Some Ideas
I bought a pair of Davinci Designs 3 hole cranks. The pedal holes are at 130mm, 150mm, and 170mm. I was initially a little leary about how well the aluminum crank could take cycles of pedal changes. Dave Elliot had nothing but good to say about the Davinci Design cranks he had on his Coker so I called the owner and he was very well aware of the composition and properties of his product, and it put my mind at ease because they are $195.00…which is more than a candy bar.
When I was in India I saw a take down bike that had quick release pedals that worked like the couplers on air tools. The ones I saw were by Wellgo I believe, pretty sure. The benefit is that you don’t have to unscrew the pedals and possibly gall or otherwise damage the pedal threads in the aluminum crank. The insert threads into the crank and remains and the pedal inserts and locks with a snap like an air fitting.
My thoughts were to place an insert into the 130mm,150mm,and 170mm pedal holes in the crank and swap pedal positions really fast without risking damage to the threads. It would have the benefit of being faster to change the pedal position and also prolong the thread life.
Mks has a two similar systems to the Wellgo. I decided to go with the MKS Superior with the Grip King pedals. The Superior system has to be aligned to the corresponding marks before the pedal can release from the insert so it is more positive in retention.
The first thing I discovered is that the hole pattern of 130,150, and 170 is a little too narrow to accommodate all three inserts per side that the Grip King pedal will click into. The hole pattern could be opened up center to center slightly and then you could change hole positions quickly between multiple inserts. As it is now I can only put the inserts into 130mm or 170mm or the 150mm by itself. 130mm or 170mm is not too bad because I only change out of 130mm for a steep hill.
The other issue is Q Factor because the inserts space the pedal out a little bit from the crank. I haven’t had any problem with Q Factor yet even after back to back century rides during the STP. Adding space is a consideration still.
The inserts are a concern also during the pedal rotation because if you place your foot to close to the crank an insert will make contact along the lower edge of your shoe and possibly dislodge your foot. It was not any issue if you mount carefully and stay aware as you set your feet to ride.
Here are a few pics and I also fabricated some aluminum bases for the forearm pads on the aero bars to withstand a crash because the plastic ones are fragile.
You can get Grip King pedals with standard threads and just swap hole positions with a wrench and finesse. the Grip King pedals are really a good pedal for me and worth looking at.
You could also get a Kris Holm 36’r with dual moment cranks in the first place with a Free Ride Fusion seat instead of adding this and that to the Coker get similar effect.
I really grew to appreciate the 2010 Kris Holm Free Ride saddle for distance. I should have said that sooner.
Coker needs to offer a dual or multi hole crank
I know I saw a photo of a 36er a couple months back by someone that just had a road saddle and not a unicycling saddle, but I don’t know how well that actually works and can’t find the photo again.