Hi guys and gals.
I’m curently buildig a dual chain giraffe unicycle and have wondered why all the
unicycles I have seen have 5.5 inch cranks. Does anybody have longer cranks on
their unicycles? What difference does it make? Reduce control/stability perhaps?
Thanks.
Chris
Re: Length of uni cranks
Chris Coxon asked for people with long cranks at their unis. I have got a uni
with 175mm (about 6.9 inch) cranks. It’s a 28" wheel and it’s very comfortable
to ride. Of course you can’t put 175mm cranks to a 20" unicycle. Then the cranks
would be nearby longer than the diameter of your wheel, but at a 28" wheel I can
only recommend so long cranks. The control you have is fantastic and the
leverage also is excellent. I do hills with a steepness of 20% (20 meters
upwards at a distance of 100 meters) and more on concrete as well as offroad
without any problems. The relation crank/wheel of my uni compares to a 20" wheel
with 125mm (about 4.9 inch) cranks resp. a 24" wheel with 150mm (about 5.9 inch)
cranks, so you can ride even faster or at least as fast as on a “standard”
unicycle with 20" to 24" inch wheel and usual length of cranks.
Wolfgang
\\\ **********************-
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** c oo
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* ) Y *
* \__/ at walking *
+49 821 598-2122 (office) *************** *
Re: Length of uni cranks
Chris Coxon asked for people with long cranks at their unis. I have got a uni
with 175mm (about 6.9 inch) cranks. It’s a 28" wheel and it’s very comfortable
to ride. Of course you can’t put 175mm cranks to a 20" unicycle. Then the cranks
would be nearby longer than the diameter of your wheel, but at a 28" wheel I can
only recommend so long cranks. The control you have is fantastic and the
leverage also is excellent. I do hills with a steepness of 20% (20 meters
upwards at a distance of 100 meters) and more on concrete as well as offroad
without any problems. The relation crank/wheel of my uni compares to a 20" wheel
with 125mm (about 4.9 inch) cranks resp. a 24" wheel with 150mm (about 5.9 inch)
cranks, so you can ride even faster or at least as fast as on a “standard”
unicycle with 20" to 24" inch wheel and usual length of cranks.
Wolfgang
\\\ **********************-
**************************-
** c oo
********************
* ) Y *
* \__/ at walking *
+49 821 598-2122 (office) *************** *
Re: Length of uni cranks
In article <1995Jul26.135337@cantva>, misc084@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Chris
Coxon) writes:
|> Hi guys and gals.
|>
|> I’m curently buildig a dual chain giraffe unicycle and have wondered why all
|> the unicycles I have seen have 5.5 inch cranks. Does anybody have longer
cranks
|> on their unicycles? What difference does it make? Reduce control/stability
|> perhaps?
You can pedal faster with short cranks. Long cranks give more leverage but you
can’t pedal as fast. More leverage is needed for steep hills, offroad, etc. It
is also might be a little easier to turn real tight with longer cranks. This is
more true the bigger the wheel gets.
High speed wobble is worse with longer cranks also.
Eric
Re: Length of uni cranks
> You can pedal faster with short cranks. Long cranks give more leverage but
you
> can’t pedal as fast. More leverage is needed for steep hills, offroad, etc. It
> is also might be a little easier to turn real tight with longer cranks. This
> is more true the bigger the wheel gets.
>
> High speed wobble is worse with longer cranks also.
>
> Eric
Thanks for your help.
So does anybody forsee any problems with using long cranks on a tall (giraffe)
unicycle then?
Thanks.
Chris 
Re: Length of uni cranks
In article <1995Jul29.133536@cantva>, misc084@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Chris
Coxon) writes:
|> > You can pedal faster with short cranks. Long cranks give more leverage
but you
|> > can’t pedal as fast. More leverage is needed for steep hills, offroad,
etc.
|> > It is also might be a little easier to turn real tight with longer cranks.
|> > This is more true the bigger the wheel gets.
|> >
|> > High speed wobble is worse with longer cranks also.
|> >
|> > Eric
|>
|> Thanks for your help.
|>
|> So does anybody forsee any problems with using long cranks on a tall
(giraffe)
|> unicycle then?
No, I have 175 mm on my 6’ 2o"er. It gives more leverage for more extreme angles
to the ground when rocking or turning, Can’t pedal as fast though. You could
always gear it up a little if you wanted to go faster.
I think 175’s might be a little long, 172’s would probably be better at least
for a 20", I’m thinking of moving my 175’s to my 5’ 26"er, The extra leverage
could be used to better advantage on it.
I don’t know it its from the long cranks but a friend told me it looked like I
was riding an eggbeater once. (I was doing spins).
Eric