I have only been unicycling for four months, and today I did the most extreme/coolest thing that I have ever done! I folded my rim! I think this is called tacoing the rim? I was jumping down some sets of stairs. First, I jumped down three stairs, and there seemed to be no stress on the unicycle, then I jumped down four and WAM! I had cleared the bottom step, but I heard something hit the step. I looked down to see that my rim had folded under me and hit the step. It was so awesome! It is impossible to ride my unicycle any longer. I will have to buy a new rim, and maybe even new spokes! I was so proud.
I will try to post a picture of my wheel as soon as I can get my hands on a camera.
I think I will hang the bent rim in my room.
Also, I am going to buy a new unicycle next month. And this one, will be of better quality (I hope). The one I broke today was one of those black torker unistars. So, I was thinking of getting a trials unicycle. Which one do you think I should get, or should I build one. I have money, but not too much, and its my birthday next month so maybe my parents can help me out, but I can’t afford anything too fancy. I want something strong, but I don’t think I can fork over enough dough for a profile setup. I don’t like the Kris Holm trials, because those nasty cranks always cut my ankle.
Congratulations! And this is one time where we won’t wish you “many more”.
My first taco happened when I climbed up on a Coker. I didn’t go anywhere, just sat in the saddle for a split second before she folded in half. Must have been those extra buttermilk donuts.
Good job man, I wish I was there to see it. John told me about it earlier today. If you’re short on cash, maybe you could just get a better wheelset that will still fit the unistar frame. Then you could always get a better frame later. I’m probably gonna buy my new muni one piece at a time, only I’ll be doing it from the top down.
I think I will have to buy a whole new wheel set. I looked on unicycle.com and I couldn’t find a single 48hole rim. If I do invest in a new wheel set, then I’ll have to get a frame with a flat crown, and maybe one that can take a 2.5 inch tire. That would be good for muni and trials. I also have to learn to land softer before I go and break an expensive rim. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to buy a wheelset though, I was going to save up for a 20" trials, but I’ll probably want to fix my 24. What a dilemna!
A taco’d wheel can be the fault of loose spokes or a poorly built wheel.
The stock wheel on standard unicycles is made by machine and they don’t have the best wheel build quality. If you are going to be rough enough on your unicycle to possibly taco the wheel then it’s a good idea to bring that brand new wheel to a bike shop and have them tension up all of the spokes before you start jumping around on the wheel. Tell them you are going to be rough on it and that the wheel needs to be able to take abuse.
Then continue to watch the spokes and check for loose spokes. If the spokes start to get loose then take it to the bike shop again and have them tighten them all up again.
I would agree that equipment plays a part in the bending process but it can’t be blamed entirely. My technique at landing is most likely to be useless, and I noticed that if I jumped four stairs and landed straight a cheap rim could handle it. One time I jumped off and I was not going perfectly straight. The small sideways rotation was enough to transfer the forwards energy of the landing into the sideways buckling of the rim. So I am guessing that for straight rims when jumping off stuff onto concrete it requires a consistent take off and landing. It feels right when you land it on the proper angle and makes it easy to ride out of it. Side hops are a different story and I doubt many people do them off large drops.
