitely try the solutions that you guys have posted before cutting the frame which is a last resort, but it’ll be nice knowledge to know beforehand. Thanks!
Congratulations on the new beast!
Just a couple quick comments:
The handle bar helped me with curing my weaving and made me ride straight.
Don’t worry about catching your uni on a UPD. Get yourself under control, the uni will live.
I also believe that the slot is for clamping. It seems like the slots in most of my frames are a bit longer than they really need to be. If you are only cutting it a little bit you may not need to extend the slot.
If I was going to cut a frame, more than just a little, I would drill a hole in the place where the I want the slot to end, and then extend the slot to the hole with a Dremel tool. Then I would put the frame in my fork steerer sawing guide and use a hacksaw to cut it at the desired length. You could probably use a tubing cutter as well.
I’m probably going to get the bike shop to do it if it doesn’t cost much. I called them and I’m getting estimates around $10 up to $20. I either don’t have the tool or handy enough to make clean accurate cuts, especially in a quick and easy manner.
But in conclusion still, from what you guys are saying, I’ll probably have to recreate that slot/slit or else my clamps would be weakened, right?
If I HAD to cut the frame, it’ll be an inch or inch and a half so I won’t bring it back home and find out that I’d like just a tad more off and have to go back and pay twice and I can always increase the post length.
So it’s confirmed that considering the frame being cut down a bit and recreating the slit for the clamp that it won’t affect the strength of the frame? I do plan to do some minor dirt trails with some hops.
Nate, I find it very very hard to believe that you need to cut your frame down with a 31" inseam. UDC says that 30" is the minimum. My impulse 36er can be set to about 29" with 150mm cranks and a nimbus gel on it. Something doesn’t add up here and you should figure out what is really wrong before doing an irreversible mod. If you are using thin pedals I would suggest switching to thicker ones as it may help slightly. Also you can get a thinner saddle or flatten your current one. It’s 165$ for a new frame and you don’t want to have to buy a new one. When cutting something always remember that it’s easy to cut it short but it’s hard to cut it long. Maybe you just need to get used to it the way it is. It would be good to post a picture of yourself on it with one of the pedals all the way down so we can look at it and see how much you have to stretch.
If you can ride it ok on the 125 holes, stay with that for a while. 125s arent too bad on a 36 on road and can handle some vanilla XC. While learning the 36er I found that i slowly got used to having straight legs and progressively raised the seat height from ~5cm to 20cm.
If the slot didnt exist, it would be virtually impossible to clamp a seatpost securely and to do so would damage the frame. It is quite long so the metal can be bent without damage by the seatpost clamp. Any cutting of the seat tube would require lengthening of the joint. As your seat tube is quite short, reducing it by an inch and then extending the slot would probably weaken the frame.
For practicing a 36er car parks (especially deserted office car parks on a sunday) are perfect. Due to the size of the wheel pretty much any UPD will result in you standing at low to mid speed.
Also is the saddle reinforcement plate between the saddle and seatpost or below the seatpost. It might have been put between to tilt the saddle front up more.
Why don’t you post a close-up picture of the seat post, seat and top of the frame. I notice that seat posts vary by as much as an inch in clearance. If we see what kind you are using it may make it clear whether or not you can save some space at that position. Replacing the seat post may cost $20.
I agree with everyone, except the bit about weakening the frame. I think the only way you would weaken the frame is if you cut so much that the post can’t extend into the seat tube twice its diameter past the bottom of the clamp. So, as long as you have about 3" from the bottom of the crown to the top of the clamp you should be fine. Of course if you cut it that much you will have to dial in your post length perfectly.
First exhaust every option that doesn’t require cutting. Even if you have to cut it’s likely that you won’t have to take it down as much. And second, if you only have to take it down a little it may be easier to go with a single bolt clamp like a Salsa then to extend the slot.
You should not need to cut the frame. I am between 5’7 and 5’8 and have no problem even on the 150 holes. I usually ride the 127s though. I often ride with my 5-10s, which add a lot of height, as someone else mentioned, but I could probably ride with crocs if I wanted to. The seat post would be all the way down on the 150s.
Also I have the KH fusion street, which is thinner than whatever you have on that. I don’t know if that’s a nimbus or what. If it’s a gel, I’d get rid of it. It’s not nearly as comfortable as any of the KH seats IMO. I would say you could probably be 5’6 and still ride the Oracle with a thinner seat at least, esp on the 127 holes.
The Oracle 36 is a great unicycle. I’ve never ridden the KH36, but have ridden some older 36s and this thing is amazingly light and responsive. After a few days I was riding this thing with about as much control as a 29. I could probably ride light muni even on the 127mm holes. In fact I often take “short cuts” on my way home on a trail near my house. Anyway congrats, and before you cut the frame get some shoes with higher platforms like the 5-10 impacts. Those are great shoes. worth the money. Fantastic for unicycling. I use them both on and off the road and/or get a thinner saddle.
As far as UPDs, yes they can be nasty from a 36. Make sure your laces are tucked in and tied tight. Wear wrist protectors, knee pads and a helmet. Only go down to a shorter crank when you are comfortable on the 150s.
I’m less concern about the unicycle actually. I’m afraid of a giant unicycle flying across the road and hitting cars and maybe people (most likely cars since I’m on the road most of the time)
I did measure it from the 127mm hole to the top of the freeride saddle at the lowest point and it’s a bit over 31" from top to bottom. I’m like Aaron (kahunacohen) where I’m probably in between 30-31.
Maybe it’s just more to do with a personal comfortability. On my 26er I liked riding with a bit of a bended knee and knowing I still have room to stretch out and push in case I suddenly need it.
I like the comfort of the kh though, wouldn’t a thinner saddle have less cushion? I don’t know if you remember my complaint about the kh street just because it had less cushion. I also sorta looked at the saddle a bit and it looked like the area where I sit on is almost at the lowest point so not sure if straightening it out would do any real good in terms of making the oracle fit me a bit better and I read about it but am afraid I might mess up a good seat if I try. I’ll read it into it though. Someone also brought up getting posts that have smaller wields to push it closer to the clamp, have made a note on that.
I’ll see what I can do. EDIT: Look further down, I ended up taking the pictures. along with another request too.
Yeah I actually do pretty okay, I’ve ridden it today. The issue, however, comes when I lose that forward momentum and there’s an upward climb and my unicycle wants to go back more than forward and it’s a bit hard of a push. Practice will probably help me with this, it is the first day doing it, but there’s just so much I can do. I’ll see what I can do in the next week or so of practice and post up on that.
Darn, wish you hadn’t have said that haha. I definitely do not want to hurt the quality of the unicycle. It’s already bothering me even if it didn’t. Guess I’ll figure another way.
On the side note I was wondering, does the T bar impede on a person’s mobility significantly? Like weaving around objects and stuff?
Okay…doing it now…
No one is in the house for a few days so I have to get my camera tripod and stuff out and set it up to a timer, but here goes.
Freeride seat and post all the way down measurement from pedal surface, crank pointing directly down, straight up the frame.
Sitting up straight on 127mm crank hole. The bend in the knee is sorta okay, but the issue lies when I go up steeper places and lean my body forward in next pic
Forward leaning, legs stretched, not super uncomfortable, but it makes me nervous:
Notice here I’m leaning to my left to simulate when I bend my body and legs stretched to the max. Not comfortable, at this point I tend to get scared that my foot might slip off the pedal and I’ll probably dismount out of fear. Maybe experience will help, but it scares me at the moment. I sometimes bend this way due to sudden shift in the road or a bad road crown. It’s also scary because any bump in the road would push my foot that’s trying hard to reach the pedal up and therefore (I’ve mentioned this awhile back on my 26er) my foot gradually slips to the right and I have to readjust my foot on the pedal and has caused me to lose balance and dismount before.
EDITED: Maybe the future re-installment of the T Bar for a straight, less shifting ride would help this issue. Not sure yet.
Okay. I would probably think about cutting it half an inch but I don’t even know if that’s even worth it. I dunno. That should be fine with all but yeah last resort is cutting.
Because at the moment, I don’t see myself using the 150mm. I’ll try to go around with 150mm again and see if I change my mind but 127mm already seems a bit of a stretch at point.
@kahunacohen
Read and understood. Hopefully I can find the shoes on sale. I usually just buy sneakers for $20 and rarely shoes that exceed $60.
What type of 5-10s are you using as a recommendation for the extra thick soles? I’ve come across the subject before so I’ll go search in a sec.
EDIT: I also have the KH street with gel pad stuck inside on the 26er. Maybe taking out the gel pad and moving it to the 36er would help. I wonder how much thicker the freeride is as oppose to the street…
I just like the cushion though, maybe my butt has toughen up in the last month and I don’t need the gel anymore. Too bad the saddle cover isn’t easier to take off, well…good and bad if you think about it.
One thing that sticks out to me, is how far forward your foot is on the pedal. The spindle actually looks closer to youre heel than your toes . Try pedaling closer to the balls of your feet (try putting the spindle just behind the bony bump of your big toe). That’ll effectively lengthen your inseam.
Seats: it is a common misconception that you want as cushy a seat as possible. In theory it sounds great, but in reality it’s not. When you have a big squishy pad to sit on, your sit bones sink down into the foam until the foam is pushing up on your nether regions. This causes more discomfort int he long run. Obviously you don’t want ‘no’ seat foam, but less is more. I run KH streets on all of my unis, and my next uni will have a naomi on it.
Personally, I wouldn’t mess with cutting the frame down yet. I’d give it a week or two of riding and see if you can get comfortable with the seat height.
Every unicycle that I have, I ended up raising the seat aftera period of time. Even the last one I built, I set at what I thought was the right height after riding around a bit in my yard. After the first big ride, it went up another half inch.
Yeah actually you brought up something that I noticed while watching some of the 36er videos. Especially of the 5’4 guy. Noticed he was able to do it but had the front of his foot on the pedal rather than the back.
Is that not the way to do it though? I find that when I have my foot like that, I have a bit more support and when I have more of my foot back where the front of my foot is pushing on the pedal, I feel like I’m tiptoeing and it’s a bit tiring. Like walking with your full weight on the ground as oppose to tipietoeing around the house with the weight on your toes.
Haha yeah I’ve been noticing that a bit. I bought some stuff for the extra friction that aggravates that part when I ride for a few miles. Maybe I’ll try to take off the gel pad soon and do a long ride. It was starting to be okay though, wasn’t that bad anymore…the soreness in the groins that is, from the extra cushion.
Yeah I’ll give it a week or two. I’ll install the T bar and see if that helps with certain moments that causes my legs to stretch uncomfortably.
I ride near the center of my foot, but that’s because I ride mostly muni. With muni, braking backwards is considerably harder if you use the ball of your foot on the pedal. But if I were riding a 36er on flats, with no need to reduce speed drastically… I would ride on the balls of my feet for more power and more energy conservation.
So you’re saying I was suppose to ride like that? I’ve had a few moments where my foot accidentally slipped back and I would try to move it back towards my heel. It felt awkward for me and a bit tiring since all the weight seemed to be pushing the heel of my foot.
So it’s something like this?
I never knew that haha! Wow
Edit: Hope you’ll excuse the bike picture fellow unicyclists
There’s some middle ground. It get’s tedious riding on the balls of your feet all the time. Cyclists don’t have to worry too much since they are clipped in, but on my road uni’s, the pedal is only a bit further back than the bike picture you posted.
Okay wow yeah I just got my mind blown by the whole foot/pedal positioning.
Do you guys bunny hop with your foot in that position too? Is that how you get such high hops? I would think the weight pressing down the front of your foot be a bit too much wouldn’t it?
However, back on the other subject, now that I think about it I do use my foot for some braking power especially because 127mm make braking a bit harder. Now I’m curious to see how it’ll feel riding with my foot like that.
I think I’ve always rode with my foot towards the heel.
EDIT
So how successful are you with braking on shorter cranks, still good with your foot in that position on the pedal?
Oh and can you guys give me tips on how to adjust my foot position while riding?
. Try pedaling closer to the balls of your feet (try putting the spindle just behind the bony bump of your big toe). That’ll effectively lengthen your inseam.
