Great post, @johnfoss! I figured there was a very high likelihood that you still owned and rode an original Coker in one or more of their forms. There was a separate discussion on unicycle (36ers, particularly) purists that evolved as a side discussion to a post in which I was trying to get an idea how many 36er owners ride without brakes or handlebars (what I called a “purist”). In that thread (How many 36er "Purists" on this forum?) I had expanded the notion of a " 36er purist" being only a Coker rider to the more general idea of a 36er purist being any rider of a 36er unicycle that consists solely of the original set of components typically found on commonly accepted mainstream, basic unicycles from the past to the present. Of course, the idea I was putting forth is nothing new. I was just reiterating my view which is the same view as many other riders throughout the ages, but certainly not all and probably not even most current riders (on the forum at least). You can only imagine where this discussion lead if you haven’t already read the thread! In any case, AI seemed to validate my conception of a 36er purist, but did remind me that once I get my 36er guni built, I will no longer be a purist when riding it. Given how many unicycles you have, @johnfoss, I would imagine you are both a purist and not a purist, depending upon what you choose to ride on any given day.
@johnfoss Thanks for the history and other information on the Coker frames. Depending on certain factors, there is definitely a strong possibility that I would be very interested in your V2/squid frame, though my highest priority at the moment is building my ideal skatepark/MTB park 36er, and I don’t yet know if the V2/squid frame would be a good option for my skatepark 36er (though even if not, I may very well remain quite interested in buying it from you at the right time, if it is still available). For my skatepark unicycle I want the aluminum rim to be about the same weight as my original steel rim Coker, so I will probably implement one or more of the suggestions from this thread:
My understanding is that only the weight of the rim (and within the vicinity of the rim, such as tube, tire, liner, etc.) are the weight that matters for the flywheel effect. Spokes can have some effect, but not nearly as much as the rim/tube/tire area. Weight of the frame has no bearing on stability, is that correct? Putting aside any possible strength advantages due to type of material used, extra weight of the hub, frame, cranks, and pedals will provide no advantage whatsoever and could even be disadvantageous regarding stability and flywheel effect (or at the very least just be extra weight that is not contributing to stability/flywheel effect in any way), if my understanding is accurate. If I am wrong about any of this, please let me know.
Haha, that’s awesome that you competed in a Penny Farthing race, @johnfoss! Oh well, live and learn! I’m sure it must have been a great time regardless of your finishing position.
Now that you’ve sparked my memory I remember seeing those Harper T-Shirts. That makes me realize there are at least two reasons why he is truly a living legend, though I’m sure there are more! Harper may very well be the Chuck Norris of the unicycling world!
Thanks, @johnfoss. You know me as Andy. I’m also known as Andrew, Drew, and Heskie, by various friends, family and colleagues. For a bit more history on how John and I met for anyone who is interested, here’s the story:
As John mentioned, I am a relative of Meryl Shaffer. Although she is like an aunt, she is actually my cousin. She is in a very long-term relationship (since the time I was about 10 years old or maybe even younger) with JeanPaul Jenack. JP Jenack is the son of Bill Jenack, who I believe founded the Unicycling Society of America and is a legend in the world of unicycling and was an incredibly impressive man for many reasons. When I became interested in unicycling as a pre-teenager, my parents brought me to the library and I took out some books on unicycling. One of the books I borrowed had a photo of a young JP Jenack riding a unicycle. At some point not too much later, I was absolutely shocked to find out that the JP Jenack I saw in that book was dating my cousin. I subsequently met JP for the first time and soon after he introduced me to John Foss. John pulled up to my house in his Volkswagen bus loaded with all sorts of unicycles! The only thing that impressed me more than how many different types of unicycles he had was how mind-boggling well he was able to ride each and every one of them! And so began my friendship with John Foss. Thanks to John, we got together for unicycle meet-ups regularly, I got to learn how to ride many of his various different types of unicycles and to practice improving my skills and everyone had an amazing time! I look back very fondly on those times unicycling with John in my youth.