It’s really inspirational reading these recent threads of long distance riding with the schlumpf hub.
I just registered for the Sydney to Summit cycle event. An unsupported multi-day ride from Sydney Opera House to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko. I plan to ride the shortest route about 550km. The summit is only 2228m high but the total elev gain will be 6000m. I plan to do it in 9 days taking tent sleeping and cooking gear etc.
After 3 months, I have been getting more comfortable with controlling my 110 cranks with high gear riding on my G36 - only getting up to 24kph on perfect conditions/usually 18kph other times, no faster than 110 in low gear. It does feel really nice switching to high gear just to feel a “rest” from high cadence pedalling.
On the SydneytoSummit, I will take KH110/127 cranks as well as KH127/150 which I used last August riding 400km in 8 days.
These stats are pretty tame compared to the incredible pace of Aurelian in his US tour after Unicon. I just do not know you can maintain the high cadences. I figure about 150 RPM plus.
That looks like a really cool trip. Will you be in full autonomy or will you be allowed to stay at people’s places ?
I feel like that is too short. I am thinking about getting a G36 (not right now mostly because of money), and I don’t think that going below 125 is a good idea (125 is already on the short range). Just as a reminder, using the total gear ratio, a G36/125 is 5.65, a G29/115 (basically what I use) is 4.95 and a 29/75 (the shortest most road racers dare to use) is 4.91, and a 36/110 is 4.16.
All that to say that I think you might go faster with longer cranks (at least in unperfect conditions).
Your stats might seem tame compared to what I did, but it is definitely not compared to what most (99.99% of the population at least) people could do. Even among unicyclists it is already a lot.
And even if my stats are pretty wild (you are right, around 150 RPM average), you need to remember that I have a custom unicycle which allows me to have basically nothing on my back, and that I took only what I needed (2 light t-shirts, one sweater, 3 bike shirts, 2 pairs of underpants and 2 shorts, among with a light stove, an ultralight hammock and tarp and a really light sleeping bag. I also had 2 batteries for my lights that allowed me to recharge my phone once or twice, a towel and a knife and a spoon.)
Hi Aurelien,
Thanks for your supportive words.
I really appreciate it.
I really prefer to ride the at 1:1 with 110 cranks, even for hill climbing so I just accept I will ride 1:1.5 gear with 110 cranks with the schlumf. I am happy to not go as fast in 110 and enjoy the buttery smooth" feeling of the schlumpf hub.
I’ll switch to 127 cranks during the tour to Kosciuzko - probably KH150/127 spirits. I’ll carry the KH127/110 as well.
The Sydney to Summit event has a “Grand Finish” date of Sat March 1 at the summit of Mt Kosciuszko. The route is actually released 2 weeks before the event. It is actually 680km and 13,000m off road, but I discussed with the organiser that I’m going down the freeways(nice wide shoulders). I actually got some “warm showers.org” hosts organised.
The distances and elevation and timeframe is near my limits, but I hope I can enjoy meeting the other finishers at the summit
Interestingly the high gear with 150 mm felt much harder than ungeared 100 mm which would be the same gain ratio. I guess this partly comes down to the fact that i have tuned my legs for relatively light forces at high rpms. Really just meaning that I am a bit to weak for such a gear, for now.
I can see pretty clearly that i am not even close to neither the top- nor the average speed that is achievable. The top speed only reaching just over 30 km/h.
After a bit of practice i am with some level of confidence able to change gear while riding slowly.
Due to the sharper angle of the knee when backpedaling on longer cranks I did actually get some knee pain in low gear. In addition I cant keep a high cadence on such long cranks in low gear, would it be advantageous to use slightly shorter cranks like 142 or 138 mm? (asuming vcx cranks could be used)
Or should i just get ripped so that i can keep riding in high gear?
I feel that this is just the right amount if terrifying, many fun rides to come!
