Inspired by the “Helium in Tyre” thread I wondered what it would feel like to ride a unicycle with the tyre partly or fully inflated with water.
I imagine the increased rotational inertia of the wheel would feel very weird.
Anyone fancy sacrificing an inner tube to find out?
Perhaps someone has done this already? What about attaching weights to the rim?
//\
there’s someone at lunis who has a tiny weight attached to his rim opposite the valve, supposedly to make the wheel balanced!
Maybe if you put lots of weights in the tyre you could make a mini coker.
Joe
If the tyre was fully filled with water it would not compress, therefore it would be pretty useless for MUni!
it would be a cool act to jack a tube full of water and then ride over a bed of nails.
It would have all the momentum of the Coker, but it would still mean you’d have to pedal frantically!
A tube half filled of water just added extra resistance to forward motion.
It’s also very difficult to fill!
Leo White
Hand-pump with the air intake under water.
(Then you have to strip down the pump to dry it out!)
Leo
If you could solidify the water somehow then this could be a cheap way of adding inertia to a wheel (cheaper than lead strips in the rim anyway).
How about :
Leo
Re: Water in tyre
In article <leow.nqypm@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
leow <leow.nqypm@timelimit.unicyclist.com> writes:
>
> If you could solidify the water somehow
>
That’s funny. My first thought was “how would you keep it
from freezing in the winter?” I had visions of 50-50 glycol
tire-filling solution etc. Evidently winter is not cold
where you are.
============================================================
Gardner Buchanan <gbuchana@rogers.com>
Ottawa, ON FreeBSD: Where you want to go. Today.
Re: Water in tyre
While stranded on the hard shoulder of the information super highway leow.nqy0r@timelimit.unicyclist.com typed:
>
> A tube half filled of water just added extra resistance to forward
> motion.
>
> It’s also very difficult to fill!
Tractor tyres are full of water to add weight for traction.
You have to fill the tyre until the level of the water is
above the top of the rim. This enables the water to flow
over the top; if you don’t standing waves form and you get
a very juddery and uncontrolable ride. You still pump the
gap up with air, which has a dampening effect on the
surface of the water.
–
Trog Woolley | trog at trog hyphen oz dot demon dot co dot uk
(A Croweater back residing in Pommie Land with Linux)
Isis Astarte Diana Hecate Demeter Kali Inanna
my tube in my 24 inch street “racing” type unicycle has some liquid in it, which you can hear go around when you spin it. I’m pretty sure it’s designed to seal the small puntures as they happen, but i’m not sure. This would be cool to ride, but i c’ant see too much practical use for it. I c’ant tell the difference when i’m riding with this tube that has the sealant in the bottom.
-Ryan
Funny. I was pondering this just the other day. I wanted to increase the momentum of my wheel. It seemed to me that unless the tube was tight with water, you’d wobble too much. And it would make for a jarring ride.
What about something similar to these Lead Strips woven through the spokes out towards the wheel? Something like this would add mass but maintain your air cushioning effect.
Golfers use some stick-on lead strips on their club heads. Maybe 6 or 8 evenly spaced.
Re: Water in tyre
On Tue, 20 May 2003 15:25:42 -0500, foolish
<foolish.nqv8o@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
On Tue, 20 May 2003 15:39:25 -0500, foolish
<foolish.nqvxo@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
On Tue, 20 May 2003 16:23:46 -0500, leow
<leow.nqy0r@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
On Tue, 20 May 2003 16:39:19 -0500, leow
<leow.nqypm@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>If you could solidify the water somehow then this could be a cheap way
>of adding inertia to a wheel
Put the wheel in the freezer, then even in summer you could for some
time ride with a solid tyre. If you like the effect, replace the water
with liquid parafin which is solid below 52 deg C. But prepare
yourself for a very bumpy ride!
Hacky-sack was invented in Turkey.
Re: Water in tyre
“Memphis Mud” <Memphis.Mud.nsub1@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:Memphis.Mud.nsub1@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> What about something similar to these ‘Lead Strips’
> (http://www.chadwicksales.com/leadedwindow.htm) woven through the spokes
> out towards the wheel? Something like this would add mass but maintain
> your air cushioning effect.
> Golfers use some ‘stick-on lead strips’ (http://tinyurl.com/ccfw) on
> their club heads. Maybe 6 or 8 evenly spaced.
I think that the effect on total momentum would be very small: your
momentum is comprised of both the angular momentum of rotating parts (wheel)
and your forward momentum being a multiple of mass and velocity. No
contest really, almost all momentum in the system is due to your forward
motion. I don’t see any real point in adding weight to the uni. I
suppose it might reduce side to side wobble of the wheel slightly.
I missed, I guess, the start up thread on the subject, so don’t really know
why anyone wants to do this.
Golfers are different, the addition of lead makes a significant difference
percentage wise to the club head.
Naomi
Why would you want to increase your moment of inertia?
The heavier a flywheel is the less oscillation will be induced by pedal strokes.
This normally becomes very pronounced at racing revs 180 - 220 rpm.
Robert Mager - winner of many a 1500m at Unicons - had about 2kg of lead in his rim on his 24".
He took it out for the 100m!
Some Swiss racers have specially narrow frames and hubs, very lightweight pedals and very lightweight shoes.
Leo White
The reason I wanted to increase the inertia of the wheel is for longer road rides. Once you get that heavy wheel going, little bumps (and my sometimes jerky technique) are absorbed by the mass of the heavy wheel.
Again, once you get it going it wants to remain in that state, so its easier to keep it going. Takes less effort (once your moving). Less effort = easier, smoother.
You know, “an object in motion tends to stay in motion uless acted upon by …”
The inherently heavy Coker wheel takes advantage of this. Once you get her going, she’s not too tough to keep going. (Turning and stopping are trickier tho) To further expand the versatility of the 29er, I think I’ll try lead strips for long rides. The 29er’s lightness can work against it in this arena. It is more affected by bumps (and jerky technique), therefore wears you out adjusting to them over a long ride. If I’m going on a ride with lots of twists and stop/starts, I’ll remove the weight.
Hopefully, for a couple of $$, I can gain some Coker-like attributes. (and then lose them when not wanted).
So, I guess the question is, how much weight?
Oh no! Unicycling has now become a ‘seriosus’ competitive sport. Now comes the drugging, and the backstabbing at events trying to disqualify the oppenent who beat you.
(if it’s not there already)
Are you saying the unicycles are on drugs or the competitors ? ;¬)
The only restrictions on racing unicycles is 24.33" on wheel diameter and 125mm crank length. Adding weight to the wheel to stablise is was an example of creativity not rule-bending.
I think it took Robert 400m to get up to race speed so it’s not like your adding any stored energy to your unicycle before the start.
Leo White
Roughly…
((Weight of Coker Rim + Tyre + Tube)*36/29) - (weight of 29er Rim/Tyre/Tube)
…if you want to give your 29er the riding characteristics of a coker.
Leo White