Other Than Price, Why Coker or Titan

I have an opportunity to snatch up a Coker Big One at a good price - I was originally thinking about the Titan or even holding out for the Oracle (even with the green rim) - I can’t decide - I’m not quite ready for a 36er but I know that I eventually want one, this is a good deal, and I know that I want to do some road work - any ideas?

I like the titan because it seems a little more customizable then the Coker, but both are good uni’s. If it’s a newer coker with the aluminum frame then that’s great. If you hold out for an oracle, you can order one without the green rim. You can always buy the coker now and keep it until you’re ready. Or give it a try now, I just got a 36er and it was very easy for me, I could freemount and ride right away. I think it’s really hit and miss as too whether you like a 36er or not.

Hold out for the best. Buy a Triton! I first purchased the original Coker Big One. Then, I upgraded, if you want to call it that, to the Coker V2. Finally, I made the right decision and purchased the last uni I’ll ever need, the Triton. I would have saved myself a lot of money if I would have just purchased the Triton from the start. Of course, that really wasn’t possible because Triton wasn’t making unicycles back then. But you have that option. So make the right choice, and save up for a Triton! You won’t regret it.

ShannonG’s advice is good, the Tritons are great, but pretty pricey.
I would say if you have a chance to pick up a used Coker for a good price, go ahead and get it. That way you can spend some time riding it and getting used to it without a big investment. You may or may not like it, they’re not for everyone.
I picked up a used Coker from a guy on the forum back in April, and have been happy with it. I’ve learned a lot about big-wheel riding during that time.
If you decide you don’t like it, or want to upgrade to a KH or Triton, you can sell the Coker for probably what you paid for it.
The only drawback to the Coker (in my opinion) (or the Titan, for that matter), is that the sizes (bearings, hub spacing, etc) don’t fit the “standards” for most popular unis. This means you can’t really upgrade it (easily). You pretty much have to sell it and go with a different/better one. But again, if you got it for a low price to begin with, you haven’t lost anything.
Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Anti-Coker

Good question!

I saved up for a year to buy a Coker. It arrived in January when snow was everywhere in Wisconsin. So I waited a few months to ride. I went out in a drizzle one day–rode six miles. Next day all the bolts were rusting as was the “coker” logo on my hub. I swapped out stainless for a few bucks and wrote a letter to Coker letting them know I felt ripped off. They never responded.

Result: I’ll never buy another Coker. American-made? Yeah, but made poorly with cheap components.

between the basic coker and the titan, id take the titan any time… as much as the titan uses a wide hub, it uses the same rim, tyre and tube (i presume) as an oracle with 36 holes. If you wanted to, the hub and frame can be replaced using standard parts (oracle frame). The coker uses a 48 hole rim, unfortunately although bombproof, it is not supported with wide isis hubs.

The nightrider is a lighter tyre than the coker offerings although more likely to puncture.

The Coker is a nice unicycle but the more expensive unicycles are a bit nicer. If you can afford the Oracle, you may regret not holding out and end up buying one down the road anyway. Though if you get the Coker 2nd hand at a good price you could resell with no loss (just make sure it’s a recent version with the aluminum frame and rim).

Not sure if I misunderstood something in your post, but the Coker and Titan hubs are practically the same width (UDC lists them at 128mm and 127mm respectively). I bought a Titan frame to use with a Coker wheelset (back when Coker sold wheels separately) and it fit perfectly (though I later decided to rebuild the the Coker wheel with a standard 100m wide Nimbus 48h ISIS and use a KH frame).

the frame of the coker and titan is pretty much identical as well…

The problem comes if you wanted to replace the hub on the coker without replacing the frame as well. There are no wide isis hubs for 48 spoke wheels (replacement bearings can be used to fit isis in 40mm housings).

Personally what i would love to do is rebuild my V2 with a disc isis hub without replacing the rim and downgrading (yes i said it) to 36 spokes. For whatever reason i prefer the feeling of the frame to a KH36.

Spending more to start off with on a 36er is a wise choice. You can easily spend more on upgrades and replacing bits than you spent on the original uni

My advice is if you already ride and know you will ride your 36 quite often and for longer distances especially in situations where you need to dodge pedestrians etc or do a bit off road, hold out for a top-end 36.

I’ve ridden an older 36 to try them out, then got the Oracle (with black rim) and oh what a difference. The lighter ones are quite a bit easier to ride IMO, very nimble. If you will ride it a lot, go for the best and save yourself the upgrade.

I absolutely adore my custom Oracle 36. I spent over a grand on it, but never have regretted it.

How much was the up charge to change for a black rim?

I’ll second this question. I really hate the green.

IIRC you also swapped out the hub for an oregon hub. That’s the setup I was eyeballing, oregon hub + black rim, but was curious as to how much more expensive the setup would have been.

Being a relative noob, I would like to know the difference in cost as well as the benefit of the swap in hub -

I don’t remember the cost difference, I calculated it once and it wasn’t significant if I remember correctly. The oregon hub is tougher and cheaper, making it a better choice even if it is slightly heavier. Weight doesn’t matter as much for the hub because it it’s rotational speed isn’t significant.

What makes the Oregon hub stronger? They seem pretty similar

Steel construction instead of aluminum.

I like my Coker V2 a lot. It’s not light, but it seems to be well built, and I like the smaller tubes of the “squid” frame. The Coker brakes, though, were useless for me. After carefully setting them up they still grabbed hard on the powder coated rim, it was “on” or “off”. A Mountain muni disc setup fixed that.

I took a 10 mi ride on it today. I keep thinking I should replace the super heavy ribbed Coker tire that it came with, but today I was enjoying the near absolute silence of a big unicycle with a heavy, smooth ribbed tire - it doesn’t make any sound at all on smooth pavement, none.

Back to the question: I think the Coker is perfectly adequate for anything I’d throw at it. The quality is good. The square cranks are fine after lots of falls. I think the only reason I’d go for a different 36er would be to get Spirit cranks and an easier to fit disc system. But that being said, the Mountain Muni system works great; now that I have it set up I won’t be changing for a while.

Sam

Sam,

I used to own a V2. I also really like the look of the “squid” frame. However, there comes a heavy cost from the four tubes and I mean a heavy cost. I sold my V2 and went with a lighter unicycle because I do mostly distance with a lot of hills involved. It is absolutely amazing how much weight makes a difference when you are doing 30+ miles with some steep climbs. I think it all comes down to how much time you are spending in the saddle and what type of riding you are doing.

My new uni came with a Nightrider tire. Although, I love that I could do some more rough terrain with that tire, I missed the smooth feeling of the TA tire. I also don’t feel that the Nightrider tire feels as nimble as the TA. So, I switched the tires last month. If I were you, I wouldn’t switch your ribbed tire. I think you’ll regret your decision if you do. Unless, of course, you are planing to do some off-road with your V2. Especially because you appreciate the smoothness of the Coker tire.

The switch in rim and hub were nominal. I think it was the cost of a wheel builds, $35 or something. It looks bad ass. I hated the green too.

I chose the cromo hub because people told me to and I thought I might want to do muni with it and it’s stronger