My new g24 is getting good mileage - I stepped down from a g29 to a g24 to practice riding in high gear on something more manageable. I can mount and ride the g24, but not the g29. I still can’t ride in high for a lot of distance but I’m putting time in.
I find that riding in high I have to keep putting a lot of force on the cranks to keep the wheel rolling well. It’s messing with my balance or, more likely, the 40%-or-whatever of my balance that’s on my feet is having trouble adjusting to both the slower cadence and the amount of force I need to keep pushing.
Still, it’s progress - I clocked in over 10.5 mph for a good stretch early last week, which is what I’d expect when I’m riding about 7 mph in low. Today’s runs in high were more like 8.5 and I could really feel the terrible things the slow cadence was doing to my balance. I’m trying to decide how I’m going to spend my time working on high gear on the g24 when I’m also trying to beat my distance every month this year over last year…
Many times, I’ve ridden for a bit in high gear and then, after shifting back down, marveled at how easy it felt. Easier than before I shifted up. A pretty cool bit of my brain “shifting gears” itself, having gotten used to using more force.
It took until today to realize that might be that I’m not putting grease in the hub often enough; and that riding in high is shifting around the grease in the hub itself. Maybe it’s really better lubricated.
I’m still a beginner at schlumpfing. Modest mileage in second gear, not able to shift gear while pedalling (not even tried yet).
When I ride in 1:1 after riding in high gear for a while, I have a hard time just to ride somewhat reasonably. My legs feel like they move all over the place.
Yesterday I rode in second gear for the first time after quite some time (my „new“ uni got a lot of my attention…) and decided that I shall learn to shift gear on the go in the not too distant future. And I thought to prepare myself for this step it would probably be a good idea to ride a bit in second gear, stop, shift, ride in first gear for a moment, stop, shift, …. just to get my legs accustomed to both situations. The surprise when shifting on the go will then hopefully be easier to deal with.
After riding my Shlumpf in low gear with 100mm cranks for the last couple of weeks, I’m feeling more confident using 125mm in high gear and low gear for long distance rides. 40km (400m elev gain.) this past weekend.
I was riding with 110mm in high gear over the last year, but only on long slight downhills on bike paths so not that often during rides.
I’d set myself a distance goal for this month, so spent very little time on high gear riding in favor of putting in miles on my 29er - but I’m almost at my mileage goal, so I’m back to training in high gear on the g24. Today’s goal was to just ride as much as I could in high gear at relatively low cadence - I’ve started climbing more out-of-seat in general, and that’s worked well for high gear too.
About 35 minutes of riding today, almost all of it in high gear on a relatively crowded bike trail. Yeah I had a dozen-ish minor UPDs, mostly when something pulled my attention away. Can’t wait to get back on it now…
I had a couple minor revelations while riding my g24 today.
First - I wound up freewheeling for a couple full rotations of the tire. My first coasting, unintentionally. Shift. Pedal. “Okay, I’m going to lose balance because the hub is freewheeling for whatever reason. I’ll just take my feet off the pedals and stand up on the ground. Huh, I’m balanced and still rolling. I wonder how I’ll get down. I wonder how long it’ll take for me to lose balance. Oh. Not long at all.”
I’ve wound up freewheeling after upshifting before, mostly on this g24 - but I think I finally understand it. If the pedals are rotating at the same speed as the tire, the hub’s clutch pins don’t have opportunity to engage. So I’ve been doing this more regularly on the g24 just because of the geometry and the conditions when I decide to upshift. A nice realization that I should wait for higher cadence or shift, stand, and stop pushing the pedals until they start pushing me.
Second - the tire on my g24 was pretty low (under 20 psi). I’ve been riding it that way for a few weeks, also unintentionally. I inflated it back up to 40 psi today (seems to be about where I ride most of my unis). It’s a Vee 24x2.8 Crown Gem, a nice chunky tire - and my balance envelope was noticeably smaller in high gear after bumping up the pressure. Again, makes sense after thinking about it, but I’d never considered lowering the tire pressure to be a learning tool.
