I never got a chance to look at it, but it appeared that there was an ultimate
wheel at last summer’s NUC in Monrovia, California which was a clear disk
(rather than plywood). It may have been the one ridden by Annie Harden in the
women’s 50m race.
Does anyone know about making an ultimate wheel this way? What material was used
and how thick was it? Besides cost, which is a factor, I am concerned about the
weight. (For all of you international types, please excuse the English
measurements which follow): I checked locally and a piece of 3/4 inch acrylic
(plexiglass) appears to be much heavier than plywood. A 4 foot by 8 foot sheet
of acrylic weighs approximately 144 pounds, so I estimate that a 24" diameter
disk would weigh approximately fourteen pounds. That would appear to be
prohibitively heavy.
Any other creative suggestions out there for constructing an ultimate wheel out
of something besides plywood?
Scott Arnold
–Scott, Jody, Vjera, Luke, Hope, Thad, and Simon Arnold
o o o o o o 7 unicyclists, Lane County, Oregon /[]\ /[]\ /[]\ /[]\ /[]\ /[]
o (Simon can finally do it)
|\ |\ |\ |\ |\ |\ /[]\ E-mail: jodya@efn.org
O O O O O o o http://www.efn.org/~jodya/jodya.html
> Any other creative suggestions out there for constructing an ultimate wheel > out of something besides plywood?
I made an ultimate wheel out of 3/4" plywood. Heavy! I cut some holes in it (for
looks). Still heavy! See a picture; mine’s at the bottom of the page, with
Uni-Cyclone-shaped holes in it. This wheel now belongs to Jack Halpern (the
Kanji-Cyclone): http://www.unicycling.com/unifoss/garage/ultimate.htm
Even if you used solid acrylic, you’d still have to add inserts to support the
pedals. It might look real cool, but I’d be worried about it getting circular
scuff marks on it, ruining the see-thru effect. I think the clear one you
described was hollow, with two sheets of clear plexiglass and some form of
internal structure.
> Just wondering- I’ve been learning how to ride an ultimate wheel using my 26" > MUni wheel with 175mm cranks (just taking off the frame). Having never seen a > specially designed one, I’m wondering if is this quite a bit harder than a > “real” ultimate wheel. I know George Peck rides a regular unicycle wheel with > the forks taken off and makes it look ridiculously easy!
George Peck makes a lot of stuff look easy. But we’ve seen you ride too, so
there’s no reason for you not to learn it as well. But I think that type of UW
is a lot harder to ride than a purpose-built one. As the pedals move farther
from the centerline of the wheel, it will have more tendency to flop to the
sides and scrape your legs. So screwing the pedals directly into the sides of
the wheel helps. Also, I think a shorter crank length makes the UW easier to
ride because it also cuts down on the “flop force”. Chris Mimkes has pretty
short “cranks” on his: http://www.unicycling.com/unifoss/garage/ultimate.htm But
don’t make 'em too short if your purpose is to ride on ice and up cliffs…
Just wondering- I’ve been learning how to ride an ultimate wheel using my 26"
MUni wheel with 175mm cranks (just taking off the frame). Having never seen a
specially designed one, I’m wondering if is this quite a bit harder than a
“real” ultimate wheel. I know George Peck rides a regular unicycle wheel with
the forks taken off and makes it look ridiculously easy!
Thanks,
Kris.
At 08:54 AM 4/21/99 -0700, you wrote: >> Any other creative suggestions out there for constructing an ultimate wheel >> out of something besides plywood? > >I made an ultimate wheel out of 3/4" plywood. Heavy! I cut some holes in it >(for looks). Still heavy! See a picture; mine’s at the bottom of the page, with >Uni-Cyclone-shaped holes in it. This wheel now belongs to Jack Halpern (the >Kanji-Cyclone): http://www.unicycling.com/unifoss/garage/ultimate.htm > >Even if you used solid acrylic, you’d still have to add inserts to support the >pedals. It might look real cool, but I’d be worried about it getting circular >scuff marks on it, ruining the see-thru effect. I think the clear one you >described was hollow, with two sheets of clear plexiglass and some form of >internal structure. > >The best ultimate wheel I’ve ridden is Russian-style. Chris Mimkes (Germany) >has one on the page above, but the lightest one I’ve ridden is this one: >http://www.unicycling.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/unicycling/picpage.pl?/cccp/pix/si >rotkinme.jpg >http://www.unicycling.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/unicycling/picpage.pl?/cccp/pix/si >rotkin.jpg These are hand-made, either from steel or a lighter material >(probably steel), and are strong enough to hold up to 13 shows a week in >Ringling Bros., where Alex performed a few years ago. > >Stay on top, > >John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com >
Kris Holm, B.Sc. Geologist, Forestry Group, EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.
Suite 550, Sun Life Plaza, 1100 Melville Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4A6
Tel:(604) 685-0275 Fax:(604) 684-6241 Email: kholm@eba.ca
