I went out and put the Uni.5 together last night and gave it a try. I’ve never tried a Coker so this was something very different for me. I started off by attempting a freemount…Didn’t happen. After grabbing ahold of the pickup bed I started orbiting the truck, accelerating at each corner. On the third trip around the Uni.5 launched on down the driveway into the dark…Smooth ride and much more controllable than I had thought it would be.
Today after work was the assembly of the Miyata air seat and some neighborhood cruising. All of the neighbors think I’m nuts except the 70 year old that crossed the US solo last year on one of those two wheeled contraptions. I did freemount once when there wasn’t a good mailbox to restart at (still nursing a wounded knee).
The Uni.5 rolls over bumps and expansion joints with ease. It is a little difficult to relax on it. Thanx to whoever keeps up the reminder to straighten the back and stay seated.
Tomorrow three or four more will give it a go. We will be meeting at the local b*** shop. Hopefully the predicted rain will hold off.
Harper-That’s one jacked up uni! thanks for the opportunity!
It’s really not difficult to freemount, but I felt a bunch of slop the
first couple of revolutions. This seemed to almost disappear as I got my
speed up and an easy relaxed ride at a good pace followed. The tire
absorbed minor bumps-no problem-(I never even bothered to put on any pads)
The long cranks are probably good for this application as they seem to
give you some control at low speeds and freemounting. I only rode the
Uni.5 for about 2 miles and not on any hills, but I would imagine it could
adapt to most any riding you’d want to do on a Coker.
Greg, If this hub turns into a marketable item at a future time, I want
one.
Doug, Thanks for being a good host, and I enjoyed meeting you and Elaine
too!
Where would you find a hill in central Oklahoma? In Kansas, we knew we lived on a hill because if you put a ball down on the street it would roll. We frequently used balls as hill detectors.
Glad you had fun. Too bad the weather didn’t hold up for you guys. I hope you forced Elaine to try it. I would have told her it’s a fast unicycle so, obviously, one could learn faster on it.