Advice for the MUni?

[dogzilla]

Need some help. Friend of mine went from a cheapy street unicycle to
building an over-the-top heavy duty trail unicycle. Thing is, in
fitting a lot of parts together, he wound up with a 28" frame and a 29"
tire (tyre for the transAtlantic amongst us). He measured the frame
and thought "Hey, that'll fit!" It sort of fits. He ground out some
of the frame to make way for the tire. When the tire was new and still
had the little stringy rubber bits on it, they dragged the top edge of
the frame. Now, when we ride mud, the frame pretty much scrapes all
the mud off the tire as we go. We worried that plain physics would
cause some problem when weight was put on it, but that didn't seem to
be an issue.

Now here's the thing. His skill level makes it difficult to gauge how
much the 1) design of the unicycle is inhibiting his improvement 2) the
weight of the unicycle might be causing problems, but not the design.
3) His weight (230) or skill level might be the only difficulty and the
ride is fine the way it is.

I'm not a teacher, and he and I (and occasionally another person or
two) ride at daybreak, so there's no one there that can say "Hey, you
need to improve _____ skill." or "Hey, your wheel's clearance is a
significant problem." or whatever else. Most uni-riders are normal as
opposed to 'morning people', I've come to believe. I can rarely talk
the local Uni-gurus into joining us.

Frankly, I'm worried he'll get sort of discouraged with his lack of
progress (he falls a lot.) and I'll be back to riding my sunrise rides
with only my dog along.

What can the hotshots advise that I should look for, ask about,
measure, tell him to try... etc? Does the description of the wheel
sound like a problem, or should we just concentrate on skill level?

Thanks.

Ex-Kayote


--
dogzilla

Dogzilla
http://www.cafepress.com/unicycles
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[rob.northcott]

All that comes to mind is that if the tyre is that close to the frame
bits of gravel picked up by the tyre can stick between the two causing
UPDs, more so if it's muddy.


--
rob.northcott

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to
skydive twice
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[Mikefule]

That's a large wheel for a first "MUni" but an ideal size for riding
broken ground and forest trails.

Clearance is a problem in the mud. It can cause friction, an
irritating noise, scratching of the frame, and possibly a UPD.

When learning to ride off road, the effort expended trying to remount
after a fall is what makes it tiring and frustrating. That is a good
argument for a smaller wheel, which is easier to mount.

The way to learn MUni is to ride stuff that is 70 - 80% as difficult as
you can manage, with occasional diversions onto challenging bits.
Gradually, you notice that what counts as challenging is now easy. The
alternative is to aim for 110% all the time, keep falling, get tired,
and get dispirited.

This is not a choice between cowardice and foolhardiness. It's just a
simple principle of learnign that if you stretch too far, you will
achieve less. Gradually acquired skills are retained better.


--
Mikefule

Drunk man, street car, foot slip: there you are.
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