Gearing up the Torker TX

[flyer]

I have come to dislike the fact that the only size of wheel I have in my
fleet of unicycles is 20 inches. I have a (mostly Sem) freestyle, my
learner uni (norco), a bc wheel (plates I made myself), and a Torker
TX.

The Torker is a really strong and (basing this on the other giraffes I
have used, which isn't a great many) solid giraffe. It has 125mm
cranks, and 28 tooth sprockets. It's only five feet tall, making it not
a 'true' giraffe, but the ease of mounting and the degree to which that
wows the audience definitely makes it a worthy machine.

Since I tend to ride my unicycles everywhere, I've always wanted
something to go a little faster. And since I'd just gotten quite
comfortable, and dare I say, confident, on the Torker, I decided it was
time to modify it a little. Since I know nothing about how cogs fit
onto freewheels (on the TX, it turns out to be the same as a fixed-gear
bike), I took it down to the LBS. They gave me a pretty good deal on
fitting the sprocket that I wanted because I gave them mention in the
'article' (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44984)
that was done in my university's newspaper.

So, to make a long story short, I got my wish. They fitted a 14t
sprocket to the bottom of the beast, giving me a 2:1 gear ratio,
theoretical 40" equivalent wheelsize. I can't even freemount anymore,
but *damn* can this thing haul ass!

I'm very happy with the modification. I'm guesstimating a week before I
figure out some way to get on without needing a curb. It also seems
that I've just done the exact opposite of what 'this'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45041) person has
done.

The handling is incredibly finicky, and I've already been going a fair
clip and had to drop and roll out of a fall, incurring minor road rash.
I'm getting more used to it now, but the wheel needs more air and
clings to the road camber like a flat Big Apple riding through tar.

All things considered though, the real reason I wanted to do this was
to challenge myself. And have fun, of course :)


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[habbywall]

how much did that cost in all, it looks rather nice, i would spend the
money on it.


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[flyer]

The Torker TX is 250$ Cdn at my LBS, the gearing up cost me 10$ for the
sprocket and mechanic time.

so possibly the cheapest guni possible :D


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[habbywall]

flyer wrote:
> The Torker TX is 250$ Cdn at my LBS, the gearing up cost me 10$ for the
> sprocket and mechanic time.
>
> so possibly the cheapest guni possible :D


so 260 total?! that rocks, i wunder if they could do that to any old
one, if so i will definitly look into it, but from what i hear about my
LBS mechanic is that he isn't the nicest person, o well worth a try.


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[habbywall]

too late to edit,
how much do you think it would cost if you didn't get that discount?


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[cegli]

Wow, thats nuts. I can't believe you went straight from 20" inch unis,
to a Virtual 40" uni, let alone on a giraffe. Pretty crazy man. Looks
like fun though, I've been comtemplating getting a TX just for fun,
that looks like more than what I was thinking of, haha.


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[subsonic87]

Holy crap! I got to get me a TX!


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[GUI]

That's awesome, wish I had some money, :(


Why do you have axle pegs?


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basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is
more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of
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[Mojoe]

I love it!

Mojoe


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[Gilby]

GUI wrote:
> Why do you have axle pegs?



So that you can stand on the pegs and pedal with your hands.


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[habbywall]

flyer wrote:
> The bmx pegs are there because I lost the end axle nuts,


im gonna do that with a tx


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[manon1wheel]

Gilby wrote:
> So that you can stand on the pegs and pedal with your hands.


hahahah is that actually possible? i havent seen it done before =)


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manon1wheel

Riley Crosby

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[flyer]

That was the original reason I put them on. On a five footer it's really
hard to do because the pedals are so low though. If you have access to
a copy of Defect there's some footage of someone doing it.

And habbywall - you can do the same to any giraffe really. Unless
you're really sure, you probably don't want to gear it up this much.
You couldn't do it to an LX, because there's no chain to change
sprocket sizes on.

The sprockets that a TX takes are fixed-gear bike sprockets, and
apparently they run around 10$. You might want to get really comfy with
the giraffe (100% mount rate, good falling practices) before you do
something like this.

-Dave


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[abbabibble]

i might just do that... it looks frigging awesome!
much cheaper than a coker...
and a bigger virtual wheel...

cool...


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[Klaas Bil]

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:30:03 -0600, flyer wrote:

>It's only five feet tall, making it not
>a 'true' giraffe

Where did you learn that? I think yours is a true giraffe! And a nice
one at that.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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[shibumi]

Justonewheel and I did this to a TX back in June. It is extremely hard
to ride and even harder to stop. Plus, going that fast on a giraffe is
very dangerous. It's a lot safer to use a 21 tooth sproket for a 26"
wheel equivalant (i think thats right).

Did the bike shop use loktite? Wouldn't want that sprocket to loosen
up while riding. Good luck with it.


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Jeff

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[JustOneWheel]

abbabibble wrote:
> i might just do that... it looks frigging awesome!
> much cheaper than a coker...
> and a bigger virtual wheel...
>
> cool...



*But, Nothing beats riding a true Coker!*


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[flyer]

Klaas Bil wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:30:03 -0600, flyer wrote:
>
> >It's only five feet tall, making it not
> >a 'true' giraffe
>
> Where did you learn that? I think yours is a true giraffe! And a nice
> one at that.
>



John Foss. Apparently the original Schwinns were called giraffes, and
so from my understanding, for it to be a 'true' giraffe it has to be
six feet tall.


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[flyer]

shibumi wrote:
> Justonewheel and I did this to a TX back in June. It is extremely hard
> to ride and even harder to stop. Plus, going that fast on a giraffe is
> very dangerous. It's a lot safer to use a 21 tooth sproket for a 26"
> wheel equivalant (i think thats right).
>
> Did the bike shop use loktite? Wouldn't want that sprocket to loosen
> up while riding. Good luck with it.



It is very hard to ride. That's most of the reason I did it. I can't
rolling-mount it anymore because I can't apply backwards pressure to
the wheel, or even keep the wheel still using only my legs. I think I'm
going to have to install a brake to be able to freemount. No, I'm not
sure how that will work. :o

I gave specific instructions to the mechanic to crank the lockrings on
as tight as possible. They put the thing together when it arrived from
Torker, so they know how tight it has to be.


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[Klaas Bil]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:21:29 -0600, flyer wrote:

>John Foss. Apparently the original Schwinns were called giraffes, and
>so from my understanding, for it to be a 'true' giraffe it has to be
>six feet tall.

Then John contradicts himself on his page
http://www.unicycling.com/garage/giraffe.htm . The first sentence
there reads:

"A giraffe unicycle is one with a chain, or one where the crank arms
are not attached directly to the axle."

BTW, the latter part of that statement seems wrong, with geared unis
becoming available. So maybe the first part is wrong, too :-) .

Schwinn may have claimed the "giraffe" name, just as Pashley have
claimed the "Muni" name. But the world moves on, and those are generic
terms now. If you still want to respect Schwinn's claim to the name,
then for something to be a 'true' giraffe it has to be a Schwinn, not
(just) six feet tall.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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