I’ve got cotterless cranks, the left crank became loose a little while after I got my uni, I rode it for a little while loose before I took it in, the guy said that because I rode it loose that I had mushroomed my square crank fittings, is there anyway to fix this other than getting a new crank because I trust you guys more than I trust the bike store dude, and why did it come loose anyway?!? thanks
how do I get a gif on my avatar?
Re: mushrooming your cranks
Jonathan,
Your best option is to just replace the crank. You worst option is to
replace both the hub and crank! As a general rule if you have ridden a worn
crank it will damage the hub. You might be lucky and it might be ok.
Take the crank off and throw it away.
Inspect the hub and if the tapered spare is rounded and squashed at the end
then it is damaged. You can try and repair it by filing the flats back into
shape. You can only do this a limited amount because it pushed on cranks
further down the taper and you need to file very accurately.
It this fails you have 2 options, replace the hub or take the old cranks and
weld in on. It will never come loose then so it is fixed but will not be
able to change it over.
Learn your lesson NEVER ride on loose or creaking cranks (I suppose the
profile cranks would be the exception here).
Roger
The UK’s Unicycle Source
----- Original Message -----
From: “bagpiperboy” <bagpiperboy.65mha@timelimit.unicyclist.com>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
To: <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: mushrooming your cranks
>
> I’ve got cotterless cranks, the left crank became loose a little while
> after I got my uni, I rode it for a little while loose before I took it
> in, the guy said that because I rode it loose that I had mushroomed my
> square crank fittings, is there anyway to fix this other than getting a
> new crank because I trust you guys more than I trust the bike store
> dude, and why did it come loose anyway?!? thanks
>
>
> –
> bagpiperboy
>
> -Jonathan Ware-
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> bagpiperboy’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/557
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/18667
>
>
> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list -
www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
>
>
Firstly you’re going to have to shrink it… I dunno if there’s anything that will do that for every frame, but I would have thought something like Microsoft’s GIF Animator (do a google for it) will let you extract all the frames, shrink them and put them back together again. Pain in the rear, but I can’t think of another way…
Phil, just me
RE: mushrooming your cranks
> in, the guy said that because I rode it loose that I had mushroomed my
> square crank fittings, is there anyway to fix this other than
> getting a new crank because I trust you guys more than I trust the
> bike store dude, and why did it come loose anyway?!? thanks
Roger Davies gave a good detailed answer. The short answer is that your left
crank is now a paperweight.
The reason it came loose is that it wasn’t tight enough 
Unicycles are
made from bicycle parts. Though cotterless cranks are very adequate for
bicycles, where you only pedal in one direction, they get a lot more stress
on unicycles, where you apply full pedaling force in both directions, and
more weight on the pedals. So they tend to come loose more easily.
What I do with my cotterless mountain unicycles is to give the cranks a
little tighten before every ride. Almost all cotterless unicycles have a
14mm nut on the cranks, so you need a 14mm socket wrench.
Keep 'em tight,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
IF IT DAMAGES PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY,
SKATEBOARDING
AND UNICYCLING
IS A CRIME
(Mind where you grind)
Re: RE: mushrooming your cranks
Why punnish youth for doing a productive activity. Get kids off the ball fields and into the streets! Skateboarding is not a crime.
RE: mushrooming your cranks
> Why punnish youth for doing a productive activity. Get kids off the ball
> fields and into the streets! Skateboarding is not a crime.
My sig line is about destruction of public property. Productive activity
that destroys other peoples’ stuff is a no-no. When you can tell the
difference, you’re ready to ride (or skate) in public places.
Any questions?
Stay on top,
JF
I find it difficult to see anything productive about destroying public or private property. Apart from improving public property destruction techniques. I think youths are being punished for destructive activity rather than productive, and they are not really being punished, just forewarned that destruction of other people’s property is wrong.
Re: Re: mushrooming your cranks
Has anyone ever welded their cranks on just because they’re lazy and can’t be bothered with tightening them up? Is there any downside to it if you’re not the sort of rider who breaks cranks and you’re certain you don’t want to change them?
Joe
Re: Re: Re: mushrooming your cranks
Only the obvious ones:
- Bend a crank: big problem.
- Bend your rim: big problem.
- Break some spokes: big problem.
Many spokes can be replaced without disassembling the wheel, but it depends which way they thread through the hub, and whether or not you can access that without taking the wheel off.
Welding your cranks on is not cheaper than buying new cranks.
People used to do it more in the days of cottered cranks. Even the great Floyd Crandall, original holder of the Guinness 100 meter record, had welded cranks on his Schwinn. This was in part because his dad made unicycle (giraffes, at $10 per foot). He once mentioned that his dad would think it was an extreme waste of money to buy a new unicycle when that one still worked. So the wheel was hopelessly out of true, the cranks were welded on, and both were at least a little bit bent. But he did the 100m in 14.89 seconds, with a cold, and 140mm cranks.
The best reason to weld on your cranks: It forces you to eventually buy a new unicycle!
On my dodgy 20" which I hardly ever ride anymore, I had my cranks welded on after they loosened so much they damaged my hub. The axle on this thing is twisted, my cranks are bent …its shotty as hell.
I got a mate to weld them on for me (hes an apprentice boilermaker) and they havent come loose since.
