Shock absorbers?

[patmoore]

Please pardon a question that's probably been answered several times
before. I'm fairly new at this.

I was watching Kris Holm and Nathan Hoover's trip through Bhutan on OLN
lTV ast night and was struck by the incredible skill they displayed.
The impact they endured on some of those drops must have been bone
jarring! Do their MUnis have some sort of shock absorber like the Rok
Shox on my mountain bike?

Pat Moore

p.s. I just got my new KH seat last night. Nice!


--
patmoore

"When you're over the hill, you pick up speed!"

"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."
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[underdog]

No shock absorbers on their unis. They just know how to land their
drops. I have heard of, but never seen, unicycles being fitted with a
shock absorbing seat post. I've seen the shock seatposts in bicycle
catalogs but I don't know if they're the right diameter to fit a uni
without modification.


--
underdog - level 1 rider

toast is god's way of saying 'eat more butter'
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[hecklar]

A non-uniing friend of mine was asking me about the same thing the other
day, so here's the explanation:

Riding over insignificant bumps: weight on seat (i guess)
Landing/riding over everything else: weight on pedals

Thus, the seatpost shocks would be good to smooth out the insignificant
bumps on the trails (and maybe to soften the blow of being slammed down
onto your seat after screwing up a big drop), but that's about it.

If you wanted shocks for (big) drops, they would have to go somewhere
between your feet and the tire, because the force travels: tire <> rim
<> spokes <> hub <> cranks <> pedals <> you. And, as i'm sure you've
just imagined, applying shocks to any of those parts makes little
sense.

As a solution, KH and everybody else just bend their knees to absorb the
impact of the drops. They have no choice.

Hope this explains it.


--
hecklar
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[patmoore]

Okay - thanks for the responses. Still seems like a little "give" under
the seat would help but I'm unlikely to ever have to experience the
need. At 58 I should be content wtih just cruising.

Pat


--
patmoore

"When you're over the hill, you pick up speed!"

"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."
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[johnfoss]

The main shock absorbtion for Kris and Nathan is their 3.0" Gazzalodi
tires. If you're riding on a regular sized tire, you've got to try one
of those to feel the difference!

That said, many of us have tried suspension seat posts. They are useful
for seated riding, but obviously not drops or technical riding, because
you aren't sitting down for those anyway.


--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com

"Read the rules!"
'IUF Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/)
'USA Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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[beelzebub of balance]

"Cruising" is when you DO have weight on the seat--and it's nice to have
a suspension post. I sometimes use the Cane Creek Thudbuster when I'm
riding a 700 size tire with fairly high pressure.

When I'm off road I use a 3 inch Gazz tire, which has all the suspension
I could want.

David


--
beelzebub of balance - Junior Member of the Universe

"When caught between two evils I generally pick the one I've never tried
before." Mae West

David Maxfield
Mitchell, SD
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[munimanpete]

I used to have a uni with shocks in the frame (see my website
www.muniman.2ya.com for some pics of it)
Though I wouldn't really recommend it, like whats been said it only
makes insignificant bumps smoother, but I found it made the frame weak
and it broke twice?!?! So yes uni's with shocks are out there but like
John said, your best schock abosrbers are you tires :D


--
munimanpete - mocacycle

WWW.MUNIMAN.2YA.COM

*www.unicycle.2ya.com*
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[Ken Cline]

I also find an air seat to be more forgiving than foam when doing
modest drops (say 2 feet or less). Don't know about big drops,
though.

Ken

[Borges]

You reduce impact by bending forward at the hip when you impact, and by
rolling out of a drop. Combined with the 3" cushion in the tire alot of
the shock is absorbed before it becomes bone jarring; if your technique
is good enough.


--
Borges

"However, I confess that the ultimate wheel lacks the day to day
practicality of the conventional unicycle" -Mikefule
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[Worminton]

Real unicyclists use their knees as shock absorbers. Kinda odd though
how I almost broke my arm doing a drop a month ago.


--
Worminton - That's my art.

Dude is to Man as "Fo scnizel my nizel" is to "i whole heartedly agree
my African American Brother."

I own a new Chromatic Harmonica.

"LIES!!!!LIES!!!!!THE TV IS NOTHING BUT LIES!!!!!"
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[TonyMelton]

There are a number of suspension unicycle frames made by Creative
Geckos. One has an elastomer and the others rely on the flex of titanium
fork legs. See 'the Creative Geckos page' (http://tinyurl.com/460n).
The suspension Coker was designed for Bronson Silva. Has anyone
ridden one of these? Is the suspension useful?



+0|\|y


--
TonyMelton - www.unicycle.co.nz

See some photos of the first 'NZ MUni Weekend'
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/NZ-MUni-Weekend-2004)
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[Dave]

Pat,
Curious, your profile at www.unicyclist.com/profile/7356 shows your
birthdate as Dec 31/69 and your age as 58..

Now, my birthdate is Dec 3/50 . I have started to learn how to ride my
unicycle and worry how old this will make me..

Dave Carlson

[mikepenton]

Dave wrote:
> *Pat,
> Curious, your profile at www.unicyclist.com/profile/7356 shows your
> birthdate as Dec 31/69 and your age as 58..
>
> Now, my birthdate is Dec 3/50 . I have started to learn how to ride
> my
> unicycle and worry how old this will make me..
>
> Dave Carlson
> *


It'll be all the time travelling...


--
mikepenton - up to 35 characters
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[one wheeled stallion]

I'm sure KH has a suspension seat post in Universe... But then he didn't
have a 3" tyre, did he?


--
one wheeled stallion - Guerilla Unicyclist

OWS

"...I explain briefly to him that such conduct leaves him vulnerable to
accusations of being an idiot. We part as enemies" - Mikefule


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[patmoore]

That's weird.... I checked my user cp and I have it entered correctly.
Date of birth is Oct. 25, 1946 (technically I don't turn 58 for another
2 months) but when you click on my profile it reads December 31, 1969.
Heck, I was already married then!

Still married but not to the same lady. 24 years to the first one, then
8 years off for good behavior.....


P.


--
patmoore - Snowboard Racer

"When you're over the hill, you pick up speed!"

"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."
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[Klaas Bil]

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 07:52:19 -0500, "patmoore" wrote:

>That's weird.... I checked my user cp and I have it entered correctly.
>Date of birth is Oct. 25, 1946 (technically I don't turn 58 for another
>2 months) but when you click on my profile it reads December 31, 1969.

It's a well-known bug in the software. Internally, the date is stored
correctly (as you can see in our user cp) but on the profile it
displays as Dec 31, 1969 for all the folks born in the 60's or
earlier. But hey, doesn't it feel good to be 34?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
I like the idea of not having to balance when out on a ride - joe