shadowuni said:*One day, as i was riding my bike home from school one day (i was
lazy, usually i coker)
A unicycle has certain advantages over a bike of the same class, i.e.
MUni vs. Mountain bike, Trials uni vs. trials/BMX bikes, Coker/29er
vs. Road/cruiser/track bikes, and Freestyle vs. Flatland.
*
You said one day twice(now you are too lazy), in one sentence, this will
not fly in my covieniently timed thesis(mega easy) that I recently did
on advantages/disadvanteages of the Uni vs Bike. It inspired my english
teacher to consider buying a torker form the bike store(progress!!!) so
i guess its good enough. Sean did one too(copycat) but I'll ask him if
he can post it too: Here it goes:
English Thesis Assignment
This thesis will prove through evidence of costs, advantages and
disadvantages that riding a mountain unicycle is not only more cost
effective than a bike, but more beneficial to the rider. Also that it is
not just a “circus toy”, as thought by the general populous, and could
be a common sport in the future.
In the case of cost the average mountain bike can cost from $500-$5,000
depending on quality and repairs can cost $20-$300 each, mounting to
larger sums of periods of time. These bikes often have warrantees on
parts for a range of 2-5 years and will cover any and all damage no
matter what the reason. However the leading unicycles can cost from
$400-$1200 with most parts under a lifetime warrantee, that gaurantees
immediate replacement of broken parts.
In which case the most common parts broken on a unicycle are the hub
and cranks (the axle) due to hundreds of pounds of force and torque is
applied when a rider will drop or ride off of a ledge from heights of
inches to heights upwards of 14feet. These drops can easily bend or snap
the hub or crank arms, rendering the part useless and irreparable (a
hub/crank set consists of a solid axle and two crank arms that are
fastened onto the axle). Another common “injury” to the unicycle can be
a bent rim which usually costs $10-$70 to replace; a snapped saddle
which can be fixed for $10-$30, by taking the saddle apart and replacing
the base, either with plastic or carbon fiber. The same “injuries” do
happen with bikes, however the ranges of these parts being broken are
much wider and often more than twice as costly. A broken brake cable can
cost $20-$35; a gear cable break can cost $40-$60 to fix. Both of these
prices are just repair costs, the replacement of these parts would cost
almost twice as much.
There are things that are very similar in unicycle and bike design.
What both bicycles and unicycles have in common are tube flats and bent
rims/popped spokes. Both are susceptible to a tire flat due to thorns,
pinch-flats, or other foreign objects that could puncture the tube; and
rims are often bent from downhill riding or dropping from heights. You
can replace a tube for $5-$10: a rim can be replaced for $10-$70.
However, bikes have two wheels, which make them twice as likely to get a
flat, or to pop a spoke or bend a rim, doubling probable repair costs.
In summary even if you bought a mountain bike for a cost of $2000
dollars and never had to repair a single item within the period of 5
years, and another person bought a unicycle for $900, broke the crank
arms once (often times free with some company‘s lifetime warrantees),
got 10 flats ($75), bent 2 rims ($125), and had to have a few other
miscellaneous repairs ($200), the cost would still be less than the bike
by several hundreds of dollars.
Unicycles also excel in safety, not only to the equipment, but the
rider. On a unicycle the wheel is a direct drive, meaning you must pedal
for it to go and when you don’t pedal the wheel does not move. This
being said it is only possible to go a certain speed on a unicycle,
depending on how fast you pedal, size of wheel, and crank-arm to wheel
ratio. The average speeds on unicycles per wheel size are as follows:
Actual Averages over a long distance (miles per hour):
32”-36”……………......12-14 mph (Up to 50+ miles with 130mm cranks)
29”er…………….....................8 mph (Casual ride, with 125mm cranks)
29”..6.5mph (Cross country/mountain unicycle [Muni], 150mm cranks)
26.…….................................................... 7 mph (Casual
170mm cranks)
24”…. Muni...5 mph (Racing cross country /Muni with 170mm cranks)
24”…..............................................Muni...3 mph (150mm
cranks casual)
20”……………….........................................4mph(125mm cranks,
casual)
In the case of a Bicycle the wheel can “freewheel”, meaning that no
pedaling is required to move. Meaning that one can reach speeds in
excess of 30mph very easily, which can cause the rider to be thrown from
the bike and injured severely, or even cause death.
Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) reviewed bicycle deaths and injury data from 1999 through 2003 and
found that some 1,000+ people died each year from bicycle crashes. Head
injury was involved in 62 percent of those deaths. Some 558,000 people
sustained bicycle-associated injuries each year, and of those, 32.5
percent, or 181,000, suffered head injuries. But in the case of
unicycles, injuries are less common and usually less severe with less
than 5 reported deaths by unicycle in the past 25 years.
The reason for this is not only due to the direct drive ratio, but the
fact that you can put your feet onto the ground in all 360° of a
unicycle if you were to fall off, where on a bike you can only step to
the side when you are moving forward, and can also easily get thrown
forward or tangled up in the bike, preventing your feet to land.
Not only keeping safe, but healthy is another reason that unicycles are
more advantageous. Both Unicycles and Bicycles alike have advantages in
that you get good exercise, fresh air etc. from them but if you look
deeper you will see the benefits of a unicycle are often much greater.
You gain determination and balance as an obvious benefit from riding the
unicycle, but you also gain calf and leg strength and improve your
posture also. On a bike you do not have to pedal constantly to move so
your legs do not gain nearly as much as riding a distance on a unicycle.
You would have to essentially go 2-4 times the distance on a bike to
gain the same benefit as riding a unicycle.
In summary of all of these things. The unicycle, in the case of the
mountain variation, is more cost effective, physically advantageous, and
much safer than the average mountain bike and should not be viewed as a
circus toy or clown act. In recent years (1990-2004), the growing number
of unicyclists has almost doubled each year and the number of
unicyclists who ride mountain or trials/street variations has quadrupled
since then. I predict that sometime in the near future that, unicycles
could become a very common sport among outdoorsmen.
By, Eric Pearson
I decided not to do any editing for your purpose(can I be lazy too?). I
would help more but I am currently engineering a Top Secret, Universal
splined hub...
Enjoy my (way too easy)"A" work...
--
Catboy - I enjoy the taste of dirt!
No more signature images? One small edit for me, one giant leap towards
a better newsgroup...
Oh, and I still have the "Amazing power to talk to cats!" =^.^=
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