carbon fiber/aluminum frame

JosephCampbell;1140046 wrote:
hey, i heard the word Titanium?
can you make a 100% ti frame? I think a lot of people would be very
interested in that along with what you are building now.



ya we want to make some of those but we will have to wait and see how
well these frames do before we move to bigger and better things


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unicyclerman

hey wanna ride my koxx
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I am a bit confused about the point of making a Carbon Fiber/Al frame.
Is the goal to make it stronger than current frames or to make a lighter
unicycle? I am sure that they would look very cool, which may be reason
enough.

How often do people break KH Al frames? Is this an ongoing problem for
Trials riding? Do people ever break CrMo frames?

My impression is that the frame is so small for most unicycles compared
with a bike, particularly for a 20" or 24", that the material used is
not going to make a huge difference in the overall weight of the
unicycle. I may be wrong. How much does a KH Al frame weigh for a 20"
trials unicycle? Is it 2 Kg? If you cut that down to 500 g that would be
a savings of 1.5 Kg, but I am not sure if that weight is possible with
the Carbon/Al hybride. If you went from 2 kg to 1.5 kg, the overall
weight savings would be small for the whole unicycle.

It seems like all the other components add a lot of weight. Has anyone
put together a list of all the components and their weights? If you want
a 20% lighter unicycle you could go down the list and try to save weight
everywhere. For example, the seat and the rubber tire would appear to
add a significant amount of weight to a trials unicycle. Can you shave
weight off those components? I realize that there is a difference
between the spinning components (angular momentum) that will change the
handling of a unicycle and the non-spinning components such as the
seat.

How much difference does the weight make? I understand that a Torker DX
is very heavy and that a KH 20" trials would be lighter. Does this
change the feel of the ride? Does it make some moves, such as hops,
easier? I have no experience with this type of riding.

I am tossing out these questions because I do not know the answers and
would be curious about the reasons for going to a much lighter unicycle.
I admit to being a bit cynical, in part because of the weekend bicycle
riders I know who buy very light high-end bikes for mucho $$. They
spend another $1000 (or much more) to shave 2 kg off the bike. I cannot
help but notice that they could just as well shave more than 2 kg off
their tummys and the whole bike and rider package would be lighter. In
theory, the 2 kg of fat are free. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I
could also loose 2 kg of fat with sufficient motivation--the fat is
certainly there waiting to be lost.)

Back to the main point. Are you trying to build a lighter unicycle
frame or a stronger unicycle frame? Can you save enough weight on the
frame to make a real difference to the overall weight of the unicycle?


--
scott ttocs
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scott ttocs;1140144 wrote:
I am a bit confused about the point of making a Carbon Fiber/Al frame.
Is the goal to make it stronger than current frames or to make a lighter
unicycle? I am sure that they would look very cool, which may be reason
enough.

How often do people break KH Al frames? Is this an ongoing problem for
Trials riding? Do people ever break CrMo frames?

My impression is that the frame is so small for most unicycles compared
with a bike, particularly for a 20" or 24", that the material used is
not going to make a huge difference in the overall weight of the
unicycle. I may be wrong. How much does a KH Al frame weigh for a 20"
trials unicycle? Is it 2 Kg? If you cut that down to 500 g that would be
a savings of 1.5 Kg, but I am not sure if that weight is possible with
the Carbon/Al hybride. If you went from 2 kg to 1.5 kg, the overall
weight savings would be small for the whole unicycle.

It seems like all the other components add a lot of weight. Has anyone
put together a list of all the components and their weights? If you want
a 20% lighter unicycle you could go down the list and try to save weight
everywhere. For example, the seat and the rubber tire would appear to
add a significant amount of weight to a trials unicycle. Can you shave
weight off those components? I realize that there is a difference
between the spinning components (angular momentum) that will change the
handling of a unicycle and the non-spinning components such as the
seat.

How much difference does the weight make? I understand that a Torker DX
is very heavy and that a KH 20" trials would be lighter. Does this
change the feel of the ride? Does it make some moves, such as hops,
easier? I have no experience with this type of riding.

I am tossing out these questions because I do not know the answers and
would be curious about the reasons for going to a much lighter unicycle.
I admit to being a bit cynical, in part because of the weekend bicycle
riders I know who buy very light high-end bikes for mucho $$. They
spend another $1000 (or much more) to shave 2 kg off the bike. I cannot
help but notice that they could just as well shave more than 2 kg off
their tummys and the whole bike and rider package would be lighter. In
theory, the 2 kg of fat are free. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I
could also loose 2 kg of fat with sufficient motivation--the fat is
certainly there waiting to be lost.)

Back to the main point. Are you trying to build a lighter unicycle
frame or a stronger unicycle frame? Can you save enough weight on the
frame to make a real difference to the overall weight of the unicycle?



im hoping for lighter and stronger. though i dont think it realy needs
to be stronger not many people break frames alot. lighter deffinately
makes a difference. with lighter weight the uni is just easyer to
handle. you dont have alll that weight weighing it down. i also just
want to see some more diversity in the market. for the most part all
cromos look the same and all alu frames look the same. so i want to get
a new look and material out there. if i cant get them to be lighter than
a KH then i wont sell them for as much as a KH so there would be a good
light and cheaper frame out there as well. also i custom make them so i
can suply people with custom length long necks. im running this like a
mom and pop shop so no extra charge for custom dimensions except if you
want a 36er i gotta cover extra material.


--
unicyclerman

hey wanna ride my koxx
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[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/pic...pictureid=352]

[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/pic...pictureid=351]

[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/pic...pictureid=353]

hey sorry it took a while. this is the progress we have made on the
frame. it does not have the weight cut ins on the top bar and the sides
are twice as long as they are supposed to be but even so it only weighs
about 350g. we still need to put in the neck support, neck piece, or
bearing races, but we are expecting it to remain under 500g maybe as low
as 400g and feeling it now i dont think there will be any problems with
structural integrity. we are working on getting oval tube instead of the
round tube we are using right now but for now this is what we got. we
are also trying to get more roundover on the top. so let us know what
you think so far. keep in mind its still very much under development,
this is just the progress we have made.


--
unicyclerman

hey wanna ride my koxx
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NICE!

Looks good


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Smilymarco

'Municycle.com' (http://www.municycle.com)
Lesen - Denken - Posten
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Yay! Someone who actually followed through with their frame plans.


--
uniaddict

Any bay area riders up for a ride PM me!
'SixSixOne' (http://sixsixone.com/)
*85 foot coast!*
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thats groovy as! i would rock it. sent one out to aus i'll test it for
ya! haha. but on a serious note i hope you followthrough with this cause
i would consider it at a reasonable price obvously. it looks pretty
mad!
by the way what is that carbon fibre worth for a tube like that?


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joeking36
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Looking good! I actually have a cf frame made be Roger Davies ten years
ago. It didn't crack or anything, although I have been pretty cautious
with it too. I only use it for moderate XC riding. But I think the frame
is very robust and ultra light. Would be interesting to make a 36" frame
like that, maybe with a rounder crown, oval tubing and magura mounts. Or
maybe something like a V-frame? I would love to try that.


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munirocks

mono for bono
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That looks really hot. Do you have bearing holders yet? I would love to
see what they look like if you do!


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ntappin

'how to build a strong comfy saddle from junk.'
(http://tinyurl.com/hxcb3)
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the bearing holders are next on the list. we didn't have time to cut
them out before we left utah. im thinking that they will be similar to
the KH bearing holders. they will be tapped and have an allen bolt that
goes through the bottom. I havnt seen the design they have worked up
yet. but once they get them done I will post more pics


--
unicyclerman

hey wanna ride my koxx
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