I’ve been unicycling for about a year on a cheap 20’’ Hadibe - wearing out 7
tires and a dozen left crank arms -and finally I decided to upgrade to
something that could “take a real hammering”: the UDC Max Traction.
Great machine, I felt great too, and that was my fault: after some days
of street trials in my village, I adventured in the woods, unfortunately
without taking with me my set of tools (I thought I would stay away just a
little). I had not planned coming back some 6 hours later, with my left
(why? why always left?) crank loose; I tried to do it one-footed, but with
not much success.
The worst thing I discovered when back home, trying to retighten the
unscrewed nut: it was the axle thread that was “screwed up” to 3 mm.,
leaving no trace of threads.
I tried to hammer the crank hard, trying to make the bolt catch the
underlying undamaged section: it seemed to work, for some minute. . .
Now, I see four ways to solve this problem:
1 - buying a new hub (but, sigh, it was only ten days old…);
2 - filing the inner square hole of the crank;
3 - tapering more the protruding square of the hub;
4 - having the threads redone smaller - even if thus I’ll need
non-standard nuts.
Some advice?
Thanks, and apologies for my broken language.
If the steel is not too hard you can cut the thread off, center the axle, drill and tap it to accept an 8mm crank bolt. This is MUCH easier to do with the right tools and without a wheel or spokes on the hub. At that point (wheel unlaced) it is more cost effective to buy a new hub.
Welcome! We hear very little from any unicyclists in Italy.
> Now, I see four ways to solve this problem:
> 1 - buying a new hub (but, sigh, it was only ten days old…);
> 2 - filing the inner square hole of the crank;
> 3 - tapering more the protruding square of the hub;
> 4 - having the threads redone smaller - even if thus I’ll need
> non-standard nuts.
The suggestion to convert to a bolt sound like an interesting one, and the
only thing that might work. You must put a lot of strain on your unicycles,
and apparently you come down harder on your left side than on your right. Of
the methods above, the safest one is #1. Filing down the taper will not give
you enough threads to tighten the nut. The way you ride, you’ll need as much
thread as possible, and you probably can’t move the crank on far enough for
this. Redoing the threads smaller will probably take away too much strength,
and you’ll only get a few more hours’ riding for your trouble.
Based on what little I know of your riding, my recommendation is to start
saving up for a profile or DM axle.
“This unicycle is made all from lightweight materials. But it uses a lot of
them.” – Cliff Cordy, describing the very heavy new prototype unicycle he
brought on the Downieville Downhill
> Welcome! We hear very little from any unicyclists in Italy.
Nor do I, exception made for a company of street performers I knew who own
two unicycles and can even ride them - more or less…
and some 15 kids of Cameri (my town, population 10’000) I’ve taught to.
But I’m actually a shy person, and maybe there are lots of unicyclist
around…Is there anybody out there? C’è qualcuno?
>
> > Now, I see four ways to solve this problem:
I saw a fifth: (Mr Harper one was too technical and tool-requesting for me)
I’ve decided to weld the (bicycle Euro) crank in place, and learning to
absorb shocks, waiting for the Profile…
and people keep saying I SAVE money wearing only a wheel at a
time…
> > but, sigh, it was only ten days old… Seems to me that the cheapest
thing to do is to send it back to where
> you bought it from; it should still be under warranty.
I’m afraid there’s no such a warranty… I bought it from unicycle.uk.com,
but I know it was my fault, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa… Amen.
We guarantee our products against any kind of manufacturing defect, however, our responsibility is limited to those items recognised as faulty by ourselves. If your product should develop such a fault within 28 days of purchase we will repair it, or exchange it for an equivalent product if available, or if you prefer, refund your money. Contact us as soon as you find a default with your item and we will then issue you a returns number so that we can track it. We will refund any shipping charges incurred in returning any faulty merchandise.
[/B]
My experience so far with the USA version of unicycle.com is that they go overboard on the warranty thingie (thingy), definitely in excess of that 28 days (30 days for unicycle.com). If I had something break in 10 days you wouldn’t catch me paying for another one. It’s what makes the inconvenience of remote purchasing work.
Also I didn’t catch in your original post: how was it your fault?
> From the unicycle.uk.com website:
>
> SATISFACTION
>
> WE GUARANTEE OUR PRODUCTS AGAINST ANY KIND OF MANUFACTURING DEFECT,
> HOWEVER, OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS LIMITED TO THOSE ITEMS RECOGNISED AS
> FAULTY BY OURSELVES.
[. . .]
I’ll ask Roger Davies about that, but I doubt …
>
> Also I didn’t catch in your original post: how was it your fault?
>
Having not handy my wrench to retighten the loosen crank arm, and
nevertheless riding the remaining 20 km. home.
End of the story: I bought a new hub, for which Roger Davies has been so
kind to make me have a big discount, plus a free crank, plus a free bottle
of Loctite, even if actually the warranty didn’t cover that kind of failure.
BTW, I succeeded with a maybe temporary solution to my stripped axle thread
problem by slightly filing down the square hole in the crank, greasing the
taper and hard hammering the crank. The nut now seems to hold, I hope at
least until I’ll receive my package.
End of the story: I bought a new hub, for which Roger Davies has been so
kind to make me have a big discount, plus a free crank, plus a free bottle
of Loctite, even if actually the warranty didn’t cover that kind of failure.
BTW, I succeeded with a maybe temporary solution to my stripped axle thread
problem by slightly filing down the square hole in the crank, greasing the
taper and hard hammering the crank. The nut now seems to hold, I hope at
least until I’ll receive my package.