BungleBanks said:*It seems to me that everyone's doing crazy little mods to them. rnt
cokers good enuf as they are? or am i going nuts LOL i know people do
lotsa mods to regular unis but thats silly!*
The only real answer to the coker vs. giraffe question is "Both, but
Coker first..." 🙂 Giraffe is gratuitous uni, but Coker is essential
transportation.
To your other question, I'm sure others will jump in with more detailed
responses, but here are my thoughts as someone that has made (or at
least paid for) many modifications.
1) For basic distance riding, there is nothing "wrong" with a stock
Coker. I think most people with stock Cokers are perfectly happy, as was
I when I had one. People are putting thousands of miles on them with no
problems. BUT...there are two issues with the stock Coker that tend to
drive most of the modifications.
2) The first and most common modification is a seat and handle upgrade.
Look at what the stock one comes with...a basic hard seat and no handle.
Not very compatable with distance riding and long saddle time. Some
type of airseat is a huge improvement here, as is at least a basic
handle addition like the GB4, which not only gives you a way to get some
of your weight off the seat occassionally, it also gives you leverage
for climbs or descents, and a place to mount your computer.
3) The second and less common (but more expensive) set of modifications
involve upgrades to the rim, to the hub and rim, or to the hub, rim, and
frame. The stock Coker rim and narrow hub, combined with the large
wheel diameter, make it weak overall. Maybe Brian McK will post a link
to his famous video illustrating this weakness.
In addition to overall weakness, the stock rim is flexy, which makes
smooth braking a challenge. Not everyone wants or needs a brake, so not
everyone cares about this. My knees are a horrorshow, and I need a
brake, so the upgrade was key for me. The combination of the custom
Airfoil rims and one of the new wide hubs makes the wheel much stiffer
and stronger, which helps both for braking, and for rough terrain or
small drops which could taco a stock rim.
As for frame upgrades, I think a lot of them are driven by the
combination of the extra-wide hub, which doesn't fit the stock Coker
frame. Plus the nice custom frames like the GB4 or Hunter are stiffer
and more durable. Plus they're just eye candy...very nice to look at and
very cool to own. http://gallery.unicyclist.com/GB4-36-custom/IMG_0632
I remember a post from Nathan (which I can't find now) where he talked
about all the different iterations of coker setup he had. I think his
summary was that the wide hub and airfoil rim upgrade had the single
biggest effect on the performance and stability of the distance machine.
I can't say from my own experience, as I did my upgrade all at once,
going from a stock coker with airseat to a GB4 36 with U-Turn's
"Strongest Coker Wheel" and other bell$ and whi$tle$.
I can't say for sure whether having the nicer setup has made the
difference, but my cokering ability has improved significantly since
getting the custom machine. That might just be because I've now put
twice as many miles on it as I had on my original stock setup.
So to net that out, I'd say unless you _know_ you're committed to
putting serious distance on the thing, and will be riding on rough
terrain, and will be wanting a brake, a stock Coker with an airseat and
handle upgrade should be quite sufficient.
--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz
Tailgate at your own risk.....
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/37208
