There were a few items I neglected to mention in the first post about
uni.5. Basically, I have been testing uni.5 under my stringent conditions
to see if it meets certain important standards of NYC riding.
-
The sushi test.
Minutes after hopping onto uni.5 for my first ride, I knew I had to get
some sushi in order to test whether a fixed gear unicycle was up to the
challenge of sushi. I have found it possible to eat sushi (fingers – no
chopsticks) while riding a Coker. Once I hit the flat bike path, I found
that the uni.5 rode smoothly enough to handle everything from the hot
wasabi to the tough-to-open packet of soy sauce. While I was not confident
enough to try this on the Brooklyn Bridge, as I have done with my Coker,
this may have been due to a too-high seat post. Perhaps another attempt
should be made. It is important to note that after eating the sushi, I had
no trouble slowing down enough to throw my trash into a bin alongside the
bike path, something ordinarily imposible from my Coker due to its height
and the shortened cranks, which make slow riding a bit trickier.
Advantage: Even -
The cell-phone test.
After finishing the sushi, I had to call my brother, John, to brag about
this incredible unicycle. We spoke for 5 minutes 12 seconds, and no UPDs
resulted from this conversation. Later calls proved that the uni.5 is a
fine unicycle for callers on the go. No attempt was made to compare uni.5
with a Coker when talking on a cell phone and riding the wrong way on
Broadway. Advantage: Undecided -
The wrong-way-in-traffic test.
Thus far, uni.5 has only made brief forays into any traffic whatsoever,
and occasionally this has been while headed in the opposite direction of
the cars, but for the most part I have been avoiding the street (both on
my Coker and on uni.5) ever since the bus hit me a few weeks ago. Uni.5
handles sidewalks better than my Coker, tho in large part this is due to
those longer cranks. Advantage: uni.5 -
The really-steep-hill test.
There is a really steep (but thankfully short) hill as one leaves the West
Side bikepath near 72nd Street. On my Coker, it took me nearly ten tries
before I could ride UP this hill with 4.3" cranks. I had to learn a novel
way of riding which relies on the extension being used like a cowboy uses
reins. I expected the uni.5 to handle this hill easily, but alas, the long
cranks have actually made it harder by slowing down my initial assault of
the incline. I nearly made it up the whole hill today, tho, on only my
second try, so there is hope. Advantage: Coker
Finally, I’ll add that I changed to an air seat today and found the
13.5-mile ride home much more comfortable. But the damage had been done.
After only 33 miles on a Viscount seat, my bottom feels like I
accidentally dropped an apple slicer in my bike shorts before riding away
from a proctologist who had run out of Vaseline just prior to my visit.
More to follow.
David “Goodness Gracious*” Stone
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
- Think about the next lyric of the song
