After not using my muni for a while (I've been using the 29-
er and also had 125s on the muni to use it as a street
machine) I put the 150 cranks back on and went for a ride.
I thought I may as well use it as a muni for once, and rode
into the 'Ponderosa', a stretch of land that is mainly left
to its own devices, with some rough trails and steep
gradients.
Within ten minutes the handle felt loose and it turned out
I'd snapped the seat base. About to ride it home I
discovered the left crank had also come loose, so, for the
first time ever, I had to wheel it home.
On the way I started to wonder if my faithfulold Nimbus was
reaching the end of its days, and what would be its replacement-
another Nimbus or maybe the splined KH or Onza?
I've always been very happy with the Nimbus, and with its
non splined cranks, but there seems to an assumption that,
if you're serious about muni, then a splined hub is the
way to go.
However, having done a few thread searches, I wonder if that
is true. I think I saw a reply by Roger Davies where he said
he uses square taper hubs, and that splines are unnecessary
if you're not doing big drops.
Also, looking at splined models, the crank length options
for muni seem to be 165-170mm only. As someone who uses 150s
and who finds 170s to be uncomfortable and slow (admittedly
I've only had brief goes on them) I find that a bit
restrictive.
Also, the cranks themselves are consideraby more expensive
than non splined ones (by a factor of 4).
One thing I dislike about square tapers is the messing
around involved in changing them i.e. grease, hammering etc;
but, from some posts I've seen, splined ones seem
troublesome to remove as well.
I've fixed my Nimbus by fitting the Reeder handle to an old
seat, and the crank looseness was probably cos of the recent
switch, having tightened it up Ihad a long ride and it's
fine again.
However, at some point I'll have to get a new muni; whilst
the KH looks nice and it'd be good to have the latest kit, I
suspect that I'd get a Nimbus because I've found it to be
reliable and a great muni, I also have the tools and
knowledge of how to maintain it. I also think it unlikely
that I'll be doing high drops.
Here's some questions on splined hubs/cranks.
1. Is there any point to them if you're not going to do
long drops
2. Any ideas about what will happen in the future eg will
square taper hubs vanish like cottered cranks did, or, if
munis popularity drops, will splined cranks dissapear
3. Why no 150mm splined cranks
4. Any other thoughts on splined/square taper hubs/cranks
--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist
"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."
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