At first, I thought the Uni.5 should be renamed “The Humiliator” or perhaps “The Humbelizer”; after prying open the crate,
removing all the lingerie (thanx, Doug), and inspecting the beast, I spirited it out to the street. A crowed of Good-Old-Boys in
buisness suits formed up like a blood clot to whitness my folly. 7, 8, 9 attempts later, I was hobbling for a few paces. “Keep try’n
son- you’s git 'et”. A bruised ego made pathetic attempts to explain my plight. A few minutes later, I teater-tottered off ; building
up a good head of speed, I raced 3/4 the way around the block before breaking behind a truck parked in the street and getting
pitched. Recovering, I retreated to the safty of my Cube.
Mounting:
The Uni.5 is not a Coker. This is a good thing, as there are plenty of Cokers around. My initial difficulty stemed from attempting
to ride it like a Coker and reflexes developed on 24" wheels. On the big wheel, I leep into the air and bair down on the chocolate
pedal. Uneven foot pressure on the .5 sent me for a ride- without the wheel. As has been mentioned, roll back isn’t an option
(unless you plan on riding it that way); staying over the axel with even foot pressure was key. The first few moments are at such slow
speed that carefull pressure is required, and I found my arms streached out on either side for balance (and was much better off for
it). After some repition, mounting issues faded. Contrary to my initial curses, the .5 IS easyer to mount than the Coker- but
requires diffirent muscles. On the 36" wheel I’ll stand well out of the sadle and use my weight to motivate the wheel; the .5 requires
that force to come from your muscle- muscles that I was not used to exerting in this fasion at this speed.
The .5 calls for a much more civilized mount, free of acrobatics- just step up. People of deminutive size, and those that would like
the extra speed without intimidation will warm to it quickly. It struck me as remarably casual- and that’s good.
The Bubble:
On the Coker, I ride in a “bubble” that exists in a wedge above the axel. As long as I stay within this bubble, all I have to worry
about is how much energy I want to pump in or bleed off. At speed, this feels wonderfull, sailing along on top, feeling slightly
disconnected from the wheel- relaxed. Slowing down, I’ll slide to the back of that bubble and apose forces that want to pitch me
forward, a position that would otherwise leave one on the ground. Riding the front of the bubble is more critical, but if you commit
to it, can be done; staying forward of the axel requires constant effort- anything less will have you on the ground in front of the
wheel.
The .5 also has this bubble. It may even describe the same arc- but it is much smaller. When you mount, you step into this bubble
of force, but because you’re so close to the axel, it’s easy to pass right through it. On the Coker, your height puts you further out at a
wider section of the wedge and is harder to miss. To some extent, you supplant the exertion of the Coker with controll on the Uni.5
Low-Mid Speed Peformance:
Although we haven’t done a side by side with the Coker, the lower mass of the .5’s wheel seems to accelerate better at low speed
(under 12mph?). While it might require a bit more force to maintain this speed, it is crisp and responsive where the Coker is
slugish. Dismounting feels less threatening around pedestrians since the time and distance airborn is minimal, lending more to the
charm of the wheel as a civil vehicle. The mass of the .5 is also easyer to controll.
The comfort felt in this speed range lead me to underestimate my rate; so accustomed had I become to the casual nature of pumping
along at this speed that it did not feel fast- rather, other cyclists seemed slow.
As you might expect, the .5 blows away the Coker on low speed turns; the ability to easly perform sharp turns or spins to navigate
sidewalks or pedestrian add a layer of convience and safty.
At the higher end of the mid-range turns can be less forgiving, and required a conciencous change of technique. The cycle seems to
pull tword the outside of the turn, and if allowed to go unchecked would try to deverge.- a strange gyroscopic effect that I wouldn’t
normaly enocounter in a wheel of this size. Compared to the Coker, the reduced bubble size was disconcerting as speed increased,
since pitch controll on the wheel was reduced. Accelerating, breaking, and maintaining pace all felt strained as I left this speed
envelope. At speeds that I normaly find the Coker increasing in comfort, the .5 began to suffer. As others have said, there is some
noteworth wheel wobble. The critical nature of the narrow bubble- of being pitched off- would prohibite me from using the .5 at
the high end of the speed range; the extra effort needed to stay in that margine would eat up my energy and … well… scare me. It
felt threatening. With the Coker, the speed ceiling is marked by wheel wobble and outragous foot speed. That said, the wheel
should be back from the shop and trued, and I’v got my armour with me today… so, whe will see just how scarry it can be!
My initial assessment is that a 24" Uni.5 has merrit unto itself, indipendant of speed records or being mated to a large wheel, and
might be well suited for mid range trips in an urban setting (It’s bigger than the Internet… someday it will replace something that is
big and expensive and durty… cities will be redesigned around it, etc). An excelent essay was writen by a previous journalist who
thought that the Uni.5’s real potential would be relized when mated to a larger (say, 29") wheel. For me this is true.
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I’m confident in my ability to apply the device Doug included… and would hate to ruin the next blokes fun. I’ll let them discover it, for themselves.
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The shorter cranks and puller came with the crate. The wheel was out of true- but not by much, and wouldn’t have been an issue on a narrower tyre or if a frame like the Sem Extra Wide had been employed.
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Most of my performance descriptions relate to the Coker- Lewis’ description of how it FEELS probably paints a better picture. Keeping this in mind, the .5 forced me to correct some bad habbits learned on other 24" wheels- like pivoting off the down foot in a turn; it forced me to maintain an even gate throughout.
More later (‘OH NO!’),
Christopher
I think otherwise, if I could get on top fast, it would be about like I feel when I mount it using the sign (the .5). Still, you are right, the sign and curb mounting is the way to go.