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#1
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
My new Coker arrived this morning. I'm still at the office admiring it, as yet unassembled. The frame was built by Rick Hunter, then shipped to David Stockton (U-Turn) for assembly with his Super Wheel. I shipped David my saddle with GB handlebars. He took my measurements and put together the whole package. I've attached a picture he sent to tease me a few days before it was shipped. I'll take it out for a moonlight ride (full moon!) tonight on it's maiden voyage, then provide some reviews and feedback. I can hardly wait. In the meantime, David included some useful information in a detailed email after the Coker was shipped. I found it interesting enough that I thought I'd share his comments with this forum. I've elided some irrelevant stuff. David's comments: Seat: ---------------------------------------------- I rebuilt the seat, adding the stiffener plate and replacing all the hardware with stainless steel that has better specs than the original. On the front 3 and back 2 bolts the bolts have been retained with nuts which should completely eliminate the spinning problem. On the back 2 I actually opened up the hole in the bumper to allow the nut to sit down in, then added the washer. On the center 4 that attach to the adapter this was not possible without compromising the seat coupling, so they are only retained by the traditional duct tape. There is a better solution; I just haven't found it yet. Handle: [refers to GB handle] --------------------- I had to move the cyclo mount over because it was interfering with the brake lever. A local welder did the work. Cyclometer: ---------------------------------------- The cable is long enough for a little bit of seat adjustment. To raise the seat significantly you may have to slide the sensor and magnet up a bit. You will see that I shimmed out the sensor to get close enough to the magnet. Seat post: ----------------------------------------- Should be cut properly for 150mm cranks and your specs, so you may have to raise it a little for the 140s that are installed. It is currently at the very bottom of allowable travel and is resting on the cross-tube. It is not possible to remove the top piece of the seat post without loosening up the seatpost adapter due to the saddle's tight clearances. To loosen the adapter you will have to remove the back bolt on the handle. Frame: --------------------------------------------- We had to do a lot of work to clean up the inside of the seat tube. It was rough and there was some sort of hard pin poking into the tube from the angled piece. I will mention this to Rick. It should be fine now. The seat post clamp is the one that came with the frame. If you find that your seat is turning on uphills or mounts you may want to go to a 2-bolt clamp like the Primo. Brake: --------------------------------------------- The brake seemed to come out very well. The bike shop owner's son, who has legs long enough to give your uni a test run, preferred the feel to my Magura setup. It seems quite smooth and modulatable. It will change quite a bit as a) you get used to it, and b) the cable stretches. For that reason, I did not attempt to get the ideal setup, but just got it into operating range. I will give you rules to use for it though. Setting up a brake for a uni is not the same as for a bike. Here are some guidelines for you or for your mechanic: 1) It is ok if you can't lock up the wheel when the brake is done. Unless you are doing trials, you will never need that much braking power. You will want smoothness and modulation much more than power. 2) You should toe the brakes in much more than a normal brake. This improves modulation. 3) One pad should hit the rim significantly before the other. This also improves modulation. 4) You should move the brake pads out just enough to ensure that the pads do not hit the rim during hill climbs. The Super Wheel is absolutely the best going in this regard because it is far stiffer than any other big wheel arrangement. On your setup, one pad brushes the rim slightly in one spot. I left this because I knew that the cable would stretch. Getting used to using a brake on a uni is different too: 1) I recommend riding on the flats and just feathering it on to begin with. Despite all your attempted finesse, you will probably lose it the first couple of tries because of all the bicycle habits. My first brake application was on a country road hill and I few about 12 feet through the air. 2) In order to get best use of the brake you need to start using at the top of the hill so that your balance point includes the brake drag. Trying to use it in the middle of the hill doesn't work because you have to speed up the wheel to keep the brake from pitching you forward. 3) A mental image that is helpful to me is to think of the seat post as a skid that I am digging into the road as I apply the brake. I have to get behind neutral balance and push the bottom of the seat post ahead of me into the road. This image helps get my weight back and down, so that the braking action works against my weight. 4) Although your setup is not a drag brake, that has advantages on rough downhills because you can use the brake as an additional balance achiever instead of just a hill-flattener. Eventually you will use it all the time to save your legs, even on such mundane matters as coming to a stop. 5) A uni brake doesn't stop you, in contrast to a brake on a bicycle. A brake on a unicycle is like a power assist for your legs. It allows you to travel downhill more safely, and allows you to get out of the hill some of what you put into it. Wheel: --------------------------------------------- I think your wheel came out quite well. You can see that I worked on the weld area as you requested. Basically, that activity results in an area of the rim that is of less width and less friction than the rest of the rim. These characteristics, for a uni brake, are far more desirable than the original, which is a protrusion of higher friction where the brake tends to dig in. An area of higher friction is much harder to control and much more disruptive of fore-aft balance. So, in general, there will be some minor variation in braking force during a wheel rotation. I used sleeve retainer on the bearings. If you remove them chances are they will no longer be good, so I suggest leaving them until you are ready to change them. If you ride off-road or in sandy conditions they will deteriorate much faster. I have included two spare spokes. The installed spokes use Wheelsmith Spoke Prep. The tension is VERY high and I suggest that you either return the wheel to me for truing (no charge, including return shipping) or go to a really, really good bike shop. I think you will notice a huge difference between the feel of this wheel and that of your stock Coker. Cranks: -------------------------------------------- The cranks are the Schwinn 140s. They do add a little more Q to the leg position but you should not notice this as a problem. The 125s, which are straight, are in the box. I highly recommend the grease/torque wrench approach to installing cranks, using 40 ft-lbs. Please do not use a hammer at all. I have had customers bend hub flanges in this way. If you need me to elaborate on the installation procedure just ask. Pedals: -------------------------------------------- The pedals will have plenty of grip. After a while take a file and flatten off the pins and your traction will improve once more. I recommend using blue Loctite when you install the pedals. Ti ---------------------------------------------- I deflated the tire somewhat for better shipping protection. You will, of course, want to repressurized it before riding. If you need instructions about changing the tire please let me know. The tire on the Airfoil rim is actually easy to change if you know the right procedure. I used talc between tire and tube. The rim tape is Salsa 100% polyester. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Attachment filename: coker1.jpg | |Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/161753| +----------------------------------------------------------------+ -- rubic - Unstable Coker Addict War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. -Ambrose Bierce ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rubic's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3956 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
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#2
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
Rubic, it's great to see another Hunter36 built up so nicely. I think you'll
REALLY like that wheel. I've got about 800 miles on mine now and it is working great - we did 30 hilly miles this morning before work! I'd like to see some closer up photos showing the brake and underneath the seat if/when you have time. Have fun on it, Nathan |
#3
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
Sweet ride Jeff! One word of caution. If you mount a computer where it supposed to be on the GB handle, make sure there's enough clearance. I broke 2 of them on mine after UPD's(before I switched to Wyganowski). -Mark -- Cokerhead ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cokerhead's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/136 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#4
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
What a sweet ride!!! The Hunter muni owner in me is drooling, and wants to immediately sell my car or my kid's stamp collection so I can trade in my standard Coker. My baby needs a Big Brother.... +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Attachment filename: my pictures0008.jpg | |Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/161822| +----------------------------------------------------------------+ -- tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz My other brake is my face! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#5
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
WOW Thats is a Beautiful coker. My standard coker had nothing on that. Don't think my rear end even deserves to sit on such a thing. -- UNI GUY - UNICYCLING OBSESSED ------------------------------------------------------------------------ UNI GUY's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4084 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#6
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
duaner wrote: *hmm - Coker? I'm curious, how much of it is original Coker parts? * Tire is my guess. -- tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz My other brake is my face! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#7
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
tomblackwood wrote: * Tire is my guess. * And the tube. Coker is a tire company. They make tires and tubes. What is original Coker parts on a stock Coker "The Big One"? I'd say the tire and tube. The rest came from a factory in Taiwan. -- john_childs - Guinness Mojo john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#8
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
john_childs wrote: *And the tube. Coker is a tire company. They make tires and tubes. What is original Coker parts on a stock Coker "The Big One"? I'd say the tire and tube. The rest came from a factory in Taiwan. * But is "The Big One" sold and marketed by Coker? If so, I'd argue that the frame is also "original Coker parts", even if they've chosen to outsource part of their supply chain. But of course, I'm just arguing back out of shame for missing the tube.... -- tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz My other brake is my face! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#9
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
i need one more than ever now Nearly tacoed me coker the other niche off a 1.5 drop that i hit veary badly like at a 45` angle it really was tacoed but sprung back to olny a 1/4 inch varience how much did that come to and what is the wait time D r o o o o o o L ! * Have funn Nate -- jugglerobaby - Coker OffRoader Thoes who walk in the Realm of Insanity Know no limits to the Realm of Reality. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jugglerobaby's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4219 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
#10
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New Coker: Hunter frame, Stockton wheel
Hey jugglero. The wait time and cost are highly dependent on what you want your setup to be and what your leg length and preferred crank length are. If you, like your description, are doing off-road, including nighttime offroad, the setup is different than road riders (like Jeff Bauer, whose uni is above) and the other components are dependent on that. The basic wheel itself is $550 with high-quality bearings. This does not even touch the time I put into the wheel but that's ok for now. Right now the Airfoil rims are out of stock but I have some on reserve (and will add to that number I think). PM me and we can work out all the details according to your needs, and perhaps get started so that when the rims become available we'll be ready for them. -- U-Turn - Mounting a Revolution Weep in the dojo... laugh in the battlefield. 'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39) -- Dave Stockton ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U-Turn's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/691 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27679 |
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