A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » rec.bicycles » Unicycling
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 7th 09, 04:31 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
GizmoDuck
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 811
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


I've just put up another article on Adventure Unicyclist, but thought
I'd share it on RSU. For photos of the setup:

'Road Unicycle Setup and T7 Handle Modification'
(http://www.adventureunicyclist.com/?page_id=263)

_____________________________________
Cut and pasted from AU without pictures:

I've been going on a fair bit about what I think is an ideal road
unicycle set up is. I've also been experimenting and, so far, I'm pretty
happy with the theory that road unicycles should be set up with a
similar riding position to a bicyclist.

Why?

Bicyclists have been riding long tours/races for many years, but until
the advent of 36" wheels, long distance road unicycling was so tedius
that not many people did it for fun! Unicycles were designed to do
tricks with, not for riding for extended periods. You can sit on a bike
and pedal away for hours, yet even the most comfortable unicycle seats
cause crotch discomfort relatively quickly.

What's the difference between a bicycle and unicycle? A bike
distributes weight evenly between the handlebar and the seat, and the
seat does not curve upwards to wedge against your crotch. The handlebar
keeps you from sliding off the front of the bike seat. Unicycles are far
too upright. All the weight is on your crotch.

A lower position also gives greater stability by lowering your centre
of gravity.

There have been various attempts at handlebars on unicycles, but I have
yet to see a production bar that stretches you out like on a bike. The
closest thing is probably the T7 handlebar, but it is far too upright
and much too short.

If you look at photos of people riding the T7 ((there are nice ones of
Chuck Edwall pg 17 and also of Jan Longeman pg 31 in the current Issue 7
Unicycle Magazine Dec08/Jan09), you’ll see that the T7 is up against
their chest. It is like riding the Graeme Obree style Hour Record Time
Trial position. Very aerodynamic, but with your elbow flexed at more
than 90 degrees not that great for control or comfort.

Having a more stretched position is NOT about getting a Time-trial like
position either. What I'm advocating is a position that has your back
fairly straight, about 45 degrees, elbows slightly bent with arms
relaxed. If you imagine superimposing someone riding a bike on a
unicycle; that is the position I’m talking about.

We have seen various extension set-ups, from custom ones to production
versions like the T7. None of them are satisfactory, because of the need
to have long things sticking out from the frame with no support. They
are often overbuilt in order to maintain strength, at the expense of
weight and a higher centre of gravity.

The solution would be to create a V-frame. Instead of having one fork
leg, there are two, coming out as a V from the bearing holders. The
front fork allows a stem to be clamed onto, whilst the back fork leg
would hold the seatpost. We have already seen a couple of examples of
this, in Pete Perons Purple Phaze unicycle. However, until we get a
production V-frame, we're stuck with trying to use long handles.

With this in mind, I set about modifying my T-7. Conveniently, it has a
T-bar at the back. I have never been able to figure out what it was for,
until I realised that it was designed to allow you to mount the seat
further back!

This allows a more stretched out position without actually
overextending the handlebar, which would weaken the design.

I have used a bike seat, with a BMX clamp. But I'm sure with some
creative bolting, it would be possible to put a regular unicycle seat in
there. The bar was also wrapped in regular road bike grip tape (not
shown).

The test:

I took the unicycle out for a spin. First off it was interesting to
mount as the seat is positioned much further back from the handle. It
didnt' take too long to get used to it however and I was off.

The first thing I noticed was how comfortable it was straight away. My
weight was evenly distributed between my hands and the seat. With this
set-up, I felt like I could ride it all day, just like my bike. It’s
still not quite long enough or low enough to be a bike position though.
It felt cramped compared with a bike, but was a vast improvement. It’s
kind of like riding a bike with a short top-tube and an upright
handlebar (A plea to Mr Nimbus: please get rid of that rise in the
T7…it's horrible!).

However, it was vast improvement on just about any other bar I've
ridden on a unicycle. It felt very natural and bike-like to the point
where I was craving for a set of drop bars and hoods!

The main problem I encountered was nothing to do with the T7 at all. It
was caused by the wide KH36" frame consistently whacking against my
knees when using this position. The square corners are particularly
painful! It took a fair amount of adjustment of the seat (mainly pushing
it back on the rails and angling the whole thing upwards) to try and
minimise this, but I still ended up riding with a somewhat bow legged
position.

Other issues were to do with slowing down, but I didn't get a chance to
test it on any hills. I suspect that the braking power would be somewhat
limited, not by having a stretched out handlebar, but by how upright the
T7 is. There is not much leverage to pull up as your elbows are already
quite flexed from the upright T7. Again, if the T7 was lower (hence
elbows less bent), that would improve the pulling power. It may be that
you would need also to run brakes and ride this more like a bike anyway
(ie use your brakes to slow down rather than leg backpressure).

Turning was interesting because of the bike seat. There is much less
material to push against with your thighs. It was more dependent on
leaning your body and handlebar. Again, not too dissimilar to riding a
bike.

In summary, I think the more stretched out bike like position works
great on a road unicycle. The T7 can be modified to get closer to that
position, but it's still too upright and too cramped to be directly
comparable.


