Giraffe gliding (unintentional)

I've been experimenting with the gearing on my homemade giraffe, to see
how fast I can go. It's got a 24" MTB wheel, with the freewheel welded,
and I left all the sprockets on. My great idea was to get used to it,
then move the chain up a gear, and try again, etc. I got as far as a 32"
effective wheel diameter, (which really moves) when the tack weld
blocking the freewheel gave way. Unfortunately I was on a slight
downslope, so i did an impromptu freewheel glide for around 15' before I
came off. Strangely painful wrists and elbows this morning...

Pic of my nasty looking handywork (now has proper, homemade, tensioner
dropouts, not as pictured)
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuu71


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joemc - borderline sociopath
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That's quite impressive. How hard was it to control at the "geared up"?
How in the world did you manage to stay up while gliding? Was there
any resistance, or was it just really fast?
What was that dismount like?

On a side note, that frame looks strangely like a Hunter:


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daino149 - How's it going, Texas?

there ain't enough body armor in the country for me to try that. -- Ken
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Ouch, get some wrist and elbow guards for future speed runs. Even if the
hub holds in the future there is always the chance of a high speed
forward fall into a superman slide.

Sounds like you're working your way up in the gear ratios. I have a 20"
wheel geared 2/1 for a 40" equivalent.

I don't ride it often, my only injury so far is from when I was getting
used to it after a long period of non-use. Because of the light wheel
and the large gear the wheel tends to "shoot" out in front because the
wheel has traveled twice as far as your brain thinks it it going to. One
time it really shot forward, I went straight down and my leg hit the
chain ring. Only a little pain and a grease sprocket tatoo. No permanent
tatoo.

Keep us posted on your progress.


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UniBrier - Its Time to Ride

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What a cool giraffe. Are you going to reweld the freewheel and try
again?

UniBrier's giraffe is actually pretty easy to ride. It's REALLY
difficult to mount and, surprisingly, to dismount. I had a hard time
predicting where the rascal would go when I got off.

Are you freemounting this thing? Do you find it hard to dismount with a
large effective wheel diameter?


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harper - Old dog, no tricks

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Hey, If you welded some pegs to the side where the seat was just above
the pedal clearance you could glide, that would be awesome. it would be
the first giraffe glide ive ever seen. But definetely a cool
thingymabobbit.


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thats really cool!
there is another story about unintentional giraffe gliding
i wasnt there, but i will throw out the word "freewheel"
talk to ender about it, i'll try and get him to post it for you


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Bonduranto - Awesome(but not at uniing)

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asked, 'May I suggest putting it into one wheel drive?'
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-------How hard was it to control at the "geared up"? How in the world
did you manage to stay up while gliding?------

It's easy enough to ride once you get up to speed, but very counter
intuitive setting off, it keeps shooting out from underneath.
I didn't so much 'manage to stay up' whilst freewheeling, more I
'happened to stay up', briefly. By the time I'd twigged what was going
on, gravity had helped itself to a greater share of the equation, and I
was landing backwards onto my hands. I got away with minor bruises and
aching wrists.

With the freewheel fully seam welded, I took it along to the unimeet
where a few others had a go, geared to 36". Roger tried to freemount it,
but the cluster loosened from it's thread (I'd spent hours trying to
make it do this!)

I'm confident it can be ridden at much higher gearings (60"?), but needs
the cluster welding on tight, and plenty of body armour. Could do with a
new heavy duty chain, as it's taking some serious forces, also needs
some 'prettying up' too.....


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joemc - borderline sociopath
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if you remove the freewheel and smear epoxy all over it and inject some
into the bearing housings, it'll hold. that's what I did on my
home-made artistic bike. use 2-ton epoxy, not quick set


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