Sofa’s question about crank/wheel setup raises an interesting question:
What is the optimal setup for one-wheeled racing?
Thoughts?
It seems like the only way to really get at this question is to open an unlimited class of unicycle racing. Does unlimited racing already exist? There seem to be three natural classes for “unlimited”:
1) Unlimited standard
A conventional unicycle setup with upright rider, standard seat and cranks fixed directly to wheel.
2) Unlimited geared
Same as unlimited standard except for geared hubs (e.g., BlueShift)
3) Unlimited unlimited
Any pedal powered vehicle with only one wheel. (One-wheeled recumbants with fairings, low-speed “landing gear”, etc are all legal.)
What would people choose for short races, and what would people choose for long ones?
As Tom said, the 10k marathon at the North American nationals has an unlimited category. Unlimited means that you can use a non track racing unicycle (which means something other than a 24" wheel with 125 mm cranks). The blue shift was able to enter the 10K in the unlimited category.
Under the current rules, I’m not sure if unibiker’s wheelie bike would be legal in the 10K unlimited category. I’d hope that it would be legal. It is, after all, an unlimited category.
Re: Is there such a thing as “Unlimited” unicycle racing?
On Sat, 15 May 2004 02:28:56 GMT, doosh@inl.org (Tom Holub) wrote:
>The 10K at nationals had an unlimited category, and I think the first 5 or 6
>places were Cokers, followed by Blue Shift.
Was that unlimited Class 2 or Class 3, in cyberbellum terminology?
I.e., were fairings etc allowed? I would guess they were, but they’re
probably not practical and at unicycle speeds make too little of a
difference.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
be sure to remove the saddle and simply sit on the seat post. this is far more comfortable - tennisgh22 on the comfort of Savage unis
Last week I had an idea for a one-wheeled speed machine that would clearly be a unlimited-unlimited (class 3) unicycle.
It would have a geared hub with probably a 2:1 or 2.5:1 ratio, a 700c wheel with a track tubular (150g tire/tube combination) at 150 psi, and clipless pedals.
There would be no seat in a conventional sense. The rider would ride on his stomach on a custom “tray” with his back horizontal, in a typical bicyclist position. A fairing/crash pod would enclose the rider and machine. (Perhaps the rider would wear the top half of the fairing?)
The rider’s arms would operate a couple of “wings”. At high speeds the wings would provide balance and steering with aerodynamics. At medium speeds the wings would flail around as we do now with our arms, and at slow speeds the rider would bring the ends of the wings into contact with the ground and use them as props. Small wheels with brakes would be in the tips for this purpose.
The thing would be used only at indoor velodromes because it would be very wind sensitive and would need a really smooth surface. Speeds of 30 mph or more should be possible.
Re: Is there such a thing as “Unlimited” unicycle racing?
cyberbellum wrote:
> Sofa’s ‘question’ (http://tinyurl.com/33mq7) about crank/wheel setup
> raises an interesting question:
>
> What is the optimal setup for one-wheeled racing?
>
> Thoughts?
>
> It seems like the only way to really get at this question is to open
> an unlimited class of unicycle racing. Does unlimited racing already
> exist? There seem to be three natural classes for “unlimited”:
Yep, 10K unlimited.
> 1) UNLIMITED STANDARD[/B]
> A CONVENTIONAL UNICYCLE SETUP WITH UPRIGHT RIDER, STANDARD SEAT AND
> CRANKS FIXED DIRECTLY TO WHEEL.
>
> [B]2) UNLIMITED GEARED
> Same as unlimited standard except for geared hubs (e.g., BlueShift)
>
> 3) UNLIMITED UNLIMITED
> Any pedal powered vehicle with only one wheel. (One-wheeled
> recumbent with fairings, low-speed “landing gear”, etc are all
> legal.)
>
> What would people choose for short races, and what would people choose
> for long ones?
Re: Is there such a thing as “Unlimited” unicycle racing?
In article <40a5b245.5396690@newszilla.xs4all.nl>,
Klaas Bil <klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl> wrote:
)On Sat, 15 May 2004 02:28:56 GMT, doosh@inl.org (Tom Holub) wrote:
)
)>The 10K at nationals had an unlimited category, and I think the first 5 or 6
)>places were Cokers, followed by Blue Shift.
)
)Was that unlimited Class 2 or Class 3, in cyberbellum terminology?
)I.e., were fairings etc allowed? I would guess they were, but they’re
)probably not practical and at unicycle speeds make too little of a
)difference.
I’d agree with impractical. Among other things, a fairing would wobble
back and forth, which could wind up creating extra wind resistance, and
would catch side winds, which would take extra energy to overcome.
But if you saw Elijah coming back the other way in that race, you’d
see that he was clearly moving fast enough for a fairing to matter.
-Tom