I’ve been riding the last 4 weeks with the buttons on both sides taped to the crank. All seems to work well for me.
I’ve ridden about 400km. 24 rides of about 16km with 4 to 5 gear up/down changes per ride. (24 hours of riding)
Just to check the rotation of the buttons, I took the tape off and rotated the buttons in the direction of forward pedalling and they rotate freely.
Maybe someone can get the official advice from Florian.
Thanks for that advice.
I’m going to rig up the intended uni-packing setup and try the different cranks 127mm and 150mm riding to/from work.
Yeah it makes sense to have the spare lower gear with 150mm crank.
I did complete the Olympus Mons Challenge 21,500m elev. gain (950km in 24 consecutive days) with the KH36 and 110mm cranks (while working 9-5 and 3days in the office). I took 1 day off work on day 23.
Correction: Actually, I would prefer riding [127mm] cranks for long periods over varied grades (with extra loads of uni-packing) rather than 150mm cranks in high gear and 1:1.
I really don’t like riding 150mm in 1:1. [But I better have 150 available for long distance tiredness.]
Just heard back from Florian, and he says the clutch could be broken. I guess the good news is that it explains the difficulty I’m having learning how to ride in high gear 
Time to unlace a hub, I guess!
Is that regarding taping the gear change buttons to the crank? If so, thanks for asking Florian.
After my last reply about this, I took off the tape from the buttons, forgot to tighten the grub screws and lost a button on the way to work…argh!
I understand how to tighten the grub screw now… I have no more spare buttons… And I’m planning on a uni-packing tour for 8 days travelling north from Sydney next Saturday.
Today, I did a trial of my partial unicycle setup. Before today, I wasn’t sure I could ride it.
Shown below is sleeping mat on front, sleeping bag on back. I trialled 2km ride with tent in backpack…and will add another bag hanging off back bar for camping stove and other gear…also will add more clothes in backpack.
I’m so happy to say I could ride the setup (127mm crank)and it felt very good. The front and back loads seemed to balance each other and the ride was not too different to my usual ride without the loads.
Is that regarding taping the gear change buttons to the crank? If so, thanks for asking Florian.
Sorry, this is a reply to my own post about slipping in high. For the record, though - I use gaffer’s tape over the buttons, with a piece of tape backwards on itself over the actual button. So it’s only sticky on the ends where it attaches to the crank. (Hope that makes sense.)
Thank you, Thank you!! That is perfect!!!
This could have saved me so much trouble when I first got the hub…it should be the first instruction along with how to tighten the grub screws…
On Day 1 of using the hub, I was so disappointed with the buttons falling out that I put a drop of thread lock glue in the button hole onto the grub screw… And it stopped the button falling out… Problem was the button was in the wrong position…
After Communications with Florian, it was either send it back to him or do what I did… Delicately cut the crank off with an angle grinder…around the attachment to the hub…
I made a sheet metal sheild around the hub to protect it. When I find the picture of the shield and hub, I’ll post it.
I just got a 3D printer for my son…
I might try to 3D print a cap using TPU plastic filament to fit over the crank and button…that would look nicer than tape.
When I lost my first button, I thought maybe the grub screw wasn’t tightened well enough. When the second fell out (and I found it a half hour later on the trail!), out came the tape
Just heard back from Florian, and he says the clutch could be broken
So, it turns out my learning problems with the slop in high gear were all mechanical, and not in the hub.
After talking with Florian I started disassembly, getting ready to de-lace the wheel and ship the hub to him for inspection. When I pulled the hub off the frame, I found aluminum shavings all over the bearing on the high gear side. And the frame tells the story:
That’s right, the slop wasn’t in the gear at all - it was bearing slippage. The recent “maybe the clutch is broken” where it slipped when I applied force was clearly the anti-slip pin working its way out of the very damaged hole.
I know the bearing caps were tightened to Florian’s specs (6 Nm), and I checked them at least twice over the last few months. So when I reassembled it I added a rubber shim in the bearing cap on that side, and decided to push it to 7 Nm.
Lo and behold, I can ride it in high gear. Not really well, but that’s just time in seat now. I went something over a mile in high without much difficulty. And the slop I was experiencing is completely gone.
I’m prepared for the new hole I drilled to fail, and if it does, I guess I’m flipping the frame (or the wheel/cranks). Aluminum is fairly soft (it’s 6061-T6 so it doesn’t really get better) and doesn’t seem ideal for this sort of detent…
I’ve had the same issue on my Flansberrium alu frame 
I think it was due to a loose bearing cap. I had tightened it again and it doesn’t seem to slip now. But it has damaged the frame, so I’m still cautious. I have submitted a few ideas to Jakob so he can think of a better system for his custom frame.
For standard frames, though, I’m not sure whether there’s a great solution. Maybe drilling the hole in the lower part of the bearing cap, so that it’s easier to replace if it get damaged.
I’d thought about that too but transmitting all that force through 2 bolts in aluminum makes my spidey senses tingle. I think adding a rubber shim over the damaged holes is probably a better solution… and I hope I never have to find out
After a bit of trial of Uni-packing setups for my G36, I am now relieved to have a setup that I am comfortable riding.
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Interestingly enough this is how the new KH frames come from the factory drilled. One bearing cap has the hole in the bottom section and it works well. Really helpful to be able to see the nub is in the right place and hasn’t moved.
Love the set up here, Norm - and seeing you get more into this on short cranks. I can’t leave 150s behind 
I recognise the dislike and fear of loosing buttons but tape that attached to the button and the crank is going to seek to have the button unwind or over tighten I think. Only mentioning it as while it seems like a nice way to stop them falling off I would worry it will make stuff worse long term.
I do think if you get the grub screw to the right torque setting it will stay put. Previously I’ve thought about finding a grub screw with a magnet end see face as that will help prevent unwinding / sheer forces - but “should” be undoable by hand.
Perhaps some kind of floating guard system that doesn’t stick to it but blocks its path to falling clean off… 
Update on 150mm cranks on my G36. Thanks so much for that advice. Yes, 150mm was really necessary for Uni-packing. Especially on hills.
I’m now riding the geared Uni to work at the office regularly (3 days a week 17km each way) I put the 110 cranks back on for all riding. And engage high gear on a 800m straight section on the approach and on the Rhodes bridge.
Extract from my Schlumpf commuting in high gear. Strava:
1:1.5 gear engaged x 3 times:
65rpm=18kph Iron Cove Bridge / Bay run
69rpm=18.7kph Lyons Rd West
80rpm=23.5kph Majors Bay rd/ Norman St
Slowly but surely learning to ride in high gear. One day it may become as intuitive a feeling as in 1:1 gear.
The D-brake adapter shows that a lot of torque can be transmitted and pedaling forces should be a fair bit lower than braking.
One needs to make sure that the bearing clamp can be seated on the backside. (To prevent this bolt from being unloaded and loosening, as well as distributing the force to both sides of the bearing clamp). Either by using some 3d printed spacers (3D gedruckte Lagerspacer für QX #rgb Gabel – QU-AX DE) or a stack of shim washers.
So today was my first ride with the new wheel. First in low gear to get a feel for the new setup. The 2.2 tire felt twitchy despite being larger than the old tire. Maybe this was due to the higher pressure (around 3.5bar, which is a lot for my standards), so I lowered it a bit, and that seemed to help some.
The kids occupied the hard court at a nearby school, so I rode to the village to do the daily shopping. When I returned home the hard court was empty, and I went there to have a go at the high gear. Getting started in second gear is indeed a challenge, but one that could be mastered. I figured I wanted to gain a certain routine in riding before going at freemounting in second gear. So I went to a soccer goal after a UPD to mount with the help of its post, thereby accidently (almost) freemounting… Since things went so well I decided to immediately start with freemounting. Didn‘t get to try and shift the thing mid-ride, though.
So how do I feel about riding the g29? Mounting it is surprisingly easy (with 150mm cranks), getting it to move is a bit of a pain and can feel a little scary at times, riding feels a bit strange, especially when going slow or taking sharp turns. My top speed was a bit slower than with 145mm cranks ungeared. The meter said 17.5km/h, but it is still adjusted to the smaller diameter of the old tire, so I was a bit faster than that. An alternative top speed was 19km/h, but I’m not 100% sure that it is correct. Anyway, I didn‘t go all in because of limited space and because I had only a helmet and gloves (wrist protection), but no knee and elbow protectors, and no crash pants to protect the hip. Personal experience learned me that the likelihood to fall when UPDing at speeds in this range is 100% 
, so I save the chase for speed for later, when I have more routine and wearing the whole safety gear.
The play of the hub is insignificant in low gear (I was starting to wonder what was all the fuss about it) but well perceivable in high gear (I understood what was all the fuss about it, but it’s manageable. It is a good indicator for the smoothness of the pedaling, so could help in getting better in this department.
The forward lean of the uni, that I also read about, wasn‘t something that I noticed. Maybe this comes when I travel at higher speeds 
. For a total time of about 10 minutes in high gear I‘m quite happy with the progress, but the thought of shifting gear mid-ride is honestly quite frightening.
For me, shifting up is just a matter of pedaling through it to “just keep moving”… but downshifting has been more unpredictable. Sometimes I nail it and sometimes my brain just doesn’t switch gears with the pedals.
I’m still struggling with distance in high gear though. My first ride in high gear was probably 3/4 mile and while it felt a little uncontrolled, it definitely worked. On every ride since my muscles want to push for the speed while my brain wants to control it. The moment I realize I’m playing with the slop in high gear I know I’m about to stop one way or another. None has been longer than about a quarter mile, many ending with me deliberately downshifting. Which still feels like a win.
It‘s a bit early for conclusions, but I‘m not sure that the hub works for me. 1:1.5 is a bit too much, I fear.
I ordered the hub before I bought a 36er, but delivery of course took a lot longer for the hub. The 36er with 165mm cranks is manageable; it only feels awkward at slow speeds and tight turns. The 29er in high gear corresponds to something in the range of 42“, but with 150mm cranks. This makes it even harder to control. Compared to the 36er it has the advantage of a lighter wheel, though.
Still, today I rode when I had to turn my head to check if there was traffic behind me, which resulted in a UPD. Since I was moving at a reasonable speed I could run it out.
The thing is that I‘m 100% convinced that I could have saved the situation in 1:1 gear. But in 1:1.5 I either didn‘t have the power to accelerate quickly enough, or I didn‘t have the mass to transfer the power to forward motion of the uni (I‘m rather light). I feel that I was kinda lifted out of the saddle, but maybe this was just the moment of a UPD when uni and rider start to go in different directions.
Can the physicians confirm or disprove the assumption that a heavier person can accelerate the uni (not the whole system of uni + rider) quicker, thereby easier regain balance, when assuming that power isn‘t the limiting factor?
Anyway, lots of training needed to master the beast, if I ever am to master it. The thought of building a g24 already crossed my mind (have a brand new Oracle 24“ frame lying around that I originally planned to get rid off), but 24“ is a bit small for a muni and in low gear it‘s a bit slow for a street uni…
That’s something I have noted as well. In particular, when riding XC on a geared uni, UPDs happen way more often in high gear than in low gear. I feel like it’s much harder to accelerate quickly enough in 1.5:1 than in 1:1 to balance.
