Seems to me that geared wheels are very much like the bike world. There are spinners (Lance), and there are pushers (Jan). So a gear right for you might not be right for me, even though a fixed-geared wheel in general is faster on all but hills. (And the hills issue will eventually be solved with a CVT hub of some kind.)
The queston is not what gear by itself is faster, but what gear for you. Until now, the only commercially-available gear ratio has been Florian Schlumpf’s 1.5. So either that or direct-drive. OTOH, I like that a few riders have tried my Red Menace at 1.44, and I’ve ridden it at 1.22. There is definitely a balance of power and cadence at work, which may result in an eventual consensus that ratios of 1.2 to 1.4 will be what we want in a guni. Anyone who tends to prefer a direct drive will hardly notice the difference with a 1.1 or 1.2 ratio, but the guni will definitely be faster.
So STM, the answer to your question with what’s available now may well be a 29" guni at 1.5 ratio. But as we get different ratios available to us, and more riders have access to gunis, the answer will, like all things, change.
Hmm, this talk of Schlumpf 36ers being slower on average and more tiring to ride is kind of discouraging me from building one of my own. (I have the frame and hub, but no rim as yet.) Considering these factors, what, if anything, are Schlumpf 36ers good for? Are they anything more than a specialised “somewhat speedier than a standard coker if the road conditions right” unicycle?
I had hoped that my schlumpf 36 would be a good all-round road unicycle and faster than a standard 36", but this doesn’t seem to be the case from the reports from the few people who already have schlumpf 36ers.
I got to ride the Red Menace over the weekend and I rode the Schlumpf when Florian visited Seattle. I’ve also ridden Blue Shift a few times. I can’t compare them directly to each other, mostly because each had different sized wheels.
I can compare them to the standard Coker, because each had an interesting quality which works against the benefit of gearing: twitchiness.
I think the effect is caused by the change in the amount of force you have to put into the pedal to go forward, yet the force to move side-to-side remains the same. If you can steer with your feet at all, this skill is somewhat compromised.
Additionally, the more solid feel of the pedals seems to allow your body center-of-gravity to shift more easily away from the line of travel of the unicycle, so corrections require more effort.
Thinking about it, I think if you’re talking about multi-day touring style rides rather than all out fast riding, it’s a bit different to the speed thing. The Schlumpf has one big advantage, which is that you can piss around on the unicycle once you get there, whatever the terrain happens to be. That’s nice.
I think in terms of multi day rides though, a full days riding on a coker is as much effort as anyone sensible wants to do, but is within your fitness level assuming you start training soon, maybe get a coker and start riding on your commute, a coker with 150 cranks is fine on the commute you’re doing, I used to do commutes on similar roads in London.
I think you’d be happy with either to be honest. I’d possibly recommend the coker, as you can probably get those with way less of a delay than getting a Schlumpf, and you’ll need some time to get used to it.
On hills and offroad you have a coker with 170 mm cranks; 14% is no problem.
In big gear mode the “leverage factor” is the same as with 110 mm cranks. But the cadence is lower: less chafing, more relaxed riding.
It probably has to do with the length of the legs. For me the long cranks and the big gear are much more comfortable. Imagine a flat road with light tail winds; 20 kph and no effort at all!
I do not think, that it takes more effort and fine control to ride a guni. It takes some 100 km to get used to it. In the long run, the slack (crank play) is not noticable any more.
I use it to commute, averaging about 35 miles a week, much of it in low gear. I was arriving at a stop and was attempting to shift into low gear while riding up a slight incline, as I have done many times before. Suddenly I heard a click or crack, as of a piece of metal snapping. Since I was disembarking, I didn’t fall, but right away I noticed that the wheel would NOT rotate! It got stuck at a particular point, both in high AND low gear. So yes, it could shift bw gears, but no, it could not rotate past a certain point.
It’s on its way back to Florian. I’ll post more info when I have it. Lucky me: I was the first to have a #2 hub break, according to Florian. I think I was also the first person to have the #1 hub slip out of gear.
Still, he makes wonderful unicycles, and I can’t wait till I get this one back!
I wish my cycle computer cord hadn’t broken; otherwise I’d have had a better idea. The 2nd hub arrived less than a year ago. It had problems with sticking in high gear (ie, I couldn’t downshift under normal circs), but lubricating oil (sent by Florian) fixed that. In all I guess I’d ridden about 500 miles on it. That’s nothing like the thousands of miles I put on my Cokers. I must say that while I don’t ride ‘hard’ (like going down big drops), I do ride almost everyday, and I switch gears frequently. I just wish I’d had on my wrist-guards, bc ya neva know. Still, I trust Schlumpf’s hubs.
