Set a new personal record on the Coker today at ‘lunch’- 26.5 mph, as measured by a Cat Eye OS cycling computer with a roll out of 2780 mm. Crank length was stock (6"?), terrain gently rolling metro (never got more than 5 blocks away from the Capitol). The tire pressure is actualy slightly less than when the roll out was done.
I susspect this happened when attempting to beat a green light (I now treat yellow as red). I believe the increase in performance is direcly related to balance developemnet/muscle controll and streangth.
Typical max speed for downtown riding had been 17+mph. For me, there is a point of diminishing return on downhill speed runs- if it’s too steep to controll the speed, I will not spin up to max. Ergo, my best SAFE speeds have been on gental slopes.
I don’t know as I want to move to shorter cranks- I rely on my ability to torque the wheel around in traffic- and my comparitive leg streangth is not that great. Average speed was only 8 mph (city).
Thats an incredible speed, but I am a bit skeptical about its acuracy based on the fact you are using 6" cranks. If the speed is true, I HOPE you were wearing pads, or some protective stuff, cause a fall at that speed can be pretty bad.
-David Kaplan
I’ve got a hub that will jack that speed right up. Just lace your 36" wheel with it and, presto, you’re running 54". Don’t be chicken…all of the kids are doing it. Your mom won’t find out.
That’s impressively fast, Chris. What’s the Coker speed record to date? What is the highest speed at which you had to run out an unplanned dismount? Are you completely armored up when you ride at that kind of speed?
If this speed was recorded using the max. speed feature, I would be
skeptical as well. I have often gotten funky readings on that, because it
will record whatever highest speed data comes in during the ride, including
possible anomalous readings from mounting, rocking, or just blips in the
incoming data.
If you went that fast you would know it, because your pedaling RPM would be
quite high. I’ve maintained around 22mph (measured inaccurately by a car
speedometer) on my 45" wheel many years ago. I knew I could go faster at
that time, but chose not to because it would be over my personal safety
redline. With more padding I would have been less afraid to attempt it.
So I’m sure such a speed is doable. All you have to be is willing to take
the risk of a dismount at a speed you likely won’t be able to run out of.
Hence the inherent danger of 20+mph on a unicycle…
54"- REALY? Hee, hee- ohhhh ya! (alla Hawaiian Punch). I don’t know if I would have the streangth to exploit it- maybe Roger or Dr. Stone; however, I would like the opertunity some day to go realy, realy fast. The cycling computer was added after some early encounters with bad data (with me being the week link). The main impediment (for me) is controlling wheel wobble. Some days I struggle to hit 17 mph. Today I was in the zone; however, I wouldn’t preclude anything, including device failure- especialy since the speed was a-typical. I just read this thread, where it was sugested that top speeds on Cat Eyes can be errornious due to jarring:
When moving at any significant speed, I wear Harbinger Wrist Guards, Roach Leg Armor, and a Kevlar full face helmet. I would like to add arm protection (since I tend to roll onto this), hip padding, possably tail bone protection (although I hit that more when MUniing) and -most of all- sholder armor; when I go-to-pavement, I tend to roll over my right sholder.
I believe some one on the Euro ride bombed down a hill at over 30 mph- No thank you, sir.
Why do I invite the heat? I’ll get significant amounts of data before posting speeds again. I think the wheel wabble would be unthinkable… and am inclined to add greater credit to the experience of my peers than a mechanism. We’ll see what the scientific method has to say.
(about a 26mph Coker speed achieved)
harper writes: >That’s
>impressively fast, Chris. What’s the Coker speed record to date? What >is the highest speed at which you had to run out an unplanned >dismount? Are you completely armored up when you ride at that kind of >speed?
The fastest I’ve run out an upd was at about 16mph – I can run pretty
fast.
The fastest I’ve ridden a Coker is 20mph, and that was one 4.3" cranks
while going down a mild ramp.
My brother reported that Christian Hoverath (now level 10) was the fastest
rider he’s ever seen. Christian got up to 29.3mph on the European tour one
day while racing a biker down a steep hill. I don’t believe Christian was
using a helmet. He also reported speeds over 20mph (over 26mph?) going up
a mild incline. John said that Christian was absolutely amazing on a Coker.
By the way, Joe Merrill mentioned: >Ok, here we go again. Chris Cline hit a speed of 26.x last year, >creating a >ruckus on the newsgroup. Chris you out there? Many of us couldn’t >believe >it, but when we met him at NUC, he proved his speed in the Coker race
I disagree. In that race, Chris Cline beat me by 6 seconds. His time was
unofficial bc he chose not to wear a helmet and some pads. I never
believed that he had hit 26mph before that race, and afterwards I was
convinced he had not. Hitting 26mph, even for a moment, requires that one
be NEAR that speed for at least a few seconds, and when the race was over,
neither Chris nor I had hit a max speed over 18mph. We were both using 5"
cranks, if I recall.
