When unicycling in the rain or through large puddles, I always get especially soaked on the backside of my thighs from water carried up by the wheel. This really sucks when you’re on your way to class and the ground is covered with slush (as with today).
The obvious remedy (besides just walking to class) is to get a splash guard. Has anyone tried this? Any brands/types that work especially well with unicycles?
Re: Splash guards
This from a guy who signs himself “Hell on Wheel”!
Dear Hogriders.com, I often find that when I arrive at the Chapter meeting on my Harley Davidson, my beard has been quite badly tangled by the wind. What hair care products do other Hells Angels use to deal with this annoying problem?
haar haar.
I concur! Brilliant!
i also wounder if there is such a thing for uni’s if any one knows please post.
Some of those funky kickstands (the bipod ones) might look pretty cool on a uni. And unlike the monopod stands, they might work. Of course that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a silly idea.
As for the mudguards, I’d also be interested if someone finds a solution.
I think you just want a crud guard or similar. Any shop that sells mountain bikes will sell them for a tenner or so. They clip on to the seatpost for the rear versions, which should work fine for a unicycle. I know people have them on cokers.
Joe
as far as I know françois (fme) had one
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/MUNI-fr/aai
but presently he is not rolling with it anymore
(he thinks mud is much more trendy)
ask him anyway
bear
There seem to be two problems here. First, the general problem of a unicyclist riding in the mud and rain, and getting a strip of water or mud up his/her back. Second, the more general splashing on the legs which can be a problem if you’re riding in normal clothes and want to arrive looking half way civilized.
The stripe up the back phenomenon can be addressed by fitting a seatpost type mudguard - several are available for mountainbikes, so it’s just a case of finding one which suits. Of course, if you’re riding hard muni/xc then you might want the stripe as a badge of achievement…
As for the splashes on the legs, although I mocked H-o-W for the question, because of the incongruity of the question coming from someone with such a name, it is a real problem. Assuming that “not riding” is the simplest but LEAST satisfactory answer, then what can we do?
I’ve often daydreamed about a new category of unicycle. I don’t know what we’d call it… something like a low rider or hotrod? It would have a deep fender (over here we’d say mudguard) covering at least the top half of the wheel, and flared like the fenders on an old Indian motorcycle. The tyre would have a white wall, and the headlight would be in a chromed nacelle mounted on the front of the fender.
OK, so it probably isn’t going to happen. But the idea of a deep-sided full mudguard isn’t that daft. Such adevice would be easy to construct from some sort of lightweight plastic sheeting, welded, bonded or glued into a unit, and attached to the fork crown with a suitable bracket.
An additional advantage would be that it would be a great place to apply graphics. Not only would it be a practical development for commuter unicyclists, but it could be adapted to make a uni (even) more eye catching for those who choose to use their unicycles in performances. I’ll see if I can cobble together a picture to show you my idea.
Here it is. I’m no artist, and I have no CAD package, but it gives the general shape of my idea.
lowrideruni.bmp (162 KB)
interesting…
I don’t know how good that would be for muni, but would be cool for commuting in the rain!
Joe,
Some of those look like they’d be perfect! What I noticed as I searched around was that most splash guards angle down before they begin to follow the curve of the wheel. This is because of the way they attach to the bike. But you don’t need this “extension” on a unicycle, much better if it begins curving right where it attaches.
That probably made no sense, so a good example of what I’m talking about is on page 18 of the link posted by mgrant. The picture on the right is the “extension” kind (bad for unicycles). The one on the left begins curving right where it attaches (much better suited for unis). Strange that I hadn’t come across any like that while searching around (except for those goofy chrome cruiser-style ones).
Thanks mgrant, I’m gonna see if my LBS has anything like that. (edit- And if not, I’m gonna beat up the sales clerk and trash the place, 'cause no one messes with the Hell on Wheel gang! Is that better?)
-Frank
You probably want a front mudgurad, coz there designed to go around a wheel directly under the place where they mount (ie the fork, like a unicycle), whereas the back ones are designed for a wheel which is behind where they mount, so they have to be centred around a point some way back from the bracket. The problem is that a front mudguard might not be too easy to fit. They generally clip to the bracket which holds the reflector, which we don’t have. If you wre really serious you could probably get one of the brackets and drill a hole through your frame, but that’s be a bit annoying if you decided you didn’t like the mudguard.
John
you can get front mudguards for bikes, that attachto the inside of the steerer tube of the fork, this could be used on a unicycle in theory, in this case it would attach to the seat tube, inside it at the bottom, where the hole is. Dont know how well it would work but in theor it should be quite good,
example of one on a bike fork…
I don’t think you do want a front mudguard. I still think you need a back one.
If you do want a front one though, SKS make ones that go in the bottom of the seat tube (in the steerer tube on a bike).
The reason I think this is because the front mudguards only cover a little bit of the top of the wheel, I reckon all they’d stop happening is water hitting the bottom of your seat. The back wheel one wouldn’t stop that, but would hopefully stop the water that wasn’t going to hit the seat.
By the way, in the US if anyone is getting confused and wants to buy one from a bikeshop, they’re called fenders.
Joe
the one’s that go on the steerer wouldn’t be much good, they do look a bit short. They’re mainly designeds for downhill and stuff to keep mud out of your face (I think), but don’t give the coverage of the wheel that others do. You can get plastic front one’s that go most of the way down, but they’d be difficult to mount. A combination of zip ties and gaffer tape might do the job.
John
The Topeak looks like it would do the job well…
Here it is…
Unfortunately, the weather’s suppose to be beautiful for the next week or so, so I won’t be able to test it out for a while.
edit: the picture I attached was huge, I’ll post it in the gallery and link to it here. Sorry.
Ok, here it is: http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuv17
Theres about half an inch of clearance between the back half and the tire. It’s just about wide enough to cover the gazz’s girth. I didn’t notice any rubbing sounds during my preliminary test ride, and like I said, there’s no rain at all in the weekly forcast so I can’t really test it out for a while (unless I hose down the street). So far I’m pretty happy with it!
