Wow, that is quite a voyage on such a machine, and with 100mm cranks! What pace did you manage? I could push around 10 km/h with that setup, which meens you probably took it for a fast one hour or a relaxed two hour trip.
YES!
Wow, that is quite a voyage on such a machine, and with 100mm cranks! What pace did you manage? I could push around 10 km/h with that setup, which meens you probably took it for a fast one hour or a relaxed two hour trip.
YES!
Dang there was a 16" in a yard sale a couple of weeks ago and I nearly bought it to just hang as decoration. Decided against since I already have enough mess on my walls. Should have done it, sounds like a lot of portable fun!
Let me present the Micro Menace:
Unfortunately I canāt (shouldnāt) ride this myself I guess. Fortunately I have a rider in the making!
I am looking forward to our family excursions!
I canāt quite remember the exact speed, but I do remember riding it faster than I thought I would. I would reckon probably 6 or 7 mph going off of memory, when Iām pushing it at least
3 miles is my longest single ride, though Iād be more willing to try to do a longer ride when I decide to get my hands on those 45mm cranks A 10 mile ride on a 16"er would be⦠Interesting, to say the least
That mud guard is the icing on the cake!
Speaking of icing. Today was the perfect weather to put the Micro Menace to the test, so I could simply not resist trying it out.
Not only is the ultra low seat post completely unrideable in snow, but @ruari 's understudded tyre caused some minor problems as well.
The Micro Menace is the most awkward machine I have ever ridden. 80 % due to the ultra low seat position and 20 % due to the 45s.
While it is quite possible to ride 45s in winter with the 500 mm seatpost, my overall pace is comparable to walking, mostly due to some UPDs. 45s are quite effortless at higher speeds (10km/h ) compared to 89mm, but I am to risk averse to push higher speeds and utilize their full potential. I will revert to 75s until spring.
However, Norways expert on riding tiny cranks and tiny wheels is dropping by right after Xmas, so I might just keep the 45s until then!
The videos wonāt play on my computer, unfortunately. Maybe just a temporary issue⦠So I have to ask: can you freemount the Micro Menace? Going by the still picture of the first video, I guess the answer is yes.
Today I went to the city on my 36er and thoroughly enjoyed the ride - until I reached the city center. There was an annoying number of pedestrians (saturday afternoon, Christmas timeā¦) so that I had to push the Ferris wheel instead of ride it. Thatās not very likely to happen on a 16". Both: having to dismount to keep up with the pedestrian pace of the, well, pedestrians, and riding the thing all the way from my town to the city.
But once you somehow made it to the city, a 16" might be a somewhat sensible choice, provided the cranks are long enough to keep the number of UPDs to a minium.
Yes, I managed to freemount the Micro Menace after like 10 tries, but I did not manage to ride it 50 m. Riding it was slightly terrifying, actually.
Yeah, a 36er is not great for crowded areas. I usually manage big crowds without UPDs on 29/125mm unless I got trapped. But I am quite good at riding really slow and stop-turn-ride-stop maneuvers.
A 16" in urban and crowded areas would pose a range of challenges. You would feel trapped by curbs and have to ride around them. Bad paving and limited view might trip you and you would actually lose the head above the crowd you usually got while riding. The only advantage would be ease of remounting. The smaller the wheel, the less space and effort would normally be needed. In this setting I would probably prefer my 24".
A 16" is more challenging to ride around than a 20". I thoroughly enjoy a challenge though! 16/75mm should be quite comparable to 20/89mm so I would recommend to try that first, and then 20/75mm. If 20/75mm feels great, 16/75 will be really awkward in comparison.
Seat post came today!
Paired with the seat from my CyclePro (which has since gotten a new saddle), itās ready for some more riding⦠At least when the snow isnāt too bad
Donāt mind the other guest in the picture⦠That came at the same time as the seat post That one will have to wait for better weather
Please tell me that seatpost fits to the other guest in the picture as well!
After a quick test fit, I can confirm that seatpost fits the mini b*ke
I tried riding it a little with the unicycle post on it⦠Pedal with any force at all and youāll do a wheelie
In that case, if you take off the front wheel of that tiny bike and ride it you will technically have a ā¦5?" Unicycle? Is it with 89mm cranks?
Stud the tire, and youāre good to go
The seat tube is at an angle and it freewheels, so it would take some proper tinkering probably to turn it into an itty bitty unicycle
Cranks are around 90mm and look very similar to the unicycle cranks, but they have a slight bend in them to have a bit of a wider stance
Oh boy, time to share my travel/winter uni i use for general commuting.
Air saddle, 203mm rotor, Maxis DHF 2.3" tire, 75mm cranks, and a handlebar. 20" bmx rim with a TPU tube and the tire are also a really good weight. I tried a 200g tire and it maintained almost no momentum. So a bit of weight helps the wheel keep rolling.
As someone who is allergic to cranks over 100mm, I love this build. Over short distances (under 10km) I can average 15kmh. With the muni set up it also works really well off road and is sketchy terrain.
I ride it all winter here in Canada and have used it to Muni
Climbing is slow but not impossible on it, its such a blast to ride as well and extremely portable.
Forgot to post as well, but it fits in a carry-on sized duffle bag, and can be folded down fast with just 2 straps.
This is an amazing uni!
Back in 2009, Yoggi made a 12" ISIS unicycle.
He took photos of the process of conversion after exploding the wheel.
OMG! I recommend checking out this blog post. This is just way to insane. From the breaking of the 12" unicycle to how he fixed it. That picture of the wee broken wheelā¦
Thanks! Unfortunately the Micro Menace is utterly unridable. And I am not going to get a 500 mm seatpost I can put the handlebars on, if that even exists.
Oh my gosh I just LOVE this awesome unicycle! As far as I can tell, this must be a 20" wheel. Isnāt this the exact frame you were riding with 75s, @ruari ?
What kind of handlebar and seat attachment is it you use?
Can you ride this with a two hand grip?
Where do you get disc brake ready 20" frames? M4O? (My 3D printed brake mounts are utterly unspeakable )
This is awesome! And even a matching helmet!! (I really would close that seat post clamp in the picure though, or preferrably pocket it.)
My 16" Micro Machine is so tiny it even fits between my legs in the front seat!! I guess your 20" is slightly to big for that?
This is in fact the only reason I could actually bring this uni with me on this trip! I just smuggled it in without my wife even noticing.
I guess I could push my 16"/75mm machine to 10 km/h over a distance with some practice, and I am curious if I can manage 12 km/h.
The conditions to try this out are not ideal at the moment. But i rode 7 km today and could easilly have ridden 10. 75 mm cranks just feels wonderful, and the minimal studs are working out fine, as long as the ice is not wet and I am not doing sudden movements.
I didnāt double check, but Iām pretty confident that the prices of used 16ā unis are skyrocketing at the moment
Have to say, the temptation i growing stronger. But at the moment Iām enjoying my studded 26ā fatty, and the fact that after nearly a year of owning it (followed by a 29ā and a 36ā) I have really gotten accustomed to large wheels. Just today I realised how normal it has become for me to ride the fatty, whereas at the beginning it felt rather intimidating, given I almost exclusively rode a 20ā before. Iām not gonna ruin that feeling of achievement by buying a 16ā, now!
But I thoroughly enjoy this thread!