I was out riding today, felt something shifting as I pedaled and after a while, the pedal plopped off. It had pretty well stripped all the threads out of the crank on my 20" Torker LX.
So, question. Does this use the same crank arms as any bicycles? (It’s a non-splined, square taper hub, I think). Can I get new ones at the local bike shop? Or is it an oddball unicycle item? Do they make steel ones, for that matter?
I’m supposed to be in a parade on Friday, so i need to get something whipped up pretty quick, so I’d like to avoid mail order.
It depends –*if the messed up crank is a left-handed one then you’d be in luck… any normal bike crank would work there.
If you need to replace the right-handed crank (because it broke or just so it would match with the replaced left one) then things would be more difficult. Tandems use right-handed cranks - so their not unheard of for bikes, but I probably not easy to find.
Hmm, did have had the cranks on backwards? You gotta to make sure that the crank/pedal with an “L” on it is on the left - and likewise for the right. Otherwise, this could happen again.
We are talking about a LX here right, Uberhacker sounds like your thinking of the tx model? well anyway my brother stripped out his crank on his lx and the bike shop had a box full of random cranks the pair cost us $18 just go to your LBS and ask.
I am new to Uni, but an old hand at bicycles. The front, or “captains” crankset on many tandems has the chain on the left side, with a right side crank arm without a spider. What you would be looking for is a Tandem Front Right Side Crank arm in the appropriate length if you need to replace the right side. I included the link just as an example. Any bike shop that deals in Tandems should have this part.
Any normal left side crank arm should work for the left side of a uni (in the right length).
Your best bet is to just order some unicycle cranks from unicycle.com or another unicycle supplier.
They’re relatively inexpensive, and even if a bike shop had cranks threaded correctly for a unicycle, they’d very likely be much too long. Your LX cranks are probably 152 or 127mm and bike cranks that short are very rare.
You are right that tandem cranks are generally far too long; however, they do make child adaptors which have cranks between 125mm and 150mm, also with the chain on left. Again these crank arms should be available at a good LBS that deals in tandems.
I also agree that you will most likely get the cranks cheaper from UDC. The original post mentioned that they would like to source the parts locally if possible, and this is just a possibility.
It sounds like both had the wheel mounted backwards w/ the left crank on the right.
Lots of riding backwards can also cause this. I often carry a cressent wrench if I think I’ll be doing any backwards riding, and regularly check tightness of the pedals.
“It sounds like both had the wheel mounted backwards w/ the left crank on the right.”
Well, I can’t believe it, but you’re exactly right. I just went and checked. I know I looked at the “L” and “R” when I was putting it together specifically so I’d get it right. Maybe it was upside down when I did. I changed the tire on the old unicycle two or three weeks ago, and I must have gotten it swapped around then, as it’s been doing good for 7 months or so.
That makes me feel a little bit better about the quality of the things.
I’ll go ahead and put my old right crank on the new unicycle and order a replacement set for the old one and figure that’ll do it.
Makes me feel just a wee bit stupid there. Oh well.
Don’t replace them w/ LX cranks, they’re pretty week.
These are a bit stronger. These Prowheel cranks are among the strongest cotterless cranks you can get.
The first cranks would be better for freestyle and general riding.
The PW ones splay out more, giving more stability at slow to moderate speeds and more wobble at high speeds. Some like that in cranks for trials & Muni, others don’t.
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I noticed on the CX we have, that the cranks on it are steel (I assume that’s the “Torker Cotterless Cranks” on the webpage?) and then they also have the United crank arms that are steel. Would the steel ones be stronger than the high-quality alloy? I’m not too concerned about the weight. And I would prefer cranks that didn’t sweep out- I have problems with severe wheel weaving when going up grades, and I assume that would make it worse.
Also, it mentions on the webpage that you can use Coker crank arms, and says see them, but I don’t see a listing for them.
And I did get the crank arm swapped out just now, so hopefully, I’m good to go again.
The LX cranks are fine. I’ve put TONS of miles on them with my 36er, and they hold up great. They’re totally appropriate for the LX, which isn’t a unicycle you’d use for lots of hops and drops anyways.
Pro Wheels are good too, but I don’t think any stronger. I’ve bent a pair.
^^^^^^^^^^
New LX cranks may be fine, but I’ve heard the Qu-Ax cranks are stronger, and the PW even stronger.
I had a pair of United steel cranks on my 20. They were really cheap and the extra weight wasn’t too noticeable when on the uni. But I hated how they rode.
They would flex a bit and then rebound suddenly on every bump and sometimes from pedaling. They would not really want to go where I wanted to and when I hit a bump it’d throw me to one side or another.
My Qu-Ax cranks were like driving a compact car w/ nice crisp handling, and the steel ones was like driving a jacked up Jeep w/ worn out mushy suspension and too much rebound.
