Well, I finally took the plunge and whacked off the front wheel. All of a sudden people in cars are staring at me again… go figure.
Now what am I supposed to call this thing? Here’s a short video.
Sah-weet! I want one.
You’re Chris Reeder of Moscow, Idaho, right? My friend told me that you said you wanted to be in our movie. We should hook up sometime and do some filming.
One and the same! Let me know when you guys are going riding and I’ll see if I can tag along.
Chris
Re: My New Ride
Good question! It’s not a bike, and it’s not a unicycle.
It’s only go one wheel, and is intended for one-wheeling only. That’s the unicycle part.
It’s got a bike frame, and the mechanics of that shape allow for the big hops of a Trials bike. Also it apparently freewheels?
James Green, from the Detroit Unilights Unicycle Club, once brought a similar “chopped” bike to a unicycle convention. His had a fixed wheel, but was otherwise similar. He called it a biucycle. Don’t know what the spelling should be, but it sounds like “bayou-cycle.” I liked that name.
Re: Re: My New Ride
Yes, it does freewheel. I should have put some freewheeling in the video.
Hey Chris, you could call it a Unibike. Here are some Unibike Pictures courtesy of Jeff Baker (Unibiker).
On an unrelated note, I use a Reeder handle on my MUni and I like how it works, although it is a bit heavy. Thanks for designing it Chris!
I think you need more videos. I want to see you freewheel it and do some drops and stuff. I’d also like to see how the seat is setup.
Daniel
just how “little” is that video? i gave up after 4megs
5.68 MB (5,961,744 bytes)
New Tire
Uni_Biker,
I just found out my supposed round-profile back tire has sort of a flat top to it. (Partially due to wear.) Anyway, just yesterday I picked up a Maxxis Hookworm at the LBS and whoa!! It’s a much taller tire, with no flat top. I can turn the wheelie bike nearly twice as sharp, as it’s much more sensitive to lean inputs. It took a day to get used to it, but what a hoot! Best money I’ve spent on the bike! (It also doesn’t bottom out so easily on the parking curbs.)
I’m still trying to talk myself into either a machined rim or a disc… we’ll see. My rim now has a slight bump in it right where the seam is, and it throws me off on the downhill slopes.
Chris
is it as hard as catwalking on a bike? or is it more like the feeling of riding a unicycle. i think it would be cool to try out
I was going to make one of these. Is all that you did chop off the front wheel? Or are there other adjustments/additions/reductions?
I’ve been planning to make one for a while.
I was hoping to find a BMX, or something else without a derallier gear system, take the front wheel off, butcher the freewheeling hub so that it doesn’t anymore, and see what happens.
The first time I saw anything like this was on a TV advert for a building society or something a little while back.
A unicycle turns heads, but once they’ve seen one they’ve seen em all, but this just looks really surreal.
Any comments on my planned method, maybe from some of you people out there who’ve already done it.
gpickett00,
I’m not sure what catwalking is. It does not ride like a unicycle at all, actually. Very limited similarities, anyway. It’s much more like trying to ride a really long wheelie on a bicycle. Part of this is because it has a freewheel hub on it, so you pedal forward to go forward, but have to feather in rear brake to keep from flipping over backward. Steering is also much different-- you don’t just twist the saddle with your hips and turn. It turns more like a regular uni in a spin-- you lean the bike into the turn while leaning your body away from the turn. I don’t know what all makes it work, but it’s been a long time in learning. I rode with a front wheel on there for a long time, trying to do the same stuff. The no-training-wheel version was just good incentive to keep it up longer. Boy did it work! I suppose it’s lighter now, too, and the wind doesn’t blow the front end around like it did with the front wheel on there.
fluffinator,
First I just took off the front wheel, and still had the fork sticking down. While it looked cool that way, it didn’t seem very safe. So I hack-sawed the fork off right near the frame.
amazingmolio,
Having a fixed hub would make it easier to learn to ride, I think, especially in terms of transferring your unicycle skills. With a fixed hub, you could remove any brakes. When I rode unis I always wanted to be able to shift gears, but now that I have 21 gears to select from I ask myself: How fast do I really want to be going when I wreck? So now with the training wheel gone, I actually only use about three gears-- really slow to medium fast.
Chris
Re: New Tire
Hi Chris,
Welcome to the oddball category. Is it time to start working on the 25k times? My times have slipped a bit with the injury induced down time. The last ride was a 30k at about an hour and a half.
The steering does get much better with the right tire. I’m also running a Maxxis. A little input goes a long way. I have also trashed rims at the weld seam due to the high pressure being amplified by having all of your weight on one wheel. You will also go through tires more quickly as the sidewalls and beads will fail sooner. You can prolong tire and rim life by bleeding off the pressure at the end of each ride. With a high pressure tire, the rim, tire sidewalls, and valve stem are under a lot of strain while the bike is parked in the garage.
See ya
Re: Re: New Tire
Jeff,
Man, you’re screamin’! I did my first commute on it yesterday. About 17k in an hour and forty-five minutes. I don’t have the endurance yet to go indefinitely. My longest stretch without getting off the bike to relax (and to warm up my hands) was only two miles.
Chris
who’s going to be the first to build one of these up with a 24x3 tyre,a Sturmy Archer drum brake or a wide single speed hub with a disc
Re: Re: Re: New Tire
Hey Chris,
The endurance will come automatically if you get hooked enough to stick with it for a while. 17k is a fantastic start on such an unstable vehicle. Following are a couple of past threads that might provide some extra motivation.
This one was without the forks
and
this one included the extra weight (and safety) of forks and front wheel
But that was way back when I was 43. My back has aged about a decade in the past year, so the fun quotient is suffering.
Don’t forget the extra rear brake if you’re being limited by brake control. It makes a HUGE difference.
Happy unibikin’
You could call it a semicycle. Cause its not quite a bike, and not a uni.
David