New Coker Big One prelim. review

Unicycles and Equipment
1

I bought the new Coker Big One, and rcvd it a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, the frame was slightly skewed so that the wheel was slightly closer to one side of the fork, as I said in this post.

Jerry, the Coker rep, was extremely helpful, and we agreed that I could just exchange the frame. Then, even better, he just wanted a picture of the defective frame, showing the wheel mis-alignment, instead of my returning the old frame.

Well, yesterday, I got the new frame. The wheel was better, but still not perfectly centered, and Perry (capuni) mentioned that the wheel could be “dished”, that is, bent in a dish shape. That way, it wouldn’t wobble as it spun, but could still be closer to one side.

Tired of waiting for mail deliveries, today I took the wheel to my most excellent local bike shop, the “Down Tube”, to be un-dished and trued. The guys all know me there, and get a kick out of working on unis. Joe, my mechanic today, even asked me if I was planning on mounting a brake (I am). He trued it up beautifully - same day service! I got it home this evening, cut down the seat post, and attached the saddle and pedals.

Actually, I attached my KH Fusion seat. I hoped that the bolt pattern matched KH and it does!

Finally, as it was getting dark, I mounted up and rode around the block. Fast. This uni is almost 5 lbs lighter than my cromoly & steel Radial 360. It’s stiff and noticeably more responsive, and it gets up to speed much quicker.

I’ll post more review info after my first long ride, but my first impression was that the new Coker Big One is a most excellent aluminum 36er.

I’m currently waiting on a custom aluminum handlebar (like munivision’s from this thread) from a local welder (should be ready Monday). At that point, I’ll be mounting some aerobars and the brake.

For a guy on a budget, this is one sweet ride. I can’t wait until it’s all together.

2

Nice! I’m expecting my new big one any day now! (It was ordered exactly TWO weeks ago today!) Usually, if the wheel is slightly closer to one side of the frame, but otherwise the wheel seems to be true, all you have to do is “shim” the side that’s farthest and it will center quite nicely; I had to do this with my radial 36er and I used aluminum tape. Centered perfectly. Of course, if it’s really way off then something else may be wrong as you said.

3

Shim?!? I don’t want no stinking shim. I bought a new freaking unicycle. I want it to be straight.

Of course, I’ll probably replace the Radial’s heavy frame with the spare aluminum one I have, then I’ll worry about shims. :slight_smile:

4

Well, if it’s only slighty off, a little shimming is easy and fixes the problem permanantly. No big deal. Again, if it’s way off then yeah, a replacement is called for. But the problem may not be with the frame, but with the wheel being dished or whatever. So if it’s a matter of truing and dishing, or a bad frame or both, then coker should, and as you said, will cover the cost to fix it or replace it, of course.

5

Or, you could put it for sale and help a fellow New-Yorker-on-a-budget cut some weight off of his Radial 360 :slight_smile: I could even pick it up! We could go for a ride! heh…

My friend has the Big One. It is ridiculously lighter than my Radial. It responds similarly to a Muni. His wheel is also pretty far off-center, but I told him not to worry about it.

6

what will you be doing with your old coker?

7

Haha wouldn’t you like toi know lol! I’ve been getting lots of PMs asking me the same thing. I don’t know yet. :o

8

I may be able to do that. I was planning on selling my Radial, too, maybe.

9

i may like to purchase it

10

Sounds like a sweet set-up, Steve. Was the first frame actually defective or was is the wheel “dish”?
This doesn’t seem to bode well for Coker unis. Glad you got it straightened out. (Pun fully intended).

11

What are you going to do with the extra frame? I would be interested in it, I don’t have a problem with just shimming it.

12

I also have a new Coker, and am working on putting together a detailed write-up on it. They sent me both frames and both seat posts so I can play with each and let them know what I think. So far it’s been the V2, but soon I’ll switch out and put the aluminum frame on, and switch the brake over to that.

Not sure where those Coker wheels are assembled, but based on the price I’m going to guess Asia somewhere, though it could be right in the USA. Mine seemed perfectly centered; no complaints. I’m riding it “out of the box” and not modifying anything (yet), to do an evaluation of undoctored Cokers.

13

Well, if I do decide to sell it, Chexjc has first dibs.

I’m not sure. Maybe a slight bit of both. My LBS said the wheel doesn’t fit on/in their “dishing tool”, and Joe did the truing by eyeball in the frame. I could swap it back into the old frame to check, but I’m probably not going to, now that I have the thing all together. The frame can’t be too bad.

14

John,
Looking forward to a detailed write up. For me, it’s all about the weight. I’m using the original Coker deluxe w/ an airfoil rim. It’s great!!! But, lighter would better. I’m also concerned about the wheel holding up to aggresive MUni as well as 3-4 ft drops. The original airfoil has been beaten and is still rolling as if I just took it out of the box.
I’m thinking about the Big One w/ a NightRider tire. Should be as light as it get’s. I haven’t heard enough about the NightRider tire under MUni conditions.

Steve,
good luck w/ yours. I’m waiting to here more.

If the new Cokers hold up, I’m looking forward to selling them.

Good luck w/ yours! Waiting to hear more.
Anyone who has riden w/ me knows the beating my Coker has been through.

15

John,
Looking forward to a detailed write up. For me, it’s all about the weight. I’m using the original Coker deluxe w/ an airfoil rim. It’s great!!! But, lighter would better. I’m also concerned about the wheel holding up to aggresive MUni as well as 3-4 ft drops. The original airfoil has been beaten and is still rolling as if I just took it out of the box.
I’m thinking about the Big One w/ a NightRider tire. Should be as light as it get’s. I haven’t heard enough about the NightRider tire under MUni conditions.

Steve,
good luck w/ yours. I’m waiting to here more.

If the they prove to be winners, I would love to carry them.

16

After a long and tiring busy day at work and school I came home completely flustered. Just as I walk in, my wife says from the back room, “I need you to help me move something!” Well I’m all like what the %(#$*! So I head to the back room only to find her standing next to this giant box that has Coker written all over it! Yeah!!! I’ve been drooling over the new Big One since the first coker update e-mails started going out! I’ve only ridden a friends 36" Radial a couple times for a short ways but have been totally smitten with riding more! Can’t wait to put it together and give it a go! I’ll let you know how it goes…

17

sorry for the duplicate! I don’t really understand how it happened:-()

18

Interesting that there are so many out-of-alignment frames. I have wondered about this for a while, after seeing the picture of the Big One on this post and then seeing the picture of the brakes on Coker’s own website here.

To me, the wheel looks slightly offset in both pictures and I have been wondering if I was just imagining it or if it was possibly the photo angle. I wonder why so many of them are like that…

19

The second one looks like it’s probably the angle of the shot. The first one-if it is off center- is pretty insignificant. What Coker, UDC and any dealer should routinely, is check and inspect all unis for proper alignment, etc., before shipment.

20

Does anyone know what the size of the box is for the Coker?