I’ve been looking into getting a pennyfarthing-type bike. Among others, I’ve
been looking at a group in Austria that makes them, and I see that they also
apparently dabble in some big wheel unis which look interesting. Here’s their
site; click “Unicycling” on the left-side menu:
http://www.wuk.at/hochrad/index_eng.php
It’s in German but the links take you to pictures.
holly
those are big! i could see the tire itself folding over on its self if your not careful, coulnt read a word, but oh well, neat, i bet you could get up to some pretty good speeds with those.
Those are SO pretty!!. Too bad you can’t put any air in the tires. Did you see the guy freemounting the 48"? WAY cool.
Re: Non-Coker big yikes
>those are big! i could see the tire itself folding over on its self if
>your not careful, coulnt read a word, but oh well, neat, i bet you
>could get up to some pretty good speeds with those.
>
>
>–
>brokenframe
They do look built for speed. On a smooth paved track I think they’d be hard to
beat in a race. I would imagine they’d be a lot harder to maneuver in tight
turns. The things scare me more than a little actually. I can barely control my
28. 50 inches?? No, you go ahead, I’ll watch, thank you!
You can translate the text with an online translator like BabelFish
(http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?), the output of
which, once your fit of uncontrollable giggling subsides, will give you the
general gist of it. I am seriously considering getting ahold of one of their
highwheelers. I’ve “tasted blood,” as the Austrians there so vividly phrase it,
on my Coker Wheelman, and now I want a real one. Their machines look
interesting, like modern bikes out of some alternate but closely parallel
universe where the safety bicycle had never been invented. The shipping cost
will be a killer though.
Rideable Bicycle Replicas in California (http://www.hiwheel.com/) also sells
three sizes of big uni, in a more antique-replica style. Click “Antique
Replicas” on their left-side menu.
Re: Non-Coker big yikes
ickyslug@aol.complexity writes:
>They do look built for speed. On a smooth paved track I think they’d be
>hard to
>beat in a race. I would imagine they’d be a lot harder to maneuver in
>tight
>turns. The things scare me more than a little actually. I can barely
>control my
>28. 50 inches?? No, you go ahead, I’ll watch, thank you!
I wonder how fast a 50" uni can travel. Or travel safely. Could it outride
a Coker? That inflated tire makes a big difference, and I wouldn’t like to
try to pedal one of those monsters up a big hill, but on a flat or
de-clined surface, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one pass a fast Coker
rider. Maybe one of our German-speaking friends can ask what their top and
average speeds are.
David
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
Am I correct to assume that individual height is a big concern with large unis like this? I would imagine if your legs aren’t long enough (less than half the diameter of the wheel?) then you can forget about it.
Do you pull on the wheel when mounting a Coker like they do in those pictures?
Nbrazzi,
I think I have seen pictures of people wearing shoes with big wood platforms so their feet could reach the pedals. Still, I might be thinking of the big pennyfarthings. It might be a bad idea to try to dismount from a big unicycle to land on big wood foot-stilt shoes.
Lewis
The length of your inseam must be equal to the sum of the radius of the wheel, the length of the crank, and the height of the seat above the wheel. If blocks are added to the pedals this height may be subtracted from the sum.
RE: Non-Coker big yikes
> Those are SO pretty!!. Too bad you can’t put any air in the tires.
Tell me about it. That’s the one BIG difference between a hard-tire big
wheel and a Coker, regardless of wheel size.
> Did you see the guy freemounting the 48"? WAY cool.
Maybe I should use my big wheel (45") in my performance at the UNICON public
show… 
JF
RE: Non-Coker big yikes
> I wonder how fast a 50" uni can travel. Or travel safely.
For safely, it’s probably about the same as a Coker, with a little lower
pedaling speed. Once you get over a certain wheel size, the speed advantage
starts dropping off. Of course once your wheel size gets beyond your leg
length, you start loosing efficiency if you get into the extra weight of
blocks, pedal extensions, some kind of chain drive, and the bigger wheel and
tire itself. As the wheel gets bigger, the fall gets higher, and the
potential to taco increases as well.
My 45" wheel has worked well for me because it fits into my car (except my
old bug). It just stands up in there. Any bigger, and it would have to be
laid flat or on an angle, taking up a lot more space.
There is some speed advantage to the skinny, hard tire. The rim/tire part is
more aero, and obviously there would be less ground friction. But the wider
hub brings the wind resistance back up.
> Could it outride a Coker?
I’m sure that’s mostly a question of engine, not machine. A bigger wheel
with hard tire would surely have an edge in a long race, but the Coker would
have the clear edge on comfort!
