Video footage of P-frame prototype ride
I had a moment to shoot three short videos of my prototype P-frame in action. Video quality is lacking a bit.
Don’t worry, all the grass in Portland is not purple, just the grass near my house 
The links for the first two. the third is still loading, but should b up soon under my unibastard acct on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWx-Bxey1GM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN8bD2EzBy4
B
very nice bryce. It looks good, how’s climbing though have you done much of it?
Sorry if I was a bit unclear
gizmoduck:
I didn’t say anything about pulling ‘up’ on a bicycle. I’m said pull ‘back’, as in, ‘towards you’.
The “wheelie” effect on a bicycle and the “seat moving back” effect on a unicycle are not related.
The point I was getting at is that both regular unicycles and bicycles have the mechanical ability to allow a rider’s arms to be used to increase the total force they can exert with the drive wheel. These unicycle designs do not. Maybe it’s not an issue, but I thought I’d point it out.
bryce that looks fun.
Cimbing
I’ve read all the bits on here about pulling up and feeling the seat slide out behind you and I’m pretty sure bike seats make this more pronounced cause the uni seats hourglass shape holds you in the saddle better. With my set-up, I honestly think the elbow pads cure this whole problem by holding your body in one place, regardless of the type of seat you are using.
So for most hills, I’ve found climbing to be just as easy as with my other aero-bar set-ups. Grab the aero bar handgrips and do a partial “arm-curl” putting pressure on the elbow pads and taking like 50% of your weight off the saddle. In this position, climbing feels like your uni has an on-board gyro (really) that makes climbing so much easier and faster . . . . . and fun.
In the riding position I’m using, I’ve never really felt like the Freeride seat is sliding out from underneath me as I ride, though
For really big hills, I still get out of the saddle, and stand more or less upright on the pedals and holding onto the areo bar grips, but because I’m standing, I’m not resting on the elbow pads.
Also, I dropped in at the Bike Gallery for a bike fitting with Z. Boisei and our 36ers last winter. They were initially not wanting to have anything to do with us. They they heard “century on one wheel” and got a bit more friendly. Then I said I was looking for someone who could help think outside the box about the juxtoposition (sp?)of unicycle riding and aero bars and we spent about 30 minutes with one of thier fitters, mostly she watched us ride and suggested best placement for aero bars, upper arm to chest angles, arm width and how to build adjustability into the design.
That fitter has taliked to me several times since then and she really wants to help us one wheeled freaks, but you could tell its was initially just too far outside of thier formula-based system of bike fitting that they use to see the world of bike comfort.
Anyone else went for a bike fitting with a 36er unicycle?
I tried to go in for a fitting then realized it was going to cost an arm and a leg and I couldn’t afford it.
bike fitting $
They didn’t ask for $$ and I didn’t offer to pay for it either. Would have been like paying for their educated guesses . . . . and we didn’t even end up going up to their fitting suite because . . .well becasue nothing up there would have corresponded to our freaky on-wheeled needs.
IMHO: Save your $$ for somthing else. They were a LONG way form providing enough value to be able to charge for their help.
B
Thanks for the vid ! I think when I get some time I want to make something close to that. It looks like a great ride !
I fired off an email to a local fitter, this is his reply to the thread:
If I could weld and had some time, I’d like to build a fully-adjustable frame/handlebar setup based on a V or T frame, one that I could use as a “test mule” to make adjustments to seat height, handlebar height & distance from seat, etc. Then once I felt everything was dialed in and provided best compromise of speed, comfort, climbing leverage, etc., go to a frame builder with plans. But…it might not work. All the weight used by the adjustable fittings would skew the geometry.
Re: all the posts about MTBer’s pulling UP on bars vs. pulling back & down, for me it’s “up” only when standing. Which makes me wonder, what would it be like to have, integrated into one of the great extended bar designs being pioneered by Turtle, Gizmo and others here, two grips extending from the SIDES of the seat, maybe in the same “plane” as a standard seat grip? Then you could really (possibly, maybe…) get some leverage on steep climbs by pulling up on the bar opposite the pedal being pushed down, just like on a mtb?
OK on further reflection, side grips would of course make mounting quite difficult (doh!). But I still want to think on this. Maybe some kind of “T” handle extending up from the front of the seat that doesn’t get in the way of your legs but still provides better climbing leverage than a T7 or Pi bar. Then, when standing up for climbs, you’d be pulling directly over your balance point…
Sorry for rambling, I’m thinking out loud and it’s late.
isn’t that exactly, what brycer is doing?
You betcha baby. Get yur test mule on!
Brycer1968
Sorry I didn’t see that. I’m really intrigued by his “Midget Coker Saddle” design concept. It seems like when you stand and climb, and the saddle rocks towards you until the seat is behind you and the bars directly beneath you, that your arms could be close to fully extended for optimum “pulling” leverage. And then you wouldn’t have the rest of the bar up near your face. But if the bars extend out perpendicular to the saddle, it must be difficult to mount, at least for beginners like me.
Really enjoying this thread and all the ongoing innovation, great work everyone.
I really wonder what Kris has been up to handlewise, he was going to come up with his own KH touring handle bars soon.
Not sure I understand your anterior, posterior, reticulatoring message O-militant one.
To clarify, the coker midget saddle concept is designed for kids and well . . .midgets . . . . or short folks and the primary objective is to “land” a unicycle saddle only 3/8" above the tire so really short legs can reach the pedals and you’d be able to have handlebars too if you wanted. I don’t think any tall folks would really get their rocks off on this set-up. Its for very short people only (VSPO)
From my calcs, this design will result in about a 2" lower saddle than the other coker frames made or cut down for short folks. I think we are talking sub 5’ tall individuals could ride a 36er even with 150mm cranks. I’m gonna repurpose some existing parts off of earlier projects and crank one of these out in the next few weeks.
So sports fans, get your ooompa loompah’s all ready to ride . . . . and BTW: I’m looking for a local midget that is game to give this a try, and who knows . . . . if he’s not opposed to riding this he might let me “throw him” once or twice, then I can mark “midget tossing” of my Brycer1968 list of things to do before I die. Who says I’m not a friend of the little people.
Stay tuned
B
If this had been under development when I had first thought of getting a 36’er I’d volunteer, unfortunately I’ve grown since then(I was 4’11" I think when I got my 36’er and am now closer to 5’7") I’ll still volunteer to test ride it though I wont be as fun to throw as I’m not an official midget.
My son has also grown from 4’11" when he started Cokering. He couldn’t comfortably use 150mm cranks then but the 125s worked fine. Now he’s about 5’8", but it looked like this Jan 2004:
great photo nathan.
I still had trouble with 150s last year, good thing I never go longer than 114mm:)
Here’s a picture of my test-rig at the moment. I tipped the seat back so that it looks quite silly, but now I can get up hills on it without much problem. It also works better for mounting and low-speeds.
The aluminium T piece was scrap from my broken handle which I had at RTL/Unicon, and it is bolted on to the rear stay of the black bike-frame handle. I’m using it because it is 22mm diameter to fit the rail-clamp (this clamp is a weak point in the set-up; the 360 degree rotating splines are liable to slip if the saddle is twisted hard).
When I’m pulling hard for steep hills and for mounting I put my left hand on the aluminium part, near the Jubilee clip at the top of the seatpost.
Time for more testing…
Sam
