Eric, that would just get cumbersome. THe easiest thing to do is have the quick release placed in a different area, such as above the clamp on the frame. That’s where I put mine, and I think it’d work. I’m just too lazy to actually build it, since I have so many other things going on in the frame.
How would that work Bevan? I am a bit confused… Would you then hinge the frame? or hinge the QR outwards? I think my ide would work in theory, but just wouldn’t be able to be both strong enough to hold up, and yet not in the way. But I could be wrong, my idea could work. I just don’t see why we can’t just put a willte effort into it and unscrew the bearing holders if we need to switch the wheel. I mean… it takes less than 5 minutes to do.
whoa. those are super nice. i want at least 2 pair, i would put them on my muni and my freestyle uni. can i get a date on when these frames will be ready for buying?
great work man.
I made a 3D Design to firther clarify my idea, and to help point out design flaws(there has to be something). If you could get a semi-strong matertial, like steel or something, that could hold up to most abuse without denting in(beyond repair) or making the clamp suceptable to injury I don’t see why this couldn’t be used for converting a muni to a cruiser and visa versa. I am sure it isn’t the greates idea for street and trials where the bearing clamp will be constantly abused with grabs,and what-not, but Why not just use it for uni’s that aren’t going to be destroying the bearing clamp.
open face
solid cover-peice
This is a great advance in unicycle technology; I can’t wait until it gets into production frames. In addition to the obvious benefits in terms of changing tires, it would also help me quite a bit with my kinetic sculpture transitions from the Gazz back to the Big Apple.
Jim: Let me know if you’re going to wind up in the Bay Area any time soon. A lot of our trails are waterlogged right now, but there are still places you can find to ride.
Hey Tom;
Thanks, yes I’m hoping they get into production soon too. I am looking at the last week in January/first week in Feb to be out in the Bay Area. I’ll give you a heads up when I finalize my plans. Hope things dry out for you out there!
I’d like to get in on this too. I’m in SF and can make it out to the East bay for a ride pretty often.
By the time you’ve screwed on that cover or removed it, you’d have gotten normal bearing caps off.
I don’t see any need to design a cover or other protective piece for the quick release lever. As long as the uni isn’t used for pedal grabs and crank grabs it will be fine. It would be perfectly fine for the way I ride my muni. Even in cases where I slip off the side of a skinny it would be very very unlikely to break the lever even if I did hit it on something on the way down.
My concern would be accidental opening due to vibration or hard impulse force (landing a big drop). There isn’t a lot of clamping force on the bearing housing. If there is too much clamping force you will bind the bearing. So there isn’t going to be a lot of back force on the quick release to prevent accidental opening due to vibration or impulse force. This would mostly depend on the shape of the cam that the quick release uses. If the QR used here has a tendency to pop open it might be necessary to file a small flat area on the cam to get it to lock in place when closed.
I think that this design would be implemented best on touring unicycles, such as cokers or 29ers.
It may work well on a muni if you don’t do any natty whilst on a ride. Even if you did hit it a few times, I think it could withstand a fairly good amount of punishment without being hurt.
Yeah Nate will kick the crap out of them. He will be a great tester. Im very interested in how these will turn out!
I thought I would bump this thread with a picture of the QR on the frame. We have just put together a couple of prototypes to test out. So far the QR bearing holder works like I expected. It takes less than 30 seconds, and no tools, to completely swap out a wheel set, and that was the 2nd time I tried it. Right now we have a modified Yuni frame that I’m using for my Beast 29er and two prototypes that Owen and Nate are working on. Everyone is welcome to check out the real thing at Moab.
That looks awesome. Do you have to fiddle with the quick release lever to get the right tension on the bearings?
There was a guy at the German Muni& Trials Weekend with quick release bearing holders on a very custom muni.
I didnt have much time to inspect them but they did look a bit more complicated than yours, Jim. The clamp arms were positioned on the sides of the bearing holders so that they were vertical and couldnt be hit on a crank grab.
I think the owner was either Lukas Bier or Jan Meissner from Chocen, Czech Republic…although i could be wrong.
Photos are trickling in from the weekend just now. If i see any pics of the uni or learn more about who the rider was, ill let you know.
Cool stuff!
erik
I’m going to have to try that at moab, it looks like fun. I really wanna try the 190 mm cranks, those have got to be crazy.
Hi Tom;
I was a bit worried about that, but it turns out that the tightness is in the right range within one revolution of the lever, so you can do it on-the-fly. Also, I found that once you adjust the bolt (it’s continous since it’s got a barrel nut) it stays in that spot during the change over, so it ends up just right.
I’d love to see them. Our design, as it is, would not be good for Trials.
Everyone is welcome to give it a whirl. I have to warn you, the seat only goes down so far. It is fun, the torque you can generate with 190s on a 29er is impressive. I think it’s going to be a good match for Slickrock.
Nice. I’ll definitely want to check them out; see you at Moab!
(It would definitely be useful for next year’s kinetic sculpture; the wheel change-over is going to be a bit slow this year with the main cap bearings).
I’m currently working on my own set of quick release bearing holders. Mine are essentially the same as Jim’s, but instead of folding over the bottom of the bearing, they fold up, becoming flush with the fork leg. This protectsw them from trials moves, but it also means custom machining everything, including the lever it’s self. God I wish I had cnc. I figure I’ll use these style of bbearing holders on my next frame, but in the meantime, I’d love to see someone use the design on one of their frames.