I think maybe a 3 gear hub could be built. But it would be tricky. One would shift up on one side and down on the other side. How about that?
Offcourse gears are improving the sport huge.
The problem with excisting internal gears like shimano nexus are the freewheels that let the hub shift.
I took apart a shimano nexus 7 hub to find the freewheels, and see if it could be turned into a fixie, to bad that cant be done altleast i cant do it.
keep in mind there are a lot of parts inside such hubs so changing some internal cogs are difficult.
then me mind sad why not just use a freewheel on a unicycle
offcourse that would be difficult to ride but i thought when i first saw a unicycle thats gonna be difficult to ride and now its easy.
i see some people are scarry about the wide handlebars when having a upd
myself i dont really ride distances for fun i’am more just training for races.
because of that i would not mind if some of the parts get broken in a upd.
because i build up my uni just for races and not for many km of distance riding
I absolutely hate crashing. But a couple of important points:
-Do you think about crashing or trying to run out of a bike crash at 70km/hr? or tangling up in the bike handlebar?
-Similarly when riding a unicycle, you need to think about stability, not about trying to UPD at 30+km/hr
-The bike position is much lower. I’ve found it more stable at high speed
-I’ve been riding bikes competitively for over 15yrs. I’ve been riding unicycles for 8yrs. My worst injuries are by far unicycle injuries (Broken ankle, multiple sprained ankles, open Tib/Fib fracture, fractured Triquetrum, AC-joing dislocation, multiple lacerations/sutures). Unicycling tends to force your articulating joints like ankles and knees into unnatural positions when you fall, mainly because people try to run them out.
-Roadbike injuries tend to end up with lost skin. That’s not just personal experience…without exception my unicycling friends have far worse injuries than my bicycling friends.
-The roadie drop-bars are shoulder width. Is that wide? It’s also stretched out further…the unicycle should rotate out of your way if you do feel the need to run out your UPD.
My 2c worth
That’s how I broke my ankle in Nepal. If I’d not done that, I would have ended up with a bit of skin off my thighs I think, if that.
I don’t bike competitively so I can’t really say from first hand experience about injuries but I can certainly say I never think about surviving a UPD on my unicycle at 30+kph I think about staying stable while at that speed and the lower my center of gravity the more stable I feel. I’ve trained at lower speeds to instinctively roll when I UPD and now at speeds near 30kph I don’t even try to put my feet on the ground when I UPD I get them out of the way of the uni and I tuck in my head and arms and roll, if I don’t roll I slide. It’s not a fun recovery but it’s much more fun than a broken limb that could have resulted from trying to run out of the 30kph UPD. I’m still experimenting with frame geometry but I’m getting close to what I think may be ideal for me. The next step is raising the money to begin the project.
I went for my first real ride on my set up (Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification) and my response was somewhat mixed. It was a little more comfortable and a step in the right direction, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I did want a wider handlebar and I’m looking forward to making something closer to Ken’s setup, and also something without the rail attachment that rubbed by inner thighs a little bit. It was very unstable if I was riding without hands, but that is to be expected. I was surprised for climbing. It was fine, but I didn’t go up any hills that I really had to crank and stand for, only ones that I spun up. I’m looking forward to a ride on Monday after school to go on a longer and hillier route. I post back on my climbing experiences then.
Madison, what setup are you looking to build?
I’m looking into building a set up like the main triangle of a road bike frame, I’m going to mock it up in steel when I finally dial in the dimensions then progress to CF.
Hi James,
I’ve been trying to emphasise that it’s not so much about body positioning as it is about arm positioning. If you sit bolt upright on a unicycle, then the T7 will be fine. When I ride with a T7, my hands are against my chest. The stretched out handlebards don’t lower my body position that much, but it let’s me ride with straighter arms.
I went for another longish ride on my current road setup yesterday. My ride was quite a hilly one, which also included some unpaved and more adventurous ways.
Climbing was no problem on the paved roads but very difficult on the unpaved bumpy ways. On those I was really struggling hard not to dismount. Then on the way down on one of those paths there were some nasty roots. Since I had to use the brake (it was rather steep and I had 102mm cranks on) I couldn’t make it past that one particularly nasty root, so I dismounted unplanned but gracefully. In situations like this one a wide handle could have caused very unpleasant injuries, I think. But I just landed on my feet and ran out of it. I decided that steep off-road riding was not such a good idea on those short cranks and the bike seat.
During the whole ride of 53km there was no wishing for a wider handle bar. The only thing that bothered me slightly on the paved road was the amount of pressure on the palms of my hands. At a section that went slightly downhill I felt like racing as fast as I could (because a race biker passed me) and I reached the speed of 36km/h. Maybe a more stretched out riding position could have added some more stability there. But I think a geared hub would be much more significant than that.
Anyways, I think my setup is very close to ideal for me. I might change the saddle for something a little more comfy and move it a little backwards. But that’s just fine tuning.
thats the same plan that i have
because the main triangle of a bike frame had the right geometrie that i want and because of that geometrie you will have a bether riding position i hope
just got bored today so started on cutting up a bike frame
so perhaps when i have time tommorow will start working on my v-frame
I’m wondering if it would be possible to have the handlebars/aero bars hinged near the centre in such a way that they would fold upwards if you hit them as you UPD.
I’m not sure if it would even make a difference, but it would at least make storage and transport a little easier.
On another train of thought: What about “offroad” riding enhancements?
For me, in the near future, the ideal set-up is going to be my KH24 w/ 150mm cranks and outfitted with my KH/Schlumpf Muni hub. The types of terrain is going to vary considerably from rough, technical single-track to fairly easy open 4x4 roads. I’m thinking somekind of collapsable, or foldable seat-post or frame clamped type handlebars would be good. The idea is to have the handle bars for the easy road sections, but still be able to fold them out of the way for the true muni stuff. I’m thinking the Coker PI-Bar might be a place to start. Any thoughts or anybody else have any working designes out there? I suppose I could always modify a T-7 bar?
I tried the “Lars Clausen” handlebar in 2007. I used it only a short while. It was difficult to get a stabile press on the handlebars, especially at high speed. I stopped using it after I had an UPD and the handlebar was grabbing my leg when I was falling in front of the Unicycle. (Because the unicycle not only fall to the front, but is also twisting in the fall). I only turned the handlebar to the front of the Unicycle and attached two bar ends and got a nice set-up. It was easier and more comfortable for me to have the handlebar in front. And much easier to get a press and lift the back in high speed.
I ride my KH/Schlumpf muni offroad all the time, and I now have a dual-bar ends handlebar that I use. The front and the rear parts can come off and are adjustable in angles due to the use of bar ends. The close rear-facing bar ends are great for rough riding and steep hills. It works excellent. Total weight, including bar ends, is 1 lb 10 oz. Eliminating a bar end drops quite a bit of weight (I have the numbers at home).
Corbin: is that a 24" or 29" wheelset? I remember you set up a 24" with KH/Schlumpf hub so I’m guessing that’s a 24" right? Do you have a full shot that you can post as well? IDK, that looks a little “busy” to me. I think I like keeping the normal KH saddle handle but then something like you’ve got with the further out bar ends but a bit closer in more like the T-7? I’m not worried about needing to lean over so much as I plan on riding more upright anyhow. Probably necessary even when riding down 4x4 roads at speed in over-drive. I like the idea of something like the t-7 but I think something removable would be better so if I was doing just pure rough muni I wouldn’t have any handlebars in the way? I’ll keep thinking about it… Still I really like your set-up for the most part.
Nice work Corbin. Its great to have lots of grip options with handlebars and you seem to have kept the weight down at the same time you keep things adjustable. Another Unicycle Bastard here in Portland brazes all his work together too, while I really like welding. Anyway, keep the bronze shiny side up!
B
It’s my KH24 with a Kenda Kinniption tire (sp). I’ll have to take a full picture sometime soon, and at some point I’m going to do a blog-post write up about it, with specific weights of each part.
Re: too busy looking – yes…but, if you take the brake off, and the speedo, it looks less busy. If I take the “close grips” off (they are 100% removable via an attachment I made), it looks even less busy, and makes the setup weigh something like 14 ozs (including the bar ends, but i’m going from memory here, so I may be off).
Re: using the normal plastic front KH handle. This version allows one to still use that handle, but I don’t like it. The bar-ends version allows me to climb steeper hills, and is more ergonomic for how I like to ride (which is generally with both hands on the bars at the same time). It also does weigh more than the KH handle (two bar ends + steel adapter, vs. a plastic piece).
It sounds like you want a version of the T style handlebar that drops on/off really easily. Mine currently requires one to pull the seat out of the seat post tube, and relocate the brake; which isn’t hard, but still takes some time. However, we could make a version that allows the back piece to drop off with 4 bolts, which would eliminate the need for taking your seat off. If it goes out (somewhat) vertically, and has a riser (like this version: Yet another unicycle handlebar – Corbin's Treehouse – except more horizontal for more brake spacing), you could keep the brake on the standard plastic handle. I did try that too, but I found that for high speed riding (mostly road or fireroad), I preferred the brake to be on the further bar ends.
corbin
just another update for this thread
started working on my drawing for my v-frame
its almosted finished at this point
the v-frame will be cnc’d from alumnium
no tubing and the most inportend no welding for this frame
it will be bolted together.
pictures say more than words so i made some print screens for you
the frame is drawd in a 3d drawing program that will make a code for the machine to mill it out
total hourse spend so far: 12 on just drawing the frame
expected machine hourse i gues more than 10 but dont know
pictures’s:
for more pictures:
http://www.unicyclist.com/index.php?page=gallery&g2_itemId=586703
tell me what you think of this
…i’m not sure…maybe we should start a new thread: V-frame!
your concept looks pretty good, i like also the thing of nothing welded…but to you you think there are really to “top tubes” i know those aren’t really tubes… necessary?
a point of bolted frames: the schlumpf ones are all only bolted, no welding, but i think my 28er schlumpf is less stiff than my 29er kh…maybe it’s just me!
another update with my V-project: i’ll pick it up on wedensday (made of two 29er kh frames)
You make some pictures on wednesday, otherwise it didn’t happen 