Has anyone ridden both a Coker with 125’s and 150’s, plus a 29-er with 125’s and 150’s?
If so, can you offer a comparison between 29-er with 125’s and coker with 150’s- in terms of wheel momentum (pendulum) and control vs speed- would you say they’re equivalent?
(I’ve not ridden a coker, but have done lots on 29-ers with both crank lengths)
Has anyone ridden both a Coker with 125’s and 150’s, plus a 29-er with 125’s and 150’s?
If so, can you offer a comparison between 29-er with 125’s and coker with 150’s- in terms of wheel momentum (pendulum) and control vs speed- would you say they’re equivalent?
(I’ve not ridden a coker, but have done lots on 29-ers with both crank lengths)
I have but can’t compare: main reason is that my 29er is extremely light and my Coker rather heavy. So more inertia with Coker.
My 2 cents …
I ride my new Coker Big One with 150’s and only on flat roads with very little traffic. I am not a strong rider and I don’t Coker enough to get good at it. To me, high speed on a big unicycle is real scary. I am not interested in broken bones or massive road rash.
Call me chicken.
They are a bit different - the coker feels a bit heavier. My coker is a stonking heavy original one though - I think the lighter newer wheels feel a lot closer to a 29er. In terms of what you can ride though, quite similar, and I found I got to similar speeds when I was riding 29er with 125s to 36 with 150s.
Joe
Those 150s on Petes Schulmpf eventually broke. I took the opportunity to change them for 125s, and contrary to the gist of this thread, I found them a great improvement. I know I was generally getting fitter at the time, but I found them just as easy for hills as the 150s were.
STM
Yeah it’s just as easy to walk the unicycle up the hill no matter what cranks you have!
Joe
The rotating mass is much greater on a 36er, even only considering the tire, than a 29er. I have no difficulties with any crank length on the 29er.
I’ve KH29ed many miles, both off and on-road, with 165s (funny how long that seems now), many miles with 150s, a few miles with 137s (love this length), and many miles with 125s. The wheel is light, easy to spin, and the 29" uni is easy (for me) to mount no matter what cranks I’m using. The shorter cranks seem to work fine for on or off-road.
Long uphills may be an exception. On long climbs I’ve done (Whiteface: 3500 ft climb over 8 miles; Equinox: 3200 ft climb over 5.4 miles), the 165s give me a big lever to spin the wheel, makes it feel easy to pedal, even when I’m totally hammered. I know Tom from the SF bay area (Tholub) has done Diablo (similar to Whiteface) on a 29er/125s and was happy with his setup. I’m probably going to try shorter cranks on Whiteface this year.
To sum up…on the ungeared 29er, I like the 125s best on-road (never tried shorter), the 137s for trails. Maybe 150s for big climbs.
But, at the suggestion of Rolandisimo, on my KH29/Schlumpf I set the pedals in the 150 position, for added power in, as Harper said, small disruptions. Also, in 1:1.5, the possible seat discomfort of long cranks is mitigated by slower revs.
Spencer - was this on a 29er?
Related to this discussion, I used my new GPS watch to quantify the effects of crank size and gearing on speed as reported in this new thread.
How true! 
I ride 150’s on my coker as well… And it’s ideal for all the hills in town, and great in the trails. There also decent for some trials on the big wheel.
chicken.
Dang…looks like a great ride and of course I’m always up for events that have me puking by the end, but unfortunately this is the same weekend as the annual MS ride I do in Seattle. Gotta do my part there.
I want a century this year. I’m thinking about the Seattle to Portland ride in mid-July, but it’s back-to-back centuries, and I only [I]really[I] need one. Plus my June is cranked at work, might be hard to get ready.
What about a self-planned, self-supported Upstate NY century in late September? You’ll be in such good shape from the NYC ride that knocking off a second cent in the month should be totally doable. Around Cayuga Lake perhaps?
I love my 114’s even for climbing I did a 32 mile ride up and down two of the steepest climbs in Portland Rocky Butte(612’ with a 5.4% grade) and Mt.Tabor(643 ft with a .15% to 8.4% grade) and had no problems and was clocked by a fellow cyclist who trusts his computer with his life at 28mph for the majority of the downhill of Rocky Butte. YAY SHORT CRANKS! haha
Wow, Tim Morin! Howzeet goin’ mon?
Yes. It was Petes (Mr Boogiejuice’s mate), but since I’ve had it I have changed the cranks, pedals, frame, seatpost, seat, tyre and brake. But it’s still got the same 29" rim 
Oh, and Joe… 
STM
Oh well. Yes, of course let us know when you’ll be here and we’ll get something together!
Ducktape that is some impressive speed, but as I care for my limbs, I’m sticking with 125s for now. 
I care for my limbs too haha with a proper spin technique it’s not even that hard to get those speeds comfortably. I didn’t know until the cyclist told me that I was spinning any faster than 19mph that’s how smooth it felt.
My theory on that is that shorter cranks force you to push harder on the pedals which lifts you slightly from the saddle. So you support more of your weight with your legs and less on the saddle.
But that theory doesn’t make as much sense for flat riding cause when riding flat terrain it feels like I have just as much weight on the saddle with shorter cranks as with longer cranks.