ok so i looked and i didnt see a thread on this so i figured i would ask. i am sorry if this is a dumb question, but i am new to this whole long distance unicycling thing…
i am going to be getting my student loan rebate check back soon, and i know i am going to have some extra money in my bank account. I just brought a titan 36, and i am quite fond of it, and the long distance rides but i have also been looking into geared hubs too.
I know that the main one unicyclist use is the schlumpf, but when i was on a biking site today i saw the sram geared hubs, and they are quite a bit cheaper for example 300ish compared to 1,200 dollars. So my question is could you build a unicycle out of a sram hub? has anybody done this or tried/or know anybody who has?
I am sure there is a reason why we use the schlumpf instead, i just dont know it yet
AFAIK, the Schlumpf is the only commercially available hub that has power transmission in both forward and backward direction which is what you need for unicycling. Geared hubs found on bicycles are unually of the “coasting” type, in that you cannot deliver power while pedaling backwards.
Unicycles with coasting hubs (non-geared) have been built as a gimmick. They are very difficult to ride.
If it is a unicycle hub, they have been really quiet about it. If it is a bicycle hub, it is going to free wheel when you try to pedal backwards.
As far as I know, Shlumph has the only bi directional hub, that you can use to make a guni. Unless you are a super human glider, that would be a real tricky ride.
Unicycle hubs are different to bike hubs. Unicycle hubs have transmission through the pedals in the middle axle of the hub, bikes have transmission through the sprocket.
This means they are a completely different design mechanically, to take account of the rotating centre axle.
Bike hubs also have freewheels, and are designed to go in one direction, meaning you can’t use them on a giraffe either.
the original epicyclic uni hubs built by harper started life as bike hubs. The work involved in converting them is immense, due to the design differences otherws have mentioned. I’m sure if it was viable option florian would be converting bike hubs rather than building his own from scratch.
This is entirely incorrect. The two versions of hubs I designed were designed from the ground up to work bi-directionally with unicycles. They didn’t use any parts from bicycle hubs. Frank Bonsch developed a geared unicycle which did begin life as a bicycle hub but when completed essentially used only the gears and the planet carrier from the hub.
