Hey, Here’s Gus’s newest creation, a 7 foot coker giraffe.
Currently It’s running 170mm cranks and is geared down to approximately a 27" wheel, giving a surprising amount of control. It rides very smooth overall, and the massive rotational wieght isn’t obvious durring idling.
In action:
It’ll also be available to ride durring Mondo Jugglefest (http://www.mondofest.org/)
WOW!!! You really know how to make me jealous! That thing looks freakin’ INCREDIBLE! I’d like to attend MondoFest just to try it out! I bet Siafirede would make the trip just to try it, too!
What a Beautiful Ride! I guess it would be pretty difficult (if not impossible) to freemount that thing?
Lots of people have talked about gearing down a Coker, but I think you’re the first to actually do it! Great job!!!
young man!..get down from there.
your going to hurt yourself…
Very cool! Nice going, Gus!
Looks like a fun ride. You should try gearing it up to add to the insanity of it all.
That’s one good looking machine.
A friend of mine recently returned from living in the UK for about two years, filled with horror-stories about single-chained giraffes. Apparantly there is nobody in the UK who’s got a single good thing to say about them his 5-footer drew some disparaging looks from people he worked with on entertainment gigs.
To see a single chain on this raffie makes me wonder if it’s all hot air or if the Americans are just fearless?
looks perfect for Uni basketball;)
Rad! What a beautiful machine! My suggestion for a wild coker-related creation is a coker 2-wheeler.
BTW the freestyle frame Gus built for me is still going strong - I’m very happy with it.
Wow! Would that hold up to any Muni?
I have ridden this beast several times at our club practices. Giraffes aren’t really my thing, and I haven’t done much riding on anything quite that tall, so I’m not entirely comfortable on it, but I don’t find it terribly difficult. It’s an interesting ride. The wheel of course has much more mass and momentum than you expect to be dealing with on a giraffe, and the times I’ve had to bail off of it have been when I’ve been trying to make tight turns. I can idle it fairly easily. I tried idling it one-footed a few nights ago but only managed a couple of idles. I keep pressuring Gus to gear the thing up to one-to-one, so it will be a TRUE Coker giraffe. Whether or not I would then have the guts to ride it is another question. Whether something can be done, and whether it should be done, are often two different issues…
It looks even taller and more fearsome in person than it does in Max’s picture.
Single chains worry me on giraffes of all sizes. I try not to think about it when I’m riding.
Why do people dislike single chain drives? I’ve never had the chance to deal with a giraffe, so could you please inform me abit?
I don’t know but my guess is if the chain fell off or something then you would be coasting and thats not a good thing when you are that high.
The chain falling off, or breaking. Very unlikely to actually happen, but the thought is always lurking at the back of my mind when I get on the things.
Along with the rare issues with the chain breaking or becoming detached, a single chain Giraffe puts uneven force on the hub, causing it to (after many cycles of use) eventually bend the axle. Also riding a giraffe backwards can unscrew the lower sprocket and make it come loose, and on a single chain machine that means the same as the chain breaking.
Loose.
Single chain giraffes are unbalanced because they have the chain wheels on one side only, so the frame has to be spaced or biased to keep it balanced. Also using two drive chains gives lower levels of play when going from forward to backwards, dual chains are smoother, better balanced and thus allow for better control.