Someone going 26mph on 6" cranks while NOT riding down a steep hill is
nearly impossible and is probably related to the # input into the cycle
computer.
David Stone
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
Ok, here we go again. Chris Cline hit a speed of 26.x last year, creating a
ruckus on the newsgroup. Chris you out there? Many of us couldn’t believe
it, but when we met him at NUC, he proved his speed in the Coker race
My Cat Eye has been known to report similar speeds but this was due to the
fact that immediately after a fast dismount the wheel would bounce in the air
for a moment and spin freely, yielding a false reading. I hit 18mph once,
and that was really pushing.
If you really hit this speed that is awesome, especially on 6" cranks. Hats
off!!
Joe
> Set a new personal record on the Coker today at ‘lunch’- 26.5 mph, as > measured by a Cat Eye
“John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote in message news:mailman.1013629765.28821.rsu@unicycling.org… > If this speed was recorded using the max. speed feature, I would be > skeptical as well. I have often gotten funky readings on that, because it > will record whatever highest speed data comes in during the ride,
including > possible anomalous readings from mounting, rocking, or just blips in the > incoming data.
I’ve got two magnets on my wheel exactly because of this. If you’ve got a
cateye computer, you can buy a spare magnet for about £2 (probably $2 in
America) from any bike shop, cateye spares are very easy to get hold of. You
then set the wheel circumference to half what you calculated and everything
is much more accurate. With the single magnet I found that idling on the
side with the magnet gave speeds from about 17 to 24 depending on the size
of the idle, sometimes up to 28 or so recorded when falling off. Nowadays
idling won’t put much more than about 12mph max onto the speedo, so I get
real max speed readings. I get up to about 17 mph on my commute most days, I
think I’ve had 18mph or so when I’ve had to ride fast to avoid some traffic.
Still don’t average over 12mph, because of the traffic lights and junctions
and also cos I can’t spin 170 rpm for all that long yet.
As you say in a later posting, this is highly unlikely. Since I’ve hit 17mph
many times, I know what that feels like. 18mph definitely feels faster to
me, and I assume each extra mph above that is also noticeable. 26.5 is WAY
WAY faster! And I think you would know if it was for real - your legs would
be moving much faster than you ever thought possible. Not that this is
impossible, just that when you actually go this fast, it will be after you
have experience with 22, 23, 24 etc mph. It is really unlikely anyone is
going to make a jump from say 20mph to 26.5mph.
In theory, with idling or hop-idling, you might be able to get a speed of
50mph or more registering if the magnet just oscillates back and forth right
next to the sensor.
Sometimes cyclometers just record a plainly bogus max speed. Once on a steep
hill, my wife noticed her cyclometer reading 48mph (a little scary to look
down, but she was curious). This was at approximately her fastest speed.
Afterwards, the max speed said 57mph for some reason, but there was no
question that it was bogus - (although Beau, who was hooked on to her bike
via his Trail-A-Bike was hoping the 57 was real!)
After crashing once on the Coker at over 18mph, I have become more cautious.
I’ve hit >18mph many times since with a max of 18.9. It seems possible to
hit 20, but 26+ is another world. I guess it’s the world of Christian
Hoverath.
Go fast, don’t crash, especially not going fast,
Nathan
> After crashing once on the Coker at over 18mph, I have become more
cautious. > I’ve hit >18mph many times since with a max of 18.9. It seems possible to > hit 20, but 26+ is another world. I guess it’s the world of Christian > Hoverath.
It’s kinda cool that this was brought up. I just wanted to say that I’m
pretty sure I reached that speed, because some people are discussing wrong
computer measurements again. I don’t want to offend anybody, don#t get me
wrong! Cruising down that hill I saw that the first digit of my cycle
computer, which was a 4. I don’t know if the last two said 8.5 or not,
because I started to slow down then. But I can say that it felt darn fast
and not too safe. I guess I was pretty lucky that I didn’t fall at it,
because two other riders did and I don’t want to even think about the result
of a possible fall. It was a cool feeling, tho!
–
TTYL,
Christian
___ /__________ ()==================
__ __ \ __ _ | / / /Christian Hoverath
_ / / / // / |/ /_ / hovi.@t-online.de
// //_/__/ /_/ ==================== http://www.outtech.com/Unicycle/EUT/
Mit Nutella fahre ich nicht besser Einrad,
aber mit Nutella bin ich einfach besser drauf.
AIM: hovicycle ICQ: 102016472
That is cool you are going that fast, I have a feeling you are going to
absolutely leave me behind when we meet up. Are you coming to UNICON and
are you bringing the Coker? It will make a better race for the unlimited,
who else is going to unicon and bringing a Coker? and are the 102 you want
for the Coker?
“Christian Hoverath” <hovi.@t-online.de> wrote in message news:a4hbir$kke$02$1@news.t-online.com… > > After crashing once on the Coker at over 18mph, I have become more > cautious. > > I’ve hit >18mph many times since with a max of 18.9. It seems possible
to > > hit 20, but 26+ is another world. I guess it’s the world of Christian > > Hoverath. > > It’s kinda cool that this was brought up. I just wanted to say that
I’m > pretty sure I reached that speed, because some people are discussing wrong > computer measurements again. I don’t want to offend anybody, don#t get me > wrong! Cruising down that hill I saw that the first digit of my cycle > computer, which was a 4. I don’t know if the last two said 8.5 or not, > because I started to slow down then. But I can say that it felt darn fast > and not too safe. I guess I was pretty lucky that I didn’t fall at it, > because two other riders did and I don’t want to even think about the
result > of a possible fall. It was a cool feeling, tho! > > – > > TTYL, > Christian > ______ _____ > ___ /__________ ___()================== > __ __ \ __ _ | / /_ /Christian Hoverath > _ / / / // / |/ /_ / hovi.@t-online.de > // //_/__/ /_/ ==================== > http://www.outtech.com/Unicycle/EUT/ > Mit Nutella fahre ich nicht besser Einrad, > aber mit Nutella bin ich einfach besser drauf. > AIM: hovicycle ICQ: 102016472
That Joe Marshall may be crazy- but he knows a thing or two; I’ll be getting the second magnet ASAP (and reseting the computer, before I start making claims of 53 hmp).
Joe: on iddling the Coker- all I seem to do is fire it backward at high speed- any pointers?
-mg
“Roger Davies” <Roger@unicycle.uk.com> wrote in message news:m2Xa8.68523$H37.9017096@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com… > Christian, > > That is cool you are going that fast, I have a feeling you are going to > absolutely leave me behind when we meet up. Are you coming to UNICON and > are you bringing the Coker? It will make a better race for the unlimited, > who else is going to unicon and bringing a Coker? and are the 102 you
want > for the Coker? > > Roger > __________________________ > > The UK’s Unicycle Source > http://www.unicycle.uk.com > __________________________ > “Christian Hoverath” <hovi.@t-online.de> wrote in message > news:a4hbir$kke$02$1@news.t-online.com… > > > After crashing once on the Coker at over 18mph, I have become more > > cautious. > > > I’ve hit >18mph many times since with a max of 18.9. It seems possible > to > > > hit 20, but 26+ is another world. I guess it’s the world of Christian > > > Hoverath. > > > > It’s kinda cool that this was brought up. I just wanted to say that > I’m > > pretty sure I reached that speed, because some people are discussing
wrong > > computer measurements again. I don’t want to offend anybody, don#t get
me > > wrong! Cruising down that hill I saw that the first digit of my cycle > > computer, which was a 4. I don’t know if the last two said 8.5 or not, > > because I started to slow down then. But I can say that it felt darn
fast > > and not too safe. I guess I was pretty lucky that I didn’t fall at it, > > because two other riders did and I don’t want to even think about the > result > > of a possible fall. It was a cool feeling, tho! > > > > – > > > > TTYL, > > Christian > > ______ _____ > > ___ /__________ ___()================== > > __ __ \ __ _ | / /_ /Christian Hoverath > > _ / / / // / |/ /_ / hovi.@t-online.de > > // //_/__/ /_/ ==================== > > http://www.outtech.com/Unicycle/EUT/ > > Mit Nutella fahre ich nicht besser Einrad, > > aber mit Nutella bin ich einfach besser drauf. > > AIM: hovicycle ICQ: 102016472 > > >
Maybe try and use more pressure on the top foot to start rocking forwards
again, sort of like half way between riding backwards then riding forwards
and the normal pendulum like thing you do when idling. If you’re not scared
of riding backwards on a coker, practice riding backwards then stopping and
riding forwards, quite scary though. You could try learning rollback mount,
might help?
I’m convinced with all these people thinking they’ve gone well fast that at
least some of them have, way to go guys, although it sounds scary enough to
be filed firmly in the rather you than me file!