> de-clined surface, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one pass a
> fast Coker rider.
I’ll see what I can do with mine in the marathon race at UNICON. But it’ll
again be a case of rider power more than equipment power. [begin boast]
Remember, the marathon race in Toronto last year was the first time I’ve
ridden a Coker for more than a minute or so. [end boast]
> Maybe one of our German-speaking friends
> can ask what their top and average speeds are.
This is highly dependent on the riders again. I have that big mental red
line at running speed, and am generally reluctant to go too close to, or
beyond it. Under 20 mph is fast enough for me, though I’ve been clocked a
little faster, and I’m sure I could go into the high 20s if I were nuts
enough…
I have also ridden 48", 50", 56", and 63.5" wheels. I think the same speed
rules would apply, and I’d want incrementally longer cranks as the wheels
got bigger. Problem is, the biggest wheels tend to have short cranks,
because they get built to the physical limits of their owners. Ken Fuchs’
56" wheel had 5.5" cranks on it, and Ken could still barely reach…
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
Howard Stern: “How many wheels does a unicycle have?”
The beautiful but vacant, recently-crowned Miss Howard Stern: “Four?”
I owned a 48-inch Rideable Replica Unicycle until someone stole it a couple of years ago. The truth is, I wasn’t that upset when I found it missing. I hated it. Although it was unique and " eye catching", anything more than 5 or 10 miles was very inefficient and no fun when compared to the Coker
I once put a computer on the 48 RR in attempt to see how fast I could do 25 miles. I found a nice flat out and back course with no wind. I crashed 7.5 miles into the attempt and hurt my knee pretty bad. I can still feel it sometimes at the end of long rides. I averaged 16 MPH for those 7.5 miles. At the time I was in great shape. It took everything I had to keep it on the road. More energy was wasted balancing than pedaling. It was very heavy, cumbersome, had loose tolerances everywhere, and not meant for speed at any sort of distance. However, the German unicycle looks much better. It appears to have an aluminum rim rather than steel like on the Rideable Replica. It also uses some sort of light high tech rubber tire, rather than the old wheel chair rubber we are use to seeing. If the internal gear hub was not soon to be produced, I would consider giving the German uni a try.
Even though the German vehicle would fair much better than the Rideable Replica, my guess is that at any kind of long distance one would be much better off with a Coker. The pneumatic tire makes all the difference in the world. However, if your desire is to ride for show, bigger wheels are eye catchers. I received a lot more attention on my 48 inch RR than on my Coker.
Until someone comes up with a large pneumatic tire, expecting to use these large hard rubber vehicles for transportation, or speed and distance riding like we do our Cokers is not realistic. Even if someone did come out with a large pneumatic tire, I have serious doubts that it will out perform internally geared hubs. I cant over state the impact a hub designed to enable the use of high-end bicycle wheels will have on our sport. They’re light, true, and made form the materials of our liking.
dan
Re: Non-Coker big yikes
A couple of years ago, a RR big wheel was on eBay - it was over 50", maybe
54"? Anyway I won the auction, but didn’t get to the reserve price which was
around $400 IIRC. But the guy was local so I met him and checked out the
cycle. It took him about 10 tries to ride it and it took me more. It wasn’t
fun at all like a Coker. As you say, they are unique and eye-catching, but
I’m really glad I didn’t buy it.
—Nathan
“dan” <dan.5hfnb@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:dan.5hfnb@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I owned a 48-inch Rideable Replica Unicycle until someone stole it a
> couple of years ago. The truth is, I wasn’t that upset when I found it
> missing. I hated it. Although it was unique and " eye catching",
> anything more than 5 or 10 miles was very inefficient and no fun when
> compared to the Coker
[etc]
RE: Non-Coker big yikes
> Am I correct to assume that individual height is a big concern with
> large unis like this? I would imagine if your legs aren’t long enough
> (less than half the diameter of the wheel?)
Half of wheel diameter, plus length of crank arm, plus distance from top of
wheel to top of seat.
Or, more simply, same way you figure it out for any unicycle. Bottom of down
pedal to top of seat at lowest setting.
> Do you pull on the wheel when mounting a Coker like they do
> in those pictures?
This method works well for riders who are inexperienced, or who are very
short in relation to the wheel. Most Coker or other big wheel riders I see
use a rolling mount. This is where you take a few steps forward, and jump up
onto the cycle while the wheel is stopped (you keep going forward). With
practice, it’s just like riding a bicycle.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
Howard Stern: “How many wheels does a unicycle have?”
The beautiful but vacant, recently-crowned Miss Howard Stern: “Four?”