New Unicycle Design commissioned !

[fontiminal]

I have commissioned Dave at DM Engineering to build my hand driven unicycle.

Will post photos of it when I actually get it.

But I need advice before he puts it in to material affect.

What size tyre should I untilise; 24" or 20" what would suit the hand crank method?

Any advice on this greatly appreciated as he is about to materialise the design!

Thanks.

JJ

[Catboy]

I would suggest a 24" just so you can get going somewhat quickly. A 20" would seem a bit small. Ad if you plan on going enywhere, get the 24" so your arms don't poop out.

[andrew_carter]

I am going to go for a 20" with my seated hand-driven uni, and gear it up to whatever feels good. Good luck! I'll build mine one of these days.

Andrew

[mikepenton]

Start un-technical waffle:

If you allow the legs on the frame (or would they be forks? dropouts?al enough, you could allow it to accomodate any size wheel up to say, a 29". that way you could experiment with the wheel size & see what suits, without having to change the frame.

End un-technical waffle.

There's a suggestion in there somewhere...

[mango]

A friend of mine rides his giraffe by standing on pegs that are attached to the axle, and pedaling with one hand while he holds the frame above the pedals with his other hand. He can go very far like that if he doesnt have to go up too many hills.

His giraffe has a 20" wheel. I'll try to ask him if he thinks a bigger wheel would be an improvement.

Your custom uni sounds like a very cool idea and i look forward to pictures.

[johnfoss]

Since you have a chain, you can gear it any way you want. So unless you intend to only cover lots of miles, I'd start with a 20" wheel. It will be lighter, which will make it easier to work with during the learning stages.

If you follow the non-technical advice posted above, ask DM to leave room in the fork for a larger wheel. Then you have the option of trading up in the future.

With a 20" wheel you also have tons more choices of rim and tire to work with.

[total uni]

i am doing a 16"

[fontiminal]

Thanks for all the advise that you have given.

So I am going for a 20" with a frame large enough for a 26".

Have no plans for gearing yet, but once I am up and riding then perhaps I will.

´The friend who rides a giraffe with one arm not two has inspired me that this will actually be rideable, was wondering if I would manage'.

Concerned I think that I will manage the balance issues with out my flailing arms! Arghh.



JJ

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 02:03:56 -0600, "fontiminal" wrote:

>What size tyre should I untilise; 24" or 20" what would suit the hand
>crank method?

I would say 20". The smaller the tyre, the lower the forces that you
will have to muster on the 'pedals'. And that's good because obviously
your arms are much weaker than your legs.

"Pedals" is an inappropriate word, BTW, because it refers to feet. But
"manuals" doesn't ring right either.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
It's impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what's in a name) Childs

[mikepenton]

Originally posted by Klaas Bil
"Pedals" is an inappropriate word, BTW, because it refers to feet. But
"manuals" doesn't ring right either.

handles?

[Klaas Bil]

Originally posted by mikepenton
handles?

Well, handles to me sounds like you mainly grip them, not 'operate' them. Maybe we should get used to manuals. I like it after tasting the word for a while. After all, a large organ (musical instrument) also has pedals and (at least one, but often several) manuals.

Umm, strictly speaking I think that all of the foot-operated levers on an organ are collectively called "the pedal", and similarly all the hand-operated levers on one row are collectively called "a (one) manual". So, singular, not plural. Oh well.

Klaas Bil

[andrew_carter]

Klaas are you forgetting that this thing has a chain and can easily be geared to make a 20" wheel seem like a 29" and vice versa?

[Klaas Bil]

Originally posted by andrew_carter
Klaas are you forgetting that this thing has a chain and can easily be geared to make a 20" wheel seem like a 29" and vice versa?

There you have a point Andrew. OK I guess I should have said that the relative weakness of the arms is something to keep in mind when choosing a gear ratio (along with the wheel size of course).

Klaas Bil

[theamazingmolio]

Originally posted by Klaas Bil
Umm, strictly speaking I think that all of the foot-operated levers on an organ are collectively called "the pedal", and similarly all the hand-operated levers on one row are collectively called "a (one) manual". So, singular, not plural. Oh well.

Klaas Bil

Klaas, are you forgetting we're talking about a unicycle?

"Klaas Bil" <Klaas.Bil@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote in
message news:Klaas.Bil.1iqrh8@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com...
>
> mikepenton wrote:
>> *handles? *
> Well, handles to me sounds like you mainly grip them, not 'operate'
> them. Maybe we should get used to manuals. I like it after tasting the
> word for a while. After all, a large organ (musical instrument) also has
> pedals and (at least one, but often several) manuals.
>

I dunno: years ago cars had starting "handles" which you certainly had
to turn by hand, so a precedent has been decades ago. Also barrel
organs, which had hand cranked handles. Modern pipe/ electronic organs
are rather more like banks of switches as the hands/feet hardly do much
work.

Nao