riding a 29er w/ GB4 handle

It is the same on a 29er or coker. It just takes time, the smoother you
can spin the easier it is to hold on with both hands. Just put in some
miles and you will be doing it in no time.

--
tendon
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Practice riding with hands in your pockets. It's the same thing, you
wobble with both hands on your handle because you're using your free arm
to balance still.

At least if it's the same balance-wise as 2 hand holding a normal saddle
anyway, which I'd guess it is, it seemed like it on the coker one I
briefly tried.

Joe

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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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joemarshall said:

*Practice riding with hands in your pockets.

Joe *

WARNING!

Riding with your hands in your pockets can be hazardous to your face.

-mg

--
mgrant - Ever hoping for the best!

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of
breath, and one day closer to death.
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mgrant said:

*WARNING!

Riding with your hands in your pockets can be hazardous to your face.

-mg *

And your elbows...

You wont be able to get your hands out in time and then kafwhooomp flat
on your face/elbows with nasty roadrash/bruises.

--
Catboy - RIP Unibiker

'I have the amazing power to talk to cats! =^.^='
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Catboy)

RIP Unibiker
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just practice. or put your hands on your hips or thighs. same idea. but
seriously that handle is an awesome invention for distance riding. just
takes a bit to get comfortable with both hands on it.

--
markf - movie nerd

stuck in iowa and unemployed.
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mgrant said:

*WARNING!

Riding with your hands in your pockets can be hazardous to your face.

-mg *

Weird, I've never thought of that, but now you say it, I can see it'd be
harder to land. I've ridden much of the way to work with hands in
pockets a few times when I've forgotten my gloves and got cold hands. I
guess the trick is to ride within your limits when you're practicing
silly things like that. If you don't fall off, it doesn't hurt.
Alternatively cross your arms, put your hands on your sides, put your
hands on your head, or just practice with the handle.

Joe

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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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I ride with the GB4 handle on my 29er, and it took me a little while
getting used to riding with smoothly with it. I find myself only using
one hand when I am going off a curb or riding down a steep hill. It
just takes practice and experience to use the handles for whatever you
are doing, but they do help a lot for long distance.

--
siafirede - straight edge in your face
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teachndad said:

*Hi,

I just mounted a 'GB4 Handle '
(http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=576) on my 29er and
took it for a quick spin. I noticed a real big problem trying to ride
steadily when I put both hands on the handle.

Err, when going out for a test run, I was wiggling all over the place
trying to ride in a straight line. I had to constantly take one hand
off to get my balance back.

Is this normal? Is it possible to ride a 29er with both hands on that
handle at the same time for more than a few seconds. 😕
Arrrgh!

Thanks *

There is less leverage compared with the original KH style seat, so if
you like using your arms to hold yourself steady and in line (like me)
you will wiggle around a lot. It really is designed more to rest your
weight on comfortably, rather than being able to yank hard on.

I modified my handle slightly by adding a sawn off bar end to the end of
my GB handle. It doesn't improve the leverage much but it does give you
more hand positioning:

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GizmoDuck - NZUNI

o-kO
'www.adventureunicyclist.com' (http://www.adventureunicyclist.com/)

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Thanks(all) again for the practice advice and the confirmation that it's
doable with some practice.

I currently ride with those Schwinn 140mm cranks that have a high Q
factor, not to mention weigh a ton. Is it worth it to change down to
some 125mm Bike Euro cranks that I have in my parts bin? The BE's have
a noticebly lower Q factor.

I am really comfy with the 140's in regards to their length, but also,
the cranks are almost to the bearing holders. If I pull them off, and
remount them, I think they are going to hit the bearing holder. If that
happens, then I have to reorder and ...

Cheers

--
teachndad - aka The Munieer

Rod Wylie

'MountainUnicyclingLA.com' (http://www.mountainunicycling.us)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Images' (http://tinyurl.com/4otql)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Descriptions'
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Incidentally, I'm loving the new thicker KH handle at the moment. It's
not as good as the GB handle for resting on while riding fast, but with
the thicker handle you can get a pretty good grip with both hands and
ride in a tuck yet still have a super powerful grip for one handed use
if you go offroad or whatever.

