Tutorial: How do convert a bike!

Interesting..

Before i got into unicycling and such, i made my own. It was a 5'
girrafe made out of an old bicycle. It was pretty sturdy, considering i
made it without welding. However it could only go forwards and i only
went about 2 feet on it because i'd never ridden a unicycle before. Not
the smartest of ideas. To anybody keen on making their own giraffe out
of a bike, i reccomend WELDING IT.

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iridemymuni

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Welding the hub to lock it would a viable option but my welding skills
were not good enough to have it last.

Here's a photo of the older hub's lockout:

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|Filename: hub lockout.jpg |
|Download: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/13680 |
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UNIquelyCanadian

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In your vid you made the uni with a standard mountain bike. Do you think
that a BMX would be able to be converted just as easily?

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Dom_Proctor
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Dom_Proctor said:

In your vid you made the uni with a standard mountain bike. Do you think
that a BMX would be able to be converted just as easily?

As far as I know, a bmx would require a weld to lock out the hub. The
wire solution would not work. You need a bike with several gears in the
back to do the wiring lockout.

However with a welder it only takes one bead to lock it out.

A BMX frame would be fine, I think you would need another front fork
though.

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UNIquelyCanadian

~Cameron
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“When someone tells you there is no such thing as truth, they are
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"Dom_Proctor" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

In your vid you made the uni with a standard mountain bike. Do you

think

Quoted message said:

that a BMX would be able to be converted just as easily?

I've had a plan for some time about converting a BMX in to a giraffe,
however, it would be a lot more simple than that though. All that would
need to be done is to change the freewheel sprocket for the largest
fixed wheel sprocket you can find, put a smaller chainring on the front
(errr... top) crank, and put a saddle parallel to the headset. That way
you have a fixed wheel BMX that you can actually ride as a bike, and a
giraffe unicycle too.

I can't imagine that mounting in congenitally would be viable, but there
are enough BMX tricks out there already that I'm sure some kind of
flashy ride > wheelie > Cherry Picker > Unicycle move combo could be
worked out eventually.

STM (already with a pair of Skyways waiting for the time to start)

how do you weld a multi-geared back hub so it locks out?

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iridemymuni

In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory, in
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Depending on the hub (i.e. how new and expensive it may or may not be),
you might be able to do it without completely trashing it. Fixed gear
bikes are much like unicycles, and I think they're pretty cool. You can
set them up using what's called a gear cassette, on newer shimano rear
hub doodads. The older stuff you're going to find, in the 12-speed road
bike and cheapo walmart bike type stuff is going to probably require a
special tool/have threaded and non cassette gears on the back. Sheldon
brown's bike pages explains this really well. I have a trash bike I
think I'm going to try this on now 😄

--
flyer
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Okay, I've examined the video a bit closer. I'm not sure how you've
attached the seat (which is made of the front fork, right?) to the
frame. Would it be possible to get a complete step-by step of this? I
promise I'll post pictures once mine is done!

--
flyer
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What a cool project and video. Do you get much backlash from the twisted
wire lockout? Did you use a clothes hanger, it looks kind of like that
type of wire?

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harper

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B L U E S H I F T

*jc is the only main man. there can be no other.*

This is still my nth post....*AWESOME!!!*
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Nice video.
I made one of these from a kids bike with 16" wheels. It is geared for
two wheel revs per pedal rev and is stupidly fast and dangerous, but
only took about an hour to learn, despite having never ridden a giraffe
before.
We welded the hub's freewheel and quickly found we had to weld the
whole sprocket/freewheel to the hub to stop it from unscrewing under
backpedalling. Ended up melting some spokes!
I will try and find a pic if i can.

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rich

Unicycle for Queen and Country
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If you're willing to spend about £20 on a new hub (or find someone with
a disc hub where the freewheel has broken so they don't want it), you
can do this.

http://www.63xc.com/jasom/milldisc.htm

It's pretty similar to the way the nimbus giraffe does it.

I don't know if there's something obvious that stops it, but would it
be possible to do this with a front bike disc hub, which would be
cheaper, and have a more centred wheel? You might have to bend the
frame in order to change the spacing, or do something with some spacers
to make the hub fit in a wider frame?

Apparently the disc brake thing is more solid than welding your
freewheel on.

Joe

--
joemarshall

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
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Okay guys, i had a look down the shed and it turns out i have a nice 12"
wheel with a gear on it, however it freewheels and has back pedal
brake. I've also got a frame and various other bits of metal to make
the frame out of. Now for my question.

Which bit do i weld on this hub/gear so that it locks it and do i take
out the brake inside of the hub?

thanks

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iridemymuni

In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory, in
practice, there is.
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ohhhh ok then. It looks like i will start making a giraffe uni out of my
old BMX. Or i could buy a cheap bike from a car boot sale i suppose.

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Dom_Proctor
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iridemymuni said:

Okay guys, i had a look down the shed and it turns out i have a nice 12"
wheel with a gear on it, however it freewheels and has back pedal
brake. I've also got a frame and various other bits of metal to make
the frame out of. Now for my question.

Which bit do i weld on this hub/gear so that it locks it and do i take
out the brake inside of the hub?

thanks

*Very carefully *take the hub apart and remove the largest piece which
is the back brake mechanism, then reassemble the hub. Weld a bead where
the part that backpedals meets the part that doesn't so they are one.

There is next to no slop in the lockout, I have more play in the
stretching chain then in the hub/gear attachment. However, longer you
ride it more slop I get, it defiantly isn't a permanent fix, every few
rides you need to add/tighten the wires. However it is a economical
easy fix.

The disk lockout seems to be a more permanent fix, but is costly.
Welding, for me, is more time consuming and obviously requires
specialized equipment. I tried to come up with a design most people
could make with little cost and limited access to tools.

Here's a photo of where the frame should/could attach. Hope that helps!

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|Filename: frame.jpg |
|Download: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/13692 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

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UNIquelyCanadian

~Cameron
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“When someone tells you there is no such thing as truth, they are
asking you not to believe them. So don’t.”
- Dr. Roger Scruton
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tis it possibal to make it like a normal uni

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JUNGAUNI

Quoted message said:

<> Unicycle for Christ <><

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Could you repost the animated GIF somewhere? I'm curious about what you
did. Someone from my club is talking about making his own giraffe this
summer, and it'd be interesting to see what others have done.

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paul.klapperich
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