Just got 5 unicycles (cheers Roger, unicycle.uk.com) for a community project.
Does anyone know a secure, but relatively cheap means to attach 5 unicycles to a brick wall?
Ideally, they’d also look nice (ie a display); it’s feasable to take a pedal off one side to have them flush with the wall, but otherwise kept intact.
To sum up, secure, fairly cheap, wall fittings.
Hope someone has an idea.
Dave.
How about putting one long steel rod through the pedal holes of all the unis and lean them against the wall? One end of the rod could have a loop and in the other one you could drill a hole where you put a padlock.
don’t know if they have them in the UK, but i’ve stored my stateside unicycle on a two pronged bike rack. someting like this. but much cheaper $20 or so from the hardware store. the two prongs hold the seat and stand theunicycle up very nicely. with a drill and a masonry bit and some screws/nails that hold in brick you should be set.
Re: securing unicycles advice needed
markf wrote:
> don’t know if they have them in the UK, but i’ve stored my stateside
> unicycle on a two pronged bike rack. ‘someting like this.’
> (http://www.bikeracks.com/html/wara.html) but much cheaper $20 or so
> from the hardware store. the two prongs hold the seat and stand
> theunicycle up very nicely. with a drill and a masonry bit and some
> screws/nails that hold in brick you should be set.
I’ve never seen exactly that, but my local B&Q has a good selection of
big hooks. In my workshop I have two bikes hanging on a two-pronged
rack designed for that purpose. My Coker is hanging on 2 big hooks, my
Muni is hanging on 2 slightly smaller hooks and I have an additional 3
hooks that I use for spare wheels, rims and tyres. (I also have 2
bikes, 2 trailers, one unicycle, 2 ultimate wheels and DD’s trike
standing round the edges of the room, because I’ve run out of space on
the walls).
How much use they may be may depend upon what the OP actually meant by
“secure”. Dave, do you mean “so that they won’t fall off” or “so that
they won’t be stolen”?
If the latter, how much of a theft deterrent do you need? Would it be
enough to simply run a cable through the wheels of all 5 yikes?
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
To clarify: -
by secure I mean so they can’t easily be stolen.
a further thing is that they’re going to be hung on a community centre wall, and they have to look kind of ‘displayed’ i.e. nice.
the last resort is to use hooks to hang the unis on the wall, then run a chaim through the wheels and secure, probably with some kind of eye bolt.
we were actually wanting originally to find some form of ‘curved hasp’ for each uni that could be locked by padlocks; however, extensive trudging round sheffields DIY stores has not yielded anything.
One thing I am going to look into is if a local metal worker can make something custom.
Cheers for the ideas 
what I could use is any advice on drilling and mounting stuff into brick walls, as I’ve never actually done it- for example, do I need to use those plastic filler plugs?
attaching things to brick/concrete isn’t hard. you just have to realize its different than wood. You’ll need a good power drill with a masonry bit, or if you need to make really really big holes, a tool called a hammer drill. It can make whole in concrete big enough for 1/2 inch rebar. fun to use for short periods of time. you’d also need masonry screws, or a nail-like device called a “grip-con”, the little plastic thing(a molly bolt) isn’t really needed, nor would it do you much good. The best way to figure out what you need for your mounts would be to take one of them into a hardware store and ask the sales person “i’m gonna be attaching 5 of these to a brick wall, what’s the best way to do that?” and i’m sure they’ll be even more helpful that i was.
you also might want to be quite careful, which ever way you’re doing it, if it’s small brown bricks you’ll want to drill a small hole then go larger till you get your desired width, because they’re less then an inch thick because the inside of the brick us usually hollow, an interesting idea would to attach a bike rack (usually for a truck) onto the wall, then put the uni’s horizontal and hook a lock around one side of the fork, the stem up to the seat, and through the spokes in the wheel and make it reletively tight, being sure not to put too much pressure on the wheel :), just might look kool, lol
Re: securing unicycles advice needed
“onewheeldave” <onewheeldave@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> we were actually wanting originally to find some form of ‘curved hasp’
> for each uni that could be locked by padlocks; however, extensive
> trudging round sheffields DIY stores has not yielded anything.
Instead of a curved hasp, why not use flat hasps and cut notches big
enough to hold the seatpost in a piece of wood? The hasp has to be at
least 4" from the wall to allow for the width of the seat, so you need
the wood anyway. I’d use a substantial piece of lumber like a 4"x4"
(10x10cm), but even then you’ll have to shim it out from the wall
another inch or so.
Ken
Re: securing unicycles advice needed
“goldenchicken” <goldenchicken@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>
wrote in message
news:goldenchicken.1fk6p1@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> How about putting one long steel rod through the pedal holes of all the
> unis and lean them against the wall? One end of the rod could have a
> loop and in the other one you could drill a hole where you put a
> padlock.
>
and get rid of any quick release seat clamps, or find another way to secure
the seats.
Nao
When i’m out shopping, or whatever, i usualy takes my unicycle (20" trainer) with me, just to be able to get around in a stylish way.
Anyway, I just can’t take my uni with me everywhere i go, and i don’t feel like leaving it with no lock at all.
What kind of lock should i use? Is the regular U-locks good?
They might be a bit hard to carry around, and a flexible (and cheaper) lock would be a bit better, but is it secure?
I find those locks that look like this
_
U
aren’t very sturdy, i’ve heard of ppl getting them broken and stuff stolen, i’d go with one of those coiled cable bike locks, i’ve used em forever, only gotten my seat stolen… 
If your buying U locks keep in mind older Kryptonite and other locks that use a round key to open them can be opened in with a ball point pen. Be sure to get a newer style one that is not affected by this comprimise in security.
Mike
Re: securing unicycles advice needed
“Checkernuts” <Checkernuts@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> If your buying U locks keep in mind older Kryptonite and other locks
> that use a round key to open them can be opened in with a ball point
> pen. Be sure to get a newer style one that is not affected by this
> comprimise in security.
Cylindrical tumblers aren’t the problem - Kryptonite just made a major
blunder in a recent model by exposing the inside of the latching
mechanism. Other models don’t suffer from that problem.
Ken
It might be worth trying a chandlers / boat bits shop, as they have all manner of funny fixings. Also, there are fixing specialists who make this sort of thing. Another thing to look at is motorcycle locks / anchors there are all manner of ways of fixing them to floors, there may be something you can use for a uni.
Joe
Re: Re: securing unicycles advice needed
The problem was not just limited to Kryptonite locks though, I’ve seen a handful of other brands who used the same locking mechenisims, I personally have opened them with a pen as well. This blunder was also not limited to recent models of locks, my roomate has a 10 year old Kryptonite lock that was just as easy to open up as ones that were a month old.
I am interested into seeing what kind of locks you are refering to that use this locking style that are not comprimised. I know Vending locks that use round keys that are alegedly not affected, but I do not know about any bike locks out there that use a cylindrical key and could not be opened with ease.
Mike
Re: Re: Re: securing unicycles advice needed
Not all locks that use the round key are susceptible to being unlocked by a Bic pen. It depends on how the lock was made. Things like stronger springs in the tumblers and other fixes can prevent the Bic pen trick from working.
The Master Lock Cuff Locks have a round key and reportedly cannot be opened with the Bic pen trick. So not all locks with a round key are affected.
It’s not just some of the Kryptonite locks that had/have this problem. Other locks like those used to lock laptop computers to a desk can also be compromised with a Bic pen.
It all sucks because it adds a lot of uncertainty about how secure various locks are that use those round keys. It’s hard to know if you’ve got a good lock or a bad lock.
For those unfamiliar with the situation just Google on “kryptonite bic pen lock” for the scoop.
Re: securing unicycles advice needed
“Checkernuts” <Checkernuts@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> The problem was not just limited to Kryptonite locks though, I’ve seen a
> handful of other brands who used the same locking mechenisims, I
> personally have opened them with a pen as well.
Thanks, Checkernuts. I misunderstood the vulnerabilities. For what
it’s worth, I can’t open either my Kryptonite or Avenir locks using
the body of a pen as a lockpick.
Ken
Chew on the end of the pen for a bit, also the white bic ones seem to work the best, probably because they are the cheapiest. All you need to do is jam the pen into the lock and with pressure twist, Bingo bango you have yourself an open lock.
As far as the anchors I was looking at the kryptonite website and they have some that may be usefull for your project dave.
Personally I would put up hooks that you can hang the frames off of and then use a short length of cable to go through the frame and anchor that to the wall. If they are in a fairly secure place and you dont need to worry about people comming in with cutters you can use a fairly thin and not so noticable cable to lock them with.
The U-Locks are really not very secure, and it’s a structural issue. I lost the key to a U lock once, with my bike still locked in. All I had to do was set up the lock at the correct angle and bash it with a rock a few times before the metal pin inside busted and it opened.