The Uni.5 will start its cross country journey starting early next week. It should come into Nathan Hoover’s possession in Los Gatos, CA before Friday, 22 March. The (very loose) plan is for it to depart for Salt Lake City on 1 April. From there it should leave for Tulsa if Mark Stephens contacts me again or Norman, Oklahoma if not, by 8 April. It should leave there for Jackson Mississippi on 15 April and go to Marietta, Georgia on 22 April. On 29 April it will probably go to wherever in Florida Accord and his buddies are. The schedule is loose and by the time it gets across Dixie, the calendar will have changed, the stops probably being less than a week. It will then go up the eastern seaboard to Reading, PA or to the Unatics in NYC.
There may be another stop or two (David may drive it to Rochester or make some plan with Jeff Lutkus) before it goes to the TCUC in Minneapolis where it may make another long stop like the first one before it finally goes to Steve Howard in Idaho.
It will travel in a plywood crate that should require no packing material (or very little) and will be reusable. All participants should afix a sticker of some kind to the crate as a memento. Maybe they should put a sticker on the frame, too. Any spare hardware that seems useful to others may be deposited somewhere in the crate.
I took it to a workshop at North Bend today given by the Cotters and Irene Genelin. It was ridden by the Minneapolis crew and John Childs as well as several of the Panther Pride Demo Team. These were the first riders other than myself. Until that point, it had been standard free-mounted and ridden 40 miles forward by me. Now, it has been idled by Connie, ridden backward by several riders, Irene dragged the seat front and back, an 8 year old girl one-footed on it, a 13 year old boy wheel hopped and did a uni-spin, it was hopped, roll mounted, wheel walked, and jump mounted. I’ll NEVER take it someplace like that again…EVERYONE was better than me on my own machine. WAY too many people free-mounted it on the first try, too. The cool part was watching people ride it who had legs too short to ride a Coker. Those riders spent alot of time on it, too… interesting, that.
I checked the backlash again because I was concerned with my last measurement of 0.030" and it got banged around alot. Today I measured it at 0.018", less than ever. I rechecked it using a second dial indicator. Either I made a poor measurement at 14 miles or, more likely, the backlash is somewhat dependent on the position of all of the gears in the gear train. My measurements so far are:
0.020" at zero miles after assembly
0.030" at 14 miles
0.018" at 25 miles and after the workshop today
I would appreciate any participants with the ability to do so to check the gear backlash at the end of a 6" crank. Also, please check the wheel to see if it is true and whether the tire rubs the frame. If you replace the tire, I have included spare rubber gaskets that go between the frame and the frame tab connection which must necessarily be disconnected to change tires. Please feel free to put on any seat, pedals, and (aluminum only) cranks that you want. Please replace components carefully. The axle goes all the way through the hub so it can be set on a block on one side while a crank is smacked on with a plastic or wood mallet from the other without hurting it.
Ya all have fun now, ya hear?