--
GizmoDuck

The Induni Unicycle Tour 2009. Unicycle Tour of India. Email me for
details. www.induni.adventureunicyclist.com
The Uninam Tour 2008.....Hanoi to Saigon!!! www.uninam.net
The SINZ Unicycle Tour 2007....South Island, New Zealand
www.sinzuni.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GizmoDuck's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/794
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
Ads
  #2  
Old January 7th 09, 04:34 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
GizmoDuck
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 811
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


On second thoughts, I'll attach the pics here too, but you'll have to
fit it into the text above.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: T7 Clamp3.jpg |
|Download: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/30798 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

--
GizmoDuck

The Induni Unicycle Tour 2009. Unicycle Tour of India. Email me for
details. www.induni.adventureunicyclist.com
The Uninam Tour 2008.....Hanoi to Saigon!!! www.uninam.net
The SINZ Unicycle Tour 2007....South Island, New Zealand
www.sinzuni.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GizmoDuck's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/794
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #3  
Old January 7th 09, 04:55 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
agentQ
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 931
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


Wow, I just did this same exact thing a couple of days ago. Tho, with
lack of a bike seat I just made a make shift cushion to get the feel for
it.

I, as well, thought that it felt quite nice, tho I did not trust the
strength of that part of the T7.


--
agentQ

---
'Uneed Films' (http://www.uneedfilms.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
agentQ's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13021
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #4  
Old January 7th 09, 05:08 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
eenwieler-sander
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


looking good gizmoduck

althought i dont understand why you would like to use a unicycle seat?
on my test set up using a bicycle seat i liked it very much
foto: http://tinyurl.com/6tu6ub

+ point on the v shape frames that would be a nice thing
but i wonder if it would really work have to try it

its good to see that there are more people working on design
inprovements


--
eenwieler-sander
------------------------------------------------------------------------
eenwieler-sander's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10956
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #5  
Old January 7th 09, 05:21 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
GizmoDuck
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 811
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


eenwieler-sander;1166220 wrote:
looking good gizmoduck

althought i dont understand why you would like to use a unicycle seat?
on my test set up using a bicycle seat i liked it very much
foto: http://tinyurl.com/6tu6ub




I'm not using a unicycle seat. I'm using a bike seat.

I think I could use a unicycle seat, but it was easy to mount the bike
seat because I had the bracket attachments sitting in my toolshed at the
time. I'd need to find someway of attaching a unicycle seat before I
can try it with this set-up


--
GizmoDuck

The Induni Unicycle Tour 2009. Unicycle Tour of India. Email me for
details. www.induni.adventureunicyclist.com
The Uninam Tour 2008.....Hanoi to Saigon!!! www.uninam.net
The SINZ Unicycle Tour 2007....South Island, New Zealand
www.sinzuni.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GizmoDuck's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/794
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #6  
Old January 7th 09, 05:45 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
eenwieler-sander
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 61
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


why just use the bike seat?

i guess you can ride it alsow with a bike seat or what is the problem
that you have to use a unicycle seat?


--
eenwieler-sander
------------------------------------------------------------------------
eenwieler-sander's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10956
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #7  
Old January 7th 09, 06:03 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
Jerrick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,353
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


I would think that the more positioned we get to a bike position, a bike
seat is going to offer better comfort than a regular uni seat.

Looks sweet. Finally found what that end piece of the T7 was for.


--
Jerrick

*Press Alt+F4 to fix post
stretch.*[SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC][SIGPIC]JC~
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerrick's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11632
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #8  
Old January 7th 09, 06:44 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
monocyclism
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 15
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


GizmoDuck;1166205 wrote:

The solution would be to create a V-frame. Instead of having one fork
leg, there are two, coming out as a V from the bearing holders. The
front fork allows a stem to be clamed onto, whilst the back fork leg
would hold the seatpost....




Do you mean like this?

http://www.glacierview.net/geowinters/balancePage.html


--
monocyclism
------------------------------------------------------------------------
monocyclism's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/18770
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #9  
Old January 7th 09, 09:04 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
naturequack
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


Ken,
Your novel use of the T7 looks like a great way to figure out what
spacing, angles and general configuration of extended handlebars would
work well. Given the T7's history of breaking it also looks scary. Can
the "T" part of the T7 really support that much weight?
How is your V frame construction going? I am eager to see and pictures
or diagrams.
Maybe next week I can take some pictures of what a tuck looks like on
my "Florian Green" V frame built by Pete Perron. That might also be
helpful in showing what distances and angles work well. But I'm off
building igloos for the next few days so it will have to wait.
Keep up the good work in unicycle R & D.

Geoff


--
naturequack

monocycle monstrosity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
naturequack's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/16649
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
  #10  
Old January 7th 09, 09:18 PM posted to rec.sport.unicycling
BoojiBoy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 64
Default Road Unicycle Set-Up and T7 Handle Modification


I like the idea and your solution looks pretty sweet. With a bike
though, you can put your weight on the handlebars and stretch out front
because the front to back balance isn't an issue. Bicyclists really only
have to balance side to side, and momentum even takes care of that. With
a unicycle, even on a 36" wheel at cruising speed, we're still have to
stay balanced in all directions which is why it's harder to take the
weight off your crotch.

I like the DIY mod/hack arrangement you came up with, but I think
you're right that the V-frame is a more ideal set-up. I can already see
a see-saw effect on those T7 rails as a disaster waiting to happen. That
part is weak enough as it is. I tend to pull of on my t7 quite a bit
when going uphill. I definitely see some snapped rails in your future.
Keep up the experimentation though. I like where you're going with it.


--
BoojiBoy

----------------------------------
dreamrapper.wordpress.com
www.unicyclemax.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BoojiBoy's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3923
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/75372


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
New coker unicycle handlebar / handle corbin Unicycling 7 November 30th 07 03:35 AM
New coker unicycle handlebar / handle corbin Unicycling 20 November 29th 07 11:55 AM
Cracked KH handle from road UPD slugbath Unicycling 5 March 17th 07 09:53 PM
Cracked KH handle from road UPD iridemymuni Unicycling 0 March 17th 07 07:01 AM
Crazy Unicycle Modification Ideas al.dyne Unicycling 54 December 4th 06 06:38 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:28 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.