Only recently has it begun to be used by friends who want to learn. Its new home is a friends house so he can ride it whenever he wants. Today we went out and he can ride 50metres from a assisted start and sort of turn. Its great to see others learning and the smile on their face when they make that first ‘controlled’ turn. he can also do hoptwist 180’s, hop up curbs and jump off small things … now all he has to learn to do is ride the thing properly!
As for the skateboarding debate, weve had it all before. I personally believe that my use of public property is justified because I work, pay my taxes, and have the right to use it in any way that is legal, just like everyone else. Where I come from, rail grinding a skateboard or uni is not illegal.
When it is decided that it is, then I’ll worry about it.
I personally see the use of cars, motorbikes and other oil powered beasts destroying our environment as much more damaging to the public than a few scratches on a rail.
I recall an anecdotal tale I heard a while ago of a policeman giving some skaters a ticking off for grinding on a wall when a car lost control round a corner and completely demolished said wall, and a good sized area of the flowerbed on the other side.
Probably untrue, but I thought it was quite a good story…
Phil
I agree with the car thing too. Worrying about a few scratches on park benches is excessively picky. At one Unatics meeting last summer in Central Park, where there are benches everywhere, and skateboarders, and unicyclists, I stayed late to practice mounts. A huge Rider truck pulls into the area to set up a tent for the next day. He cut the corner short and demolished at least 30 feet of rugged park bench. This is normal wear and tear; so is most bopping around on skateboards and unis.
Vandalism is a different matter.
Re: mushrooming your cranks
In article <U-Turn.n0wio@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
U-Turn <U-Turn.n0wio@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)benches is excessively picky. At one Unatics meeting last summer in
)Central Park, where there are benches everywhere, and skateboarders, and
)unicyclists, I stayed late to practice mounts. A huge Rider truck pulls
)into the area to set up a tent for the next day. He cut the corner
)short and demolished at least 30 feet of rugged park bench. This is
)normal wear and tear; so is most bopping around on skateboards and unis.
And I’m sure the truck driver, or his insurance company, was forced to
pay for the benches. Are you willing to replace the ones you destroy?
-Tom
Re: Re: Re: Re: mushrooming your cranks
I can see crank bending being a downer, but surely you can at a pinch put in all the spokes of a wheel without removing the cranks.
Joe
things i agree with; cars sre more of a worry than skateboards or unicycles, u should get a new crank before u break the hub
Things i disagree with; welding the cranks makes them solid. We had a uni with a broken hub/crank and got it welded. about 10 mins afterwards, the welding broke and we had a completely knackered uni.
Re: mushrooming your cranks
> I agree with the car thing too. Worrying about a few scratches on park
> benches is excessively picky. <snip for brevity> This is
> normal wear and tear; so is most bopping around on skateboards and unis.
I cannot agree with this. There is a principle here. Knowingly causing
damage
to public property, however slight, is wrong. Of course there is fair wear
and
tear, and the municipal authorities no doubt expect a certain level of
damage
much greater than that, but that is no reason for you to be the selfish
vandal
who fulfils their expectations.
> Vandalism is a different matter.
“The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
2000.
vandalism NOUN: Willful or malicious destruction of public or private
property.”
I see no difference.
Arnold the Aardvark
My government thinks it is ok to log old growth rainforests. They think it is ok for trucks, cars, planes and other oil burning specimins to destroy our air. They have no qaulms in knocking down native bushland to build a new residential suburb.
They allow SUV’s to take over the urban wilderness, using excessive amounts of fuel, and thus damaging the environment much more.
My government supports the illegal invasion of a country on grounds of ‘removing weapons of mass destruction’ and then when finds none, argues that they were actually ‘freeing a people’; and now, as anarchy rages in the streets of baghdad, they stand gaurd at the ministry of oil; but leave hospitals open to looting and vandalism.
My government says it went to Iraq to ‘liberate a people under a dictatorship’ and yet, when people come to our country from other countries being run as a dictatorship, they are locked up - children, women, detained because they are seen as a threat.
My government makes laws which allow police to stop me riding my unicycle down a set of stairs because it is seen as ‘damaging the environment’.
I’m sorry - how am I the bad guy?
The reality is that my government does allow destruction of the environment(and I regard the environment as public property) by certain individuals or groups. What do these groups have in common? Money. Power. Resources. Everything I don’t have.
Don’t tell me what I do to the odd rail or set of stairs is vandalism. It is NOTHING compared to what the lawmakers have done to the environment, both urban and otherwise.
Well it’s all ok then?
There are people doing worse things than me, so I cant be blamed for anything I do?
How convenient!
Can anyone tell me how why it is relevant to unicycling that rainforrests are cut down or that cars can cause damage?
Re: mushrooming your cranks
<snipped for brevity>
> Don’t tell me what I do to the odd rail or set of stairs is vandalism.
> It is NOTHING compared to what the lawmakers have done to the
> environment, both urban and otherwise.
Those are all fair points with which I totally sympathise.
However, your goal should be to stop those people
doing bad things, rather than to conclude that bad things
you do are therefore of no consequence. You share your
neighbourhood with your neighbours, not your country’s
plethora of corrupt lawmakers.
I’m sorry to others, I didn’t want to start an OT debate about
the evils of the US administration. I just think people should
not be cavalier about damaging public property.
But I don’t want to be anal about minor damage. What I
dislike is the attitude that it doesn’t matter. It does. Isn’t
it possible to enjoy yourself while trying to avoid spoiling
stuff for others?
Arnold the Aardvark