Here’s something for all you aspiring distance unicyclists.

I cleaned up my 29″ Cross a little and put on some new parts. Owing to the high humidity, some of the screws have rusted and there’s a bit of mould on the tyre (amazing weather we have in Singapore!) and I’m quite glad that the ISIS cranks I have on are made from non-rust aluminium.

In the picture is the ‘07 or ‘08 frame – the new frame has a completely flatcrown. I’ve swapped out the original Kenda Karma knobby tyre for a Schwalbe Marathon 28″ x 1.75″ tyre. Cranks shown are 100mm ones (stock ones are 145) to go faster – the shorter the cranks, the less distance your feet have to move to have the wheel cover a revolution. The black seat shown is a Kris Holm Fusion Gel saddle and the handlebar’s a uncycle-specific Coker Pi Bar.

I’ve also swapped out the original metal pedals for a pair of flat plastic Eclat Surge PC pedals. They’re meant for flatland/street riding and I thought I’d try them out because they’re lighter than the metal ones albeit chunkier.

The narrower profile of the tyre actually makes the uni a lot more responsive but the short cranks does take some getting used to. On flat roads, this feels a lot smoother to ride with but wind affects it a lot more than it would with a wider tire.

Both the pedals and the seat will be available with Team-Uni shortly as well as a different model of handle – the Pi bar’s very easy to fix up since it attaches to the seat post but the sides rub against my thighs too much to be comfortable for long rides.

We did a spot of mountain unicycling at the Ketam Mountain Bike Park at Pulau Ubin one weekend. It rained in the morning so the ground was very muddy and slippery. I’ve got my 29″ Cross fitted with 175mm cranks instead of my usual 125mm ones so that I can get more control over rugged terrain but a smaller wheel would definitely have been more agile on the sharp turns.

We didn’t ride much because of the mud but the guys did try out one of the steeper slopes. Video to come in a bit.

There was a signboard that amused us though -

Picture from StarTribune.com

Old story but betcha didn’t know that one of the interweb’s best gifts is actually created for… unicyclists.

That’s the story about TinyURL and its creator, Kevin Gilbertson (who also runs the unicyclist.com forums). Read the interview here. Link is conveniently converted into a TinyURL.