Hi All.
Well, I finally got a set of profiles. So, since I now own, a set,
logically, I will now have to maintain them. I deeply envy those who
don't. So, anyways, I'm starting this thread as a splined hub
maintinence Q and A. I hope to kinda focus on profiles, but I figure it
doesn't really matter, and I dont' care if anyone decides to post about
some other splined hubs.
Anyway, I'll start. I've had my profile wheel for a whopping day and a
half now. When I got the wheel and put it in the frame, I noticed I
needed to move the spacers around. So I took the right crank off and
moved the spacers (after much effort and pulling). I decided to rotate
the wheel (relative to the cranks) in the process, so I put the right
cranks back on at a 90 degree-ish angle to the left, untouched crank.
This worked fine, except I couldn't get the left vrank off.
So, I waited a day, and took it to the best DH shop in 50 miles (which
happens to be a mere 7 miles away 🙂 ) and asked them how to take the
crank off. They gave me a profile crank tool for free (except it didn't
come with the sleeve) and showed me how to put the tool in and just tap
it until the hub falls out. It worked great, and all went well. I
greased up the splines, and put the cranks back on with a new spacer
arrangement. I cinched down everything, and headed out. In the proccess
of doing all this, I notice that the hub came with the axle shifted a
bit to one side on it, so the bolt on the left crank wouldn't quite
tighten down all the way on the crank. I said whatever and ignored it.
Bad mistake (I think).
Today I switched out the gazz on it for a fireball so i could ride some
uni basketball, and all seemed well, except the fireball is an awful
tire, and shold be condemed to face burning in a giant burning tire
yard. But that's beside the point. After basketball, I did a bit of
trials, and had one 2' drop where I was going over the back of a park
bench and came down hard on the cranks. I happily noticed a lack of
creaking or play where my onza would've made all kinds of sounds.
I went home, and on the way home I noticed that there was about 1/2 mm
of play in the right crank (on the left spline, had reversed them). I
turned pale, and walked all 4 blocks back to my house from the bus stop.
I got home and re-reversed the cranks on the axle, and the play seems to
be gone on the right crank, and the left one seems fine too, except for
when I'm very still and i try to feel for play I can feel an ever so
slight bit of play in the crank. So, my question is, can I leave the
splines alone, the play doesn't matter, or should I deal with this. Can
I just add a soda-can spacer to the left spline so the bolt engages the
crank better? Thanks for reading.
Also, my advice is to anyone who hasn't already, always ask for the
profile crank tool when you order profiles. It's indespensible. The
local DH shop also probably has some, and would probably be willing to
give one away, as was the case for me. For the curious, it's not that
complicated, just a massive (24mm?) bolt head attached to some threads
that fit the profile axle, so that you can hammer away at it without any
bad consequences. It also comes with a sleeve, which I think isn't that
important, as the cranks just seem to slide on for installation. But be
careful, you can move the axle in the hub by hammering to heavyily on
the axle, or by overtightening one side before tightening the other
side, which is what I think happend with the previous owner of my
current hub.
As for my observations on the prfile setup, here are some early ones.
First, this is the first unicycle I've ever had that's basically silent.
Not creaks (I tensioned the spokes twice today) and almost no play. It's
also massive, though. My muni went from a suzue with an intense tire and
rhynolite rim (4-cross spokes) with a yuni frame and zuzu pedals, and
monty cranks and a KH saddle-about 13lbs. Now, the frame and saddle are
the same, but the wheel is now: Gazz tire at time of weighing, dx-32 rim
(3-cross spokes), profile hub/crankset 170mm, and B-37 pedals-a bt over
15lbs. A 2 pound increase in weight, which I could feel at first, and a
bit when hopping seat out, but otherwise it's fine. Heavy and strong is
better than light and weak when it comes to munis.
happy trails (and the inevitable maintainance)
P.S. Today I learned that there are actually 3 different types of
profile cranks: the normal ones, the SS ones( thicker tubing-much
stronger-much heavier) (the last two are 48 spline), and the DH cranks,
which are pretty much the same, I hear, as the SS cranks, except they
have more than 48 splines. Just a random fact.
--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist
Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
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