Lightweight Bigwheel

Greetings from Santa Monica.

On the morning Coker ride, I began wondering what it's like to ride
a skinnytire bigwheel. I guess I mean a 28 or 29 inch skinny tire
lightweight uni.

How do they ride? Wouldn't they be the ultimate
travelling machine, given short enough cranks? Light weight must
count with uni's...it's so seemingly important in bi's.

Any input will be appreciated. Don't get me wrong...I love shoving
off on the "Big Wheel", but I'm curious about lo/mo (low momentum),
lightweight bigwheels. Thanks.

AL

It is a totally different experience. I ride a 700c x 32 (that's a 28
inch wheel with a road tyre) with the tyre pumped up good and hard. I
have 110 mm cranks on it.

The lightness makes it nimble. The lack of rolling momentum makes it
skittish on uneven surfaces. The short cranks mean you need more
precise foot control - there's more to it than simple percentages and
leverage, because you are moving your foot less distance, and using less
muscle - or even fewer muscles (I'm no physiologist).

If the Coker is a broadsword, then the 28/110 is a rapier.

Strangely, the 28 gets more respect form bicyclists. It's less of a
novelty item, and looks more like something they can recognise and
relate to. It also intimidates pedestrians less. It is surprisingly
capable off road, but you have to fence the trail, rather than hacking
at it.

Yesterday's ride on the Coker was 33 miles. I have done pretty much the
same route on the 28. The Coker is faster over the distance.

A slim 28 is possibly the most elegant unicycle. The Coker isn't
elegant, it's majestic.


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Light weight, at least overall/frame weight isn't as important in bikes
as people think it is. It's a big myth put about by manufacturers to
sell very very expensive lightweight bikes.

Light weight rims, tyres and tubes might make a bit of a difference
though.

I found I gained speed by going to a fatter tyre, as it rolled over
things better and wasn't affected by bumps. A skinny 700c wheel unicycle
might make a great thing for riding on very smooth race tracks, but is
never going to be so good on a less smooth surface.

Joe


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That's more or less what I meant. The extra momentum of a heavy wheel
smooths out minor irregularities which would trip up a lighter wheel.
Also, a fat soft tyre will smooth out the bumps, compared to a thin hard
tyre.

BUT that doesn't mean that the skinny hard lightweight option is bad,
because nobody takes up unicycling because they are attracted by how
easy it is!

Back to an old hobby horse of mine: the special beauty of the unicycle
is its simplicity. I'd compare it to a simple 2 stroke motor. There
are only a few variables, and once these have been selected, they are
fixed until such time as the machine is retuned. With a 2 stroke, it's
bore, stroke, porting, timing. With a unicycle, it's wheel diameter,
crank length, tyre.

The performance of a unicycle will depend very much on which variables
are chosen. There is no equivalent to variable valve timing, or
automatic advance/retard, or electronic mapped ignition. You make your
choice and live with it.

And the fun comes from this. You can either optimise the machine for a
particular use, or you can try to find the most versatile settings. You
can optimise for one use, but end up doing something else, in which case
you get a fantastic sense of achievement. I once rode a 250cc 2 stroke
single commuter motobike 550 miles in a day. I once rode about 15 miles
off road on a 700c unincycle with 110mm cranks. The sense of
achievement, and the sense of the ridiculous, was similar in each case.
So much more of an achievement than doing 550 miles on a BMW 1000 cc
tourer, or 15 miles off road on a 24x3 MUni.

Another argument for the lightweight skinny option is that it feels very
"pure". With all the softness taken out (no squidgy tyre, hardly any
momentum) it forces you to focus on your riding in a very direct way. I
wouldn't want it to be my only uni, but I like riding my 700c x 32.


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I have a feeling you asked the wrong question. You probably already know
how to ride something smaller than a Coker, I wonder if you want to try
MUNI or if you want to do some stunts? If you just want an excuse to get
a 29er I am sure we can help you out!
I have a 29er and a Coker; the 29er is simply a large unicycle, the
Coker is the bomb.
I would love to try some of those giant penny-farthing style wheels, I
wonder how fast a 4+1/2 foot diameter wheel could go?


--
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Mikefule wrote:
* It is surprisingly capable off road, but you have to fence the
trail, rather than hacking at it.
*


I found my 29" Yuni with Nanoraptor tire great for off road, and the Big
Apple great for road.

What does this mean: Fence the trail, rather than hacking at it.
What's the difference between fencing a trail and hacking at it.

Billy


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BillyTheMountain wrote:
*What does this mean: Fence the trail, rather than hacking at it.
What's the difference between fencing a trail and hacking at it.

Billy *


If the Coker is a broadsword, then the 28/110 is a rapier.


It would follow then that you hack with broadsword (coker) and you fence
with a rapier (20/110).

-mg


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On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 10:21:56 -0500, "Mikefule" wrote:

A slim 28 is possibly the most elegant unicycle.

That's right. The first uni I got from Roger was a fat and mean 24" x
3" MUni, probably setting expectations with my wife for everything
that came in a unicycle.uk.com box.

The second was a 28" x 1.35" road machine. When I had assembled it, my
wife exclaimed "How... elegant she is!" Therefore I named that uni "De
dame" (the lady).

Now that that same uni has been retrofitted with a 29" x 2.35" Big
Apple, she's called "Dikke dame" (fat lady). Less elegant maybe, but
imho much more pleasant to ride.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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I like the idea of not having to balance when out on a ride - joe

BillyTheMountain wrote:
* Fence the trail, rather than hacking at it.
What's the difference between fencing a trail and hacking at it.
*


Take a typical forest track or riverbank, or any other piece of rough
trail. It will present a number of obstacles such as sudden bumps or
hollows, tree roots, puddles, patches of mud and so on.

On a Coker, I will tend to take a fairly direct route, or even go
looking for the obstacles to make the ride more interesting. Generally,
the idea is to keep the speed reasonably high (but with a bit in
reserve) and to use momentum and the size of the wheel to carry me over
the obstacles. This means I have to make few concessions to the trail -
I just "hack at it".

On the 28, with its narrow higher pressure road tyre, complete lack of
grip, tiny momentum, and the short cranks, this approach would soon lead
to me falling off. Every sudden bump could trip me; every sudden dip
could become a wheel trap; every patch of mud or slime could cause a
side slip.

Suddenly, the trail looks very different. Instead of it being an uneven
surface to be crossed, it becomes a maze of small obstacles to be
avoided, or selected. My exact choice of route becomes critical. If I
go to the left of this puddle, will I be in a good position to get past
that deep rut? Should I ride the edge of the rut, or drop into it? If
I do, how will I get out of it? What's the best way round that tree
root?

On the 28, the trail becomes a puzzle to be solved. I have to think
ahead, avoid being trapped in a blind alley. Small changes in height
matter - even a few inches of gravity karma gained here could carry me
past the obstacle 10 metres further on.

I use the fencing metaphor because I do fencing. I can see huge
similarities between cross country unicycling and fencing, and these
similarities are more obvious on the 28 than the Coker.

I'm not saying it's for everybody, or even that I would like all my
riding to be like this. However, there is a lot to be said for
selecting a unicycle that adds value to what might otherwise be an easy
and boring trail.


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mgrant wrote:
*



It would follow then that you hack with broadsword (coker) and you
fence with a rapier (20/110).

-mg *


Thanks!!


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