> Weather the extra weight and expence is warrented FOR YOU AND YOUR TASTE-
Well I want to be able to ride the steepest, most hardcore terrain
that I can - so I think a brake could be helpful here.
>The type of brake option/inovation your
> builder proferred would lack the sophistication required to make the
> device useful in this application. Might make me worry about what
> other ‘inovations’ the builder has in mind…
The bike builder in question is Johnnie Foster and he has already
built me a bombproof trials uni, and two other high quality unicycles
(a muni and a two-wheeler) for friends of mine.
Humm… a custom frame
> has a very high cool factor. e
> the most of it. Custom should mean increased performance/value
> instead of just unique- unless you just want a show piece. And that’s
> cool, too.
My reasons for getting a custom made muni are simply economic ones. It
is much less expensive to get a custom uni here in New Zealand than to
order one from unicycle.com - due to unfavourable exchange rates and
exorbitant freight costs.
Yikes! An Islander! Then I firmly stand behind my previous recommendation about having a skilled Mori bone carver fabricate something out of bits of whale bone and shell
> builder suggested trying a different design of brake - one similar to
> those on kids’ scooters. The idea is to have a rubber covered arm
> that pivots just under the fork crown. The rubber covered arm will
> drag on the tyre when the brake lever is squeezed. This should slow
> the wheel down. It may also result in increased tyre wear! Has anyone
> tried anything like this before?
Yes, it’s called a spoon brake on old bikes (real old; over 100 years). This
design is very effective on a scooter because it’s simple to manufacture,
and you can use your foot which is already right there, saving having to run
any controls or levers.
But why do this on a unicycle, and how is the lever supposed to work?
If you were to use such a thing on a long descent (one of the main places
where a brake is useful), I imagine that once you’ve gotten going you will
be riding along with the smell of burning rubber. Your tire is not made out
of stuff designed for that kind of friction, and it will wear out real fast.
I have noticed wear on unicycle tires from lots of gliding, and that was
just from my foot!
So with 100 or so years of development behind them, I would recommend a nice
rim (or hub!) brake.