Joe

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Teachndad, I have the 140 Doteks on my 'urban MUni' and I find them a
nice compromise between 127's and 150's. But on my 29'er with the Big
Apple I really prefer 127's. The uni is faster and more nimble with
this crank length, I find.

I am really interested in your progress with the handle. I am thinking
seriously of a handle for long distance riding on my 29'er as well
especially now that I have a BA for the uni.

Is your 29'er KH seat an air seat and are you running a BA as well?
What distances do you consider to be 'long distance' riding on the
29'er? Does the handle seem to add much weight to the 29'er and any
problems with it making the uni feel a little unweildy?

--
Erin - Onewheeler

Ride more, with less.
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teachndad
-I would recommend using 125's, that is what I have been using on my
29er, you get a higher average speed and cruising seems easier.

Erin
-The handle doesnt really add much weight, not enough to really effect
your riding.

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Erin said:

*
Is your 29'er KH seat an air seat and are you running a BA as well?
What distances do you consider to be 'long distance' riding on the
29'er? Does the handle seem to add much weight to the 29'er and any
problems with it making the uni feel a little unweildy? *

Erin,

I am using an older Miyata seat with the plastic base. Inside is a seat
stiffener. For the airseat, I just shoved an inner tube inside the
actual puke green seat cover with some bubble wrap on top and reclipped
the seat cover to the plastic base. It has no air pillow inside to
insert the inner tube.

For me long distances would be anything over 10 miles. In reality, a
long distance ride would be about 8 miles. I have some overused knees
and anything after 5 miles creates pain, but is rideable, but
uncomfortable. So, I ride mostly 3 - 5 miles.

The handle I guess weighs about 9 oz. That's just a real big guess.
Call Unicycle.com and have them put one on the scale to check. I agree
with Siaferedy that,overall, you don't notice the added weight at all.
It does not make the uni feel unwieldy. If I ride without both hands on
the handle, I would never even know it was there. The wiggles (not the
kid rock group) I got are from having the center of gravity so close in
and from what everyone says, it's just another thing to practice and
have the body get used to.

I am running a Motoraptor on it, not a BIG Apple. I have a uni
friend(Hi Al) not far away that has a BA on his newly purchased 29er and
I want to try that first before going with the BA. But I am very happy
with the Motoraptor. I originally wanted to do fire roads with the
29er, but later found I liked more technical MUni more and have gone
that route instead. But tendonitis in the arms has put MUni out of
reach for a while, so I took the 29er out of mothballs to ride and
cruise the streets and boulevards where I live to get my UNi riding
"fix". I wanted the handle to be used to place my hands to give my arms
a position to relax.

I did have one concern and that was if I dump the uni, the handle hits
first and that might dent the tubes. I am currenly looking for some
light weight bar end caps to put in the tubes of the handle that point
up just for that reason.

BTW, directions, if needed for mounting the handle are at George Barnes'
website at 'GB4MFG.com' (http://www.gb4mfg.com). Click on the GB4
symbol to get in. But that is with a Miyata style CF base.

Ride on!

--
teachndad - aka The Munieer

Rod Wylie

'MountainUnicyclingLA.com' (http://www.mountainunicycling.us)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Images' (http://tinyurl.com/4otql)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Descriptions'
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Excellent, thanks for the detailed explanations Rod! It is very helpful
to me as I am in the process of gearing up, quite literally, for some
longer-distance 29'er riding.

Currently I am running the BA that I got as a Xmas gift and riding about
10 - 12 km quite regularly. And that is a comfortable set up though I
only have a regular, first vintage, Kh seat with no air conversion or
rail adapters. I am wanting to do longer all day or two, three day,
29'er tours so think that a handle would be a very necessary addition in
order to allow for shifting pressure points while riding for numerous
hours at a time.

But the seat base will be an issuse with the GB handle so I am leaning
more towards a design like Dave Stockton and JC's handles.

I'll keep the gang posted as I make any progress in setting up my long
distance 29'er.

--
Erin - Onewheeler

Ride more, with less.
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