I have to rant.
I keep breaking my unicycles. and it’s making me very angry. I had to get an Alex DX-32 for my trials a few months ago, and now it has a massive flatspot. I’ve broken about 7 seatposts. both my profiles are bent. like, this is supposed to be the best stuff! is there anything out there that w’ont break? oh, and by the way, the only things i feel are solid on my uni are the front Kinport handle, and the frame (YUni)
if anyone ever had anything that needs to be tested, i’d be more than happy to. it seems like unicycling is a constant pit of money, than mostly involves keeping my trials unicycle rideable.
I have to wonder if there is anything out there which can stand up to the abuse you put your trials uni through that won’t end up weighing a ton. I mean, a solid (not hollow) steel seat post would probably survive, but could you still jump around with it?
For the issue of the seatpost, it seems as if the strongest seatposts are pressure cast where the molten steel (or aluminum) is forced through a cast that is in the shape of the seatpost. Then the cast is removed and a few more things are done to the metal, and the seatpost is done. The low end seatposts like the miyatas and schwinns are made by using an industrial shet metal roller which rolls the metal and then welds the seam to make it hold. This is much weaker. I’d also reccomend getting a KH, Summit, or a New Onza frame, because those take larger diameter seatposts which are inherently stronger. The KH and Summit seem to be 25.4mm, the New Onzas being 27.2mm. To compare, the Yuni frames use 22.2mm. For the question of flatspot rims, I’ve heard the the Onza trials rim is much stronger than the DX-32. And, the question of the Profiles? Get a spare set, and everytime you break a pair, slap the new ones on and get the other ones replaced under warranty. Hope this helps. Oh, yeah, if I ever mill out my own hub/crankset, I’ll be sure to send you one. In the meantime, make sure you roll out of drops.
Later.
Your unicycle will be ready tomorrow.
New Profile cranks too.
I can’t wait to show you the new structures for the Bedford Unicycles Factory Team.
Carl, Jeff and myself built some awesome new platforms, sandwich boards, and a 5’ high rail for you to ride.
The highest platform is now 8’. We have a new 6’
one as well. On the 8’, on your unicycle, your head is over 14’ from the ground.
Carl and Jeff and I didn’t even like standing on it.
You will like the solid non foldable sandwich boards.
by the means of what…an anti gravity belt? that guy does insane stuff.
Ryan,as much as it may suck that your Profile’s are bent,im happy to hear they havent broken.do you have any movement in the hubs single keyway? im sure folks would like to know.
Specify the dirt jumper Profile cranks next time if you didn’t already. They weigh more but are supposed to take more of a pounding for extreme people such as yourself.
Ryan, how long do you ride your Profiles before you bend them?
You’re doing hardcore drops and such, you can’t expect stuff to last. Even your Yuni frame will bend or break eventually. Simply sticking a landing isn’t the only thing to strive for, as was mentioned in an earlier post, working the technique will save equipment and your body.
I just snapped my Kooka cross country cranks at a show last Sunday. I wasn’t disappointed because I got about two years of use out of the $50 USD I paid for them. I was really happy with the Kooka’s cause they never bent, straight as an arrow until they snapped…
I think David Stockton has a Coker wheel for you (needs profile crankset, obviously).
There are two answers to is there stuff that won’t break:
Yes, we already have it. Don’t jump off buildings and it’ll last virtually forever. Up until very recently, you could not have existed. It wouldn’t have been worth it to learn your current skills as you’d go through a wheel every week or so. I wonder if you would have been interested in unicycling at all?
(for Ryan) No.
You are riding beyond what anything currently on the market is made for. This means you either have to have stuff made specially, or get used to “consuming” parts.
That said, you can follow some of the suggestions in this thread. The Dirt Jumper cranks should be an improvement. Though your frame is holding up fine, you can put “real” mountain bike seat posts on a larger-tubed frame, with rail adapter. Almost anything is stronger than a Miyata or basic KH post. For rims on non-trails wheels, you should have a Sun Doublewide. This is the only one Unicycle.com will warranty on their top-of-the-line MUnis.
its called the onza rim because onza had a special 19" version of the alex dx32 rim made for their trials bikes.
alex then started selling 19" dx32 rims under their own name.
there is however another 19" rim, made by arrow racing which has a slightly diferent design which is intended to made it stronger. i dont know how many people are using it and what results theyve had.
as for the option of having two profile crank sets, i heard a stroy of a man who had two zippo lighters for the same reason.
my profiles were starting to get a bit of play but i rotated them and now its all fine, it seems to be that the splines were deforming. i though it might be warranty time but was glad to find out otherwise. if it took a year to start rattling then ive got annother 47 years to go before all the splines wear down. by which time i suspect that ill have done enough grinds to remove the left crank.
i love the numbus / yuni frame, i wouldn`t replace it in a hurry.
if you`ve got a sponser though then your problems should be over.
you could start doing performances to raise cash.
i know some bike trials people are doing that.
build a show and get an agent.
Thanks for all the replies. As for how high i can hop, at NAUCC i hopped 90cm in competition, and 92.5cm in warm-up. this was over a bar.
Anyways, i think i’m going to look into the arrow rim. it sounds/looks pretty nice. i would like to get a doublewide, but they aren’t made in the 19" trials size.
I do roll out of drops, and my technique is devellopped, but i guess i’ll have to find a way to slow down in the air. B.A.S.E. jumping on a uni???
You’re an awesome rider…you might cheer yourself up by thinking how fortunate you are to have the skills/talent to be able to break the best stuff! Hopefully your plight will challenge someone to build even stronger stuff for you to test.
Not likely I’ll ever pull off a trick big enough to break equipment, but if I did…I’d probably frame the broken part and proudly display it.
Obviously Profile is quite happy with the strength of their stuff, and the warranty has worked for them in the past.
For them to create a whole new setup for the extremely small group of people that will break them consistently would be crazy.
What if you sent them a letter offering your services as a tester, in the event they made a new product line, you would be able to put it to the extremes of unicycling that they may have to contend with.
That is something that they may actually consider, I wonder how much stuff people give to Bender to test?
(word in the bike world is that Karpiel says he goes through $80,000 worth of parts a year)
Try to make it a very persuasive letter, and try to put all your a’postophes in the right places!
Me concur. Or just draw up plans, break about 4 of their cranksets, and send the plans in with the bent or snapped cranks. Throwing in a sheared axle might also help;) .
’
