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Archive for April, 2008

Maker Faire 2008

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I’m am super pleased that I will be attending this years Maker Faire. The Maker Faire consists of a lot of DIY’ers showing off their stuff and giving lessons on how to make cool things. Some people have called it akin to Burning Man without all the dirt, dust, camping and nudity.

I’ll actually be participating! On Saturday, at about 5pm, I will be in the fashion show. There will be several unicyclists strutting off some of the stuff that sewing mistress Ashley Foster has created from recycled materials. Look for Louise and myself towards the end on 20″ unicycles cruising down the catwalk.

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My first instrucable

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

…how I made my uni rack: http://www.instructables.com/id/Unicycle-rack-for-a-motorcycle-the-UniRack/

UniRack – Unicycle Rack for a Harley Davidson Motorcycle

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I present the UniRack a Unicycle Rack for my Harley Davidson Sportster Motorcycle.

With a KH 20 on the back:

It is handmade from an old bicycle with oxy-acetylene (torch) welding. It supports a 20″ or a 24″ unicycle.

Here it is sporting the KH 24 mountain unicycle:

View the gallery of unicycle rack images on my picasa web albums.

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Construction process:

Start out with an old bicycle frame:

An important step is to remove the paint from the steel before welding to produce a cleaner weld, and to not emit toxic burning paint fumes into the air (plus, it catches on fire if you don’t remove it):

Figure out where on your motorcycle you want to mount it. For mine, I wanted somewhere structurally sound, and attaching right by the rear shock was a perfect place:

Cut out the steel tubes with a sawzall, or whatever method you have for cutting steel:

I heated up the ends with the torch, and then squished them on an anvil. Then, I needed to drill a hole through them to attach it to my motorcycle’s frame:

Trial fit:

I figured out a rough length for the two sides, and welded a bar in between them. This involved cutting 45 degree angles on each piece, and then welding them to make a square. Then, a trial fit:

Next, I wanted a post that came up vertically from the center. To do this, I took another tube and cut a semicircle out of it using a dremal (I wish I had a better and more accurate way of doing this):


Weld the piece on at an appropriate angle for your unis. To find a good angle, I just trial fitted it, and then figured out where I wanted it:

Trial fit to find out where the post should come out to support the uni. I wanted to have the post come on top of the 20″ tire, and inside (directly underneath) the 24″ tire. Here it is with the 20″:

Cut off the top at about a 45″ angle (I had it have a slight up slant to better hold the uni on) and make a matching piece:

Weld it together:

Finally, I cut the end piece to length, and welded on a few bends to attach the bungee cords to:

Piper the Kitten

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Louise got me a kitten for my birthday! She is a Siamese with a Siamese manx dad, and a Siamese polydactyl mom (six fingers and six claws per hand).

A full Picasa album of pictures.

The six fingers:

Cutest kitten ever!

Unicycle ride log, entry 8, April 24, 2008

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Unicycle ride log, entry 8

Ride: Reservoir ride from Nathan’s house. Corbin, Eric, Nathan. google maps

Date: April 24, 2008

Time: 8:00 AM – 9 AM

Riding Time: 1:00

Distance: 12.5 miles

Average Speed: 12.5 mph (riding, nonstop)

Max speed: 24.1 mph

Route: Nathan’s house, down Los Gatos, Los gatos creek trail paralleling freeway, around reservoir, and back to Nathan’s. Training ride for RTL. KH geared 36′er.

Unicycle Ride Log, April 22, 2008 (afternoon)

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Unicycle Ride Log Entry 7 – April 22, 2008 – afternoon

Ride: Earth day ride! Ride from work back to home. The path: Corbin’s house to work.

Time: 5:10pm to 6:57

Riding Time: 1:52′58(cycle computer), little less than 2 hours total by my watch.

Distance: 20.84 miles

Average Speed: 11.0 mph

Max Speed: 22.0 mph (holy crap)

ODO: 630.0 miles

Notes: 150mm crank holes. Geared nimbus 36 with KH hub. As I anticipated, the ride back was slower, but not twice as long. I rode along Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd in 1:1.5, only shifting at stop lights. It was definitely tougher than the ride to work, as it is slightly uphill. After an hour, I was at the reservoir, and had to face the hills. It took me another hour to get up the hills, which was mostly in 1:1 the whole time. By the top of Mt Charlie Rd, my legs were getting tired! The higher gear definitely wears your legs out, especially after a 40 mile ride at a fast pace.

Unicycle Ride Log, April 22, 2008

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Unicycle Ride Log Entry 6 – April 22, 2008

Ride: Earth day ride! Ride from home to work (Los Gatos to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA).

Time: 6:32 to 8:07

Riding Time: 1:33′06 (cycle computer), 1:35 minutes by my watch

Distance: 20.77 miles

Average Speed: 13.3 mph

Max Speed: 26.0 mph (holy crap)

ODO: 609.1 miles

Notes: 150mm crank holes. Geared nimbus 36 with KH hub. The uphill from my house is steel, and it took 25 minutes to go 2.2 miles. Then, down Old Santa Cruz Highway I was cruising at 19-20 mph on the straights and slowing down to 17-18 for the curves and bumpy areas. Past the reservoir it hits a nice gradual downhill, and I looked down and noticed I was going 24mph. I decided to push it a tiny bit; which was a bit scary but still felt good. I grabbed the brake to actually slow myself down to 20mph, and took a look at my cycle computer; 26.0 mph. Insane! I never thought I would go that fast on a unicycle.

Past that, there is a gravel road that parallel’s highway 17 till I hit Los Gatos town. In LG, there are some rolling hills, but once I passed Saratoