I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
regular spokes? how about other creative weight saving tricks?
Peter
Re: saving weight
----- Original Message ----- From: <nyfpet@bethel.edu> To: unicycling
<unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 11:19 PM Subject:
saving weight
> I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
> unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
regular
> spokes? how about other creative weight saving tricks?
>
I’m speaking from an experienced mountain bikers point of view here…
Ti spokes aren’t actually a really good deal because they don’t balance
the load very well. Sure, they’re strong but not as flexible as steel and
hence they transfer the load to the pressure points like the nipples and
the heads which even with Ti, can cause breakages.
You can’t beat good double butted DT steel PRO spokes which stretch in the
right places (the middle) and relieve the tension in the right places (the
ends). As far as weight loss goes, this is a passion amongst some mountain
bikers which evokes some great debate amongst the forums but in my opinion
the engine is the best place to lose weight. With a unicycle, how much
weight can you lose? They’re light enough as it
is.
All my mountain bikes/road bikes have components that I know will last for
a long time, they’re not the lightest on the market but I’m very unlikely
to break them so I’m happy.
jon.
RE: saving weight
> I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
> unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
> regular spokes? how about other creative weight saving
tricks?
The easiest thing to do is to start by reducing the weight of the rider.
You can start with your clothes (not all of them, just wear lighter
stuff), then think about cutting down on the fries and ice cream… 
Before lightening your unicycle, ask yourself how strong you want it to
be (or not be). Lightening usually equates to weakening. I would rather
ride a heavy unicycle that doesn’t break than a light one that I’m
carrying out of the woods. I love my DM ATU. It’s not real heavy, but
it’s not light either.
But I did have a lightweight track unicycle. Since it was intended only
for racing and track, it didn’t have to be as strong as an all-around uni.
It started with a narrow alloy rim and narrow tire. Less weight because
less materials. Tom Miller built the wheel with bladed spokes. Not
necessarily lighter, but an attempt at aerodynamics.
Then Tom took a Phil Wood axle, ground it down to a narrower diameter
between the flanges, and also bored a hole all the way through the center.
A hollow axle! It never broke, though it was used in two nine-mile races
on the cinder path in Chariton, Iowa and in other bumpy races.
The frame was based on a Miyata deluxe frame, very rigid but
lightweight. Above the fork crown there were only a few inches of the
original seat tube. From there up it was aluminum. An alloy clamp held
the post in place.
Tom took a splined aluminum BMX seat post and machined away the splines
from all but the top & bottom. At the top, it was heliarced to a seat
plate with a stiffening gusset, and a Miyata seat on top. I mounted a
cycle computer into the seat.
The crank arms were 125mm Idols (alloy). My pedals were very light, very
sharp rattraps with excellent grip, but high danger factor.
That was a great racing unicycle. In recent years my body was not worthy
of the technological “edge” it offered. Alas, last summer it was “lifted”
from the grandstand at the track at UNICON X in China. Stolen! The same
Chinese engineers who took it apart and studied it are now dismantling the
Lockheed Orion plane that they haven’t given back yet…
For your unicycle, which you have not described, try replacing steel with
aluminum, and heavy parts with lighter versions if available. Pedals can
be an easy place to start. Cheap pedals tend to be heavy, but you can
usually get pedals that are not only lighter, but better (replacing weight
with money). On my old Schwinns, I used to simply drill holes in the big
steel parts.
Enjoy, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com www.unicycling.com
“Are they going to use parachutes?” – my nephew Cameron, 8, watching
skydivers come out of the plane at the Beale Air Show
Re: saving weight
nyfpet@bethel.edu wrote:
>
> I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
> unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
> regular spokes? how about other creative weight saving tricks?
Most of the weight on the unicycle is on the frame and the cranks. To save
weight on the cranks, use aluminum ones, and possibly drill holes in them
if you aren’t hammering on them that much when riding. As for the frame,
using something like titanium or carbon fiber will bring that weight down.
Reinforced seats also have a lot of weight, at least if reinforced with
metal, so a reinforced seat with kevlar or carbon fiber is a lot lighter
than one with metal, or just get the newer carbon/glass fiber
replacement (although that is overbuilt with weight not being a huge
concern in the design).
The rim is also a component where weight can be reduced. An aluminum rim
will make it lighter than if a steel rim was used.
A skinnier tire is a lot lighter than a fat tire.
Kevin Gilbertson - http://www.gilby.com
Rec.Sport.Unicycling on the web - http://www.unicyclist.com/forums
Re: saving weight
One thing I would like to do, but haven’t, is to drill out a rim
and a frame.
Chris
nyfpet@bethel.edu wrote:
>
> I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
> unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
> regular spokes? how about other creative weight saving tricks?
>
> Peter
Re: saving weight
Fill the inner tube in your seat with helium. Graham W. Boyes
<nyfpet@bethel.edu> wrote in message
news:987200385.3ad77b812be92@webmail.acad.bethel.edu…
> I was wondering what ideas people have tried to save weight on their
> unicycles. Would something like titanium spokes save any weight over
regular
> spokes? how about other creative weight saving tricks?
>
> Peter
Re: saving weight
> As far as weight loss goes, this is a passion amongst some mountain
> bikers which evokes some great debate amongst the forums but in my
> opinion the engine is the best place to lose weight. With a unicycle,
> how much weight can you lose? They’re light enough as it
> is.
Actually, there is an advantage to lightening the unicycle rather than the
engine. Any weight on your body is “live”. As in it can be thrown to help
you jump higher. Any weight on your unicycle is “dead”. It can’t be
thrown, and it actually works against your live weight when you jump. So
for jumping it’s more effective to reduce dead weight than live weight.
Unfortunately, it’s probably also more expensive to do it that way.
That being said, there must be a limit somewhere. Zero weight unicycle is
probably great for trials, although it wouldn’t have momentum to plow
through things on the trail. Zero weight human, on the other hand,
wouldn’t be able to jump at all if the unicycle still weighed something.
So somewhere in the middle there must be an optimum. But certainly a high
live weight to dead weight ratio would be helpful.
Chris
Re: saving weight
Could you clarify this paragraph a bit?
> Ti spokes aren’t actually a really good deal because they don’t balance
> the load very well. Sure, they’re strong but not as flexible as steel
> and hence they transfer the load to the pressure points like the nipples
> and the heads which even with Ti, can cause breakages.
Titanium of itself has a lower modulus (not as stiff) than steel. So a
straight gage (constant thickness) Ti spoke would be less stiff than an
straight gage steel spoke. Do they not make butted Ti spokes?
Chris
Re: saving weight
----- Original Message ----- From: Chris <reed8990@uidaho.edu> To: Jon
Wyatt <samurai@samur1.demon.co.uk>
Cc: unicycling <unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001
2:13 AM Subject: Re: saving weight
> Could you clarify this paragraph a bit?
>
> > Ti spokes aren’t actually a really good deal because they don’t
> > balance
the
> > load very well. Sure, they’re strong but not as flexible as steel and
hence
> > they transfer the load to the pressure points like the nipples and the
heads
> > which even with Ti, can cause breakages.
>
> Titanium of itself has a lower modulus (not as stiff) than steel. So a
> straight gage (constant thickness) Ti spoke would be less stiff than an
> straight gage steel spoke. Do they not make butted Ti spokes?
>
I blame the drink for this. I was thinking about something completely
different at the time.
My proper answer was:- Ti spokes should only be used with brass nipples I
believe. With the additional weight of these nipples, Ti spokes will
weight very little less than double butted steel with Al nipples.
Sorry . 
jon.
Re: saving weight
----- Original Message ----- From: Chris <reed8990@uidaho.edu>
>
> That being said, there must be a limit somewhere. Zero weight unicycle
> is probably great for trials, although it wouldn’t have momentum to plow
> through things on the trail. Zero weight human, on the other hand,
> wouldn’t be able to jump at all if the unicycle still weighed something.
> So somewhere in the middle there must be an optimum. But certainly a
> high live weight to dead weight ratio would be helpful.
>
I suspect even with only a half decent unicycle you’re very close to
that optimium ratio already. I’ve not weighed my very old Pashley but I
doubt it’s more than about 6 or 7 pounds. No doubt a good Trials Uni
weighs a lot less.
That ‘unsprung weight’ you were talking about is negligable in my opinion,
but then as I said, I’m a mountain biker so lugging a variety of bikes
weighing between 22lb and 35lb up mountains probably gives me a biased
point of perspective.
jon.
Re: saving weight
On Sat, 14 Apr 2001 00:49:38 GMT, “Graham W. Boyes - TOAO.net”
<me@REMOVETHIS.toao.net> wrote:
>Fill the inner tube in your seat with helium. Graham W. Boyes
And your tyre… Please note, though, that helium leaks away much faster
than air. This leaking, while decreasing the total mass of the unicycle
even more, increases its weight (assuming that you would have less than
about 100 psi).
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “Sudan, Osama bin Laden, kill”