Since this is my first post I guess a really quick background is in order. I got my first and only unicycle back in the sixth grade after an exchange student rode hers to school one day. I got to the point of learning how to go without falling, and turning, and that was about it.
Now a whole bunch of years later I’d like to start again seriously, but the burning question is that I’d like to figure out what type of unicyle I’ve got. I got it in a bike shop in downtown Toronto, and that’s all I can remember.
Can anyone give me some general tips on how to identify it? I know this is vague, so I’ll take a picture of it and post it up shortly.
maybe its a cyclepro … thats what i started on
but as for my unicycle
its a torker DX (2005) … what do you guys think of them … will I bend the axle ( i wiegh 130 and i just got it) … i just learned uni spins and im tryin new stuff
I keep hearing the brand torker without really knowing what it is. I’ll have to look into that. But anyway, I took two pics of my unicyle, hope it helps.
I had it plastered with stickers before, but got rid of them last year. Other than battered pedals, I keep it in fairly good condition, minus flat tire.
After inspecting it again, I realized the tire was some weird taiwan brand called Heng Shin. I’ve never heard of it.
I have one that is very similar, heng shin tire, same frame and bearing caps, same seat, same seat post and clamp but 36 spoke instead of the 28 that you have and different pedals. There really isn’t that much to it other than that. I don’t know what you would get out of knowing the brand but most of those parts are very generic.
That uni is made by a company called Trace. I think… I have seen Trace unis before and they look exactly like that. Unfortunally for you, they are probably the worst you can buy. They have lollypop bearing holders (the worst) and cotterless cranks which are fine, as long as you dont do any drops or big hops. It might be crap, but its still a ok uni to learn on. I learnt on something like that.
eh idk … it looks exactly like my old one … a cyclepro-i bent it the first time i jumped off a 4 stair, but im not sure it is the same because I have 2 and the seat isn’t shiny on them
Yes, it’s a generic Taiwan cheapie! With many of those, brand name isn’t very important, as the brand may not extend past the sticker and labeling on the box it came in. It’s more about the frame, bearings, seat etc. In your case, the seat is a very decent one for its day, but the bearing style is one you want to avoid. Whatever you get to replace it, make sure it doesn’t have those lolipops with bolts going up against round tubing. It’s not the bearing or lolipop that’s the problem, it’s the way the bolts attach with nothing to press against.
Thanks, guys. Generic taiwan model, huh? I guessed as much. Still, it should do for now, or atleast until I start learning to hop with it or whatnot. That’s a long way off.
Johnfoss, you mentioned the bearing is quite bad. Should I be looking for a specific bearing when I get a new one?
We’ve had two of those unicycles pass through my family and both have lasted a couple of years (even with some mild jumping)
The problem with the bearing holders is that they are attached to the frame with a flat bolt going sideways through a round tube. After a long time of use, the frame startes to disintegrate underneath the bolts and eventually will become (somewhat :)) unridable.
'sauga? Do you mean mississauga? if so, contact Darren Bedford at www.bedfordunicycles.ca he will help you out and has fantastic prices on stuff that isn’t bike store crap
The lollipop bearing design, curved frame tubes at the seatpost, pedals, and the saddle all look like they’re from a Zephyr. As said before, this is one of the cheapie Taiwanese knockoffs. I had one EXACTLY like it and the only difference was the Zephyr stickers on the fork tubes. I can’t say how many names were used for this design. Mine had a 24" tire. Yours is a 20" tire. The treads are even the same. When you begin hopping I can tell you exactly where the saddle will break.
Unless you start hopping, riding on bumps, weighing as much as an adult, etc. It’s impossible to maintain a bearing bolt torque that will keep the fork legs from “decomposing” eventually unless you simply don’t ride it much.
On a new uni, the bearings mounts Brian showed are common on most of the lower-priced decent unicycles today. Usually the price goes up before you get into fancier ones. Mainly just don’t get another set of those lolipops. Note: Pashley and Miyata both use lolipop-shaped bearings that are fine because they don’t use retarded engineering to attach the bolts).
As Harper mentioned, if sold in the USA that unicycle could have been a Zephyr. Or a CyclePro, or something else. Thoses companies didn’t make it, they are/were just resellers.
I’ve got the exact same type of uni with a Cyclepro sticker slapped on it and a Cheng Shin tire. I plan on riding it to death and palming it off on my brother-in-law as a starter while I get a good NEW one.
So basically, whether it’s a Norco, Taiwanese, Cyclepro, etc, it’s still pretty basic, huh? Someone mentioned the clamp that holds the seat down (which adjusts the height of the seat) is a bolt that goes through, goes through a circular tube. I’ve got the same thing…and before I only rode it for roughly 1-2 months and the seat started to wiggle left and right, which made me sometimes crash my knees and shins into the middle (painful). That’s probably why I stopped before, I don’t remember.
Yep, I checked his price lists out already, and what I plan to do is ride my current one until it’s passable to be going around the block, then contact him this summer.
Actually it means that whether the sticker said Norco, Cyclepro, Zephyr, it was probably the exact same parts, from the same Taiwan factory. Yes, low-end. Those designs are slowly fading from the marker in favor of designs that actually have had input from unicyclists!
Hopefully not on that uni. The seat clamp bolt should go behind the frame (or in front; wherever the slot in the frame is). Some unicycles use a single bolt that goes through the frame and seat post, and actually holds the whole upper half of the uni together. This is how the Schwinns, Semcycle Deluxes, and Troxels were built. The drawback of this design was limited adjustment increments. Putting the bolt through a regular (tubular) unicycle frame would tend to crush the tubing if you made it too tight, or otherwise be too loose.
