New Muni

[John Childs]

Are you bending the crank or the hub? If the cranks are no longer 180
degrees from each other then you are probably bending the hub and not the
cranks. If the pedals have twisted and the outside of the pedal is now
lower than the inside of the pedal then you are bending the cranks. If
you put a straight-edge on the cranks can you tell if the cranks are
actually bent?

There are stronger cranks out there than the Black Widows. The higher end
mountain bike cranks will be stronger. But the Black Widows look cool and
come in some hard to find sizes like 160mm and 165mm.

john_childs

>From: dingeman <dingeman@citilink.com>
>
> Actually I have tried the Black widows on my old MUni so I already
> have something to say about them. I don't exactly think they are
> worth $90. I weigh 185 pounds so they may flex more with me than
> other people, but when I am powering up a hill they tend to flex.
> They also bend easily, but they bend back, probably due to the
> aluminum alloy they are made of. I rode down a 2 foot steep mound
> and they bent. But at the end of that ride they were back to normal.
> Seems strange, oh well. that was on an under inflated Intense 2.7 on
> a thin rim, but maybe that had nothing to do with
>it. they are not the best cranks in the world. but they seem to be
> holding out all right... by now my cranks would normally be at 30º
> angles from straight.
>
> -Max A. Dingemans
>
>Carl Hoyer wrote:
>
> > Hey Max,
> >
> > I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the Black Widow cranks down
>the
> > road.
> >
> > I myself still long for the day when I have a 24x3" gazz!
> >
> > Carl
>

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[Carl Hoyer]

I know exactly what you're talking about. The exact same thing has
happened to me. That's why I was interested in your feedback.

I think you said it best by saying the cranks twist and when the pedals
are in a horizontal position the pedals are no longer horizontal to the
ground, but slope slightly downwards instead. Within a month of getting
the Black Widows I had bent them quite significantly. Lately, I've found
that my feet are slipping off the pedals much more easily as a result of
the downward pedal angle, which is quite noticeable.

I've just got my hands on a set of the Kooka downhill cranks in the hope
that they will withstand more abuse. We'll see.

Carl

-----Original Message----- From: dingeman [mailto:dingeman@citilink.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 3:26 PM To: John Childs
Cc: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Re: New MUni

I am very sure I am bending the cranks, becuase when I switch
cranks and the pedals and hub stay the same the new ones are
straight. Until I ride for a while. What I mean to say is that the
cranks twist, which I tend to call bending. You could still stick
a straight wire (if there were a hole) from the pedal thread hole
to the spindle/axle hole. but if the pedals are in a horisontal
position while a person were not on the MUni (and Monty seeing
that I have the same problem on that) and you put your eyes at the
level of the cranks so you can see the end of one crank and the
other end of the other, the pedals will not be flat but bend
downward. instead of a 0º angle from one pedal to the other. kind
of like this:

( - = - ) lets pretend that the (=) is the hub and each (-) is a
pedal. ( -
= -
) would be an example of a straight crank. but lets say I have a bent
crank.that would be displayed as follows ( / = \ ) In this verson the (=)
is still the hub and the (/) and (\) are the pedals. The pedals are
oviously not that bent (twisted) but that is the idea im trying to get at.

I anybody is confused by this model of things dont be mad, and do not
take more than 3 minutes extra time to try and figure it out. If you
have a better way of explaining it, I would like to hear it. Or see it
as the case may be.

-Max A. Dingemans

John Childs wrote:

> Are you bending the crank or the hub? If the cranks are no longer 180
> degrees from each other then you are probably bending the hub and not
> the cranks. If the pedals have twisted and the outside of the pedal is
> now lower than the inside of the pedal then you are bending the
> cranks. If
you
> put a straight-edge on the cranks can you tell if the cranks are
> actually bent?
>
> There are stronger cranks out there than the Black Widows. The higher
> end mountain bike cranks will be stronger. But the Black Widows look
> cool and come in some hard to find sizes like 160mm and 165mm.
>
> john_childs

[Ben Lamb]

On 19 Jun 2001 12:28:56 -0700, dingeman@citilink.com (dingeman) wrote:

>( - = - ) lets pretend that the (=) is the hub and each (-) is a pedal.
>( - = - ) would be an example of a straight crank. but lets say I have
>a bent crank.that would be displayed as follows ( / = \ ) In this
>verson the (=) is still the hub and the (/) and (\) are the pedals. The
>pedals are oviously not that bent (twisted) but that is the idea im
>trying to get at.

>If you have a better way of explaining it, I would like to hear it.

Could you say that the cranks no longer make a straight line looking from
one pedal to the other:

So, instead of looking something vaguely like this:
______
\_____/
||
______||____ / ------- ||------- \ / / || \ \ / / || \ \
| | ---===O===--- | |
\ \ / / \ \ / / \ \_________ / /

It looks something vaguely like this:
______
\_____/
||
______||____ / ------- ||------- \ / / || \ \ / / || \ \
| | ---===O \ | |
\ \ \ / / \ \ == / / \ \__________/ /

Hmm... that doesnt seem to make much sense either, have I got the wrong
end of the stick?

Ben Lamb

www.lamigon.com (http://www.lamigon.com/)

[Ben Lamb]

Hmm.. just realized that my incredible doodles (see my last message) won't
work on a newsgroup reader that has a different font.

DOH.

Ben Lamb

www.lamigon.com (http://www.lamigon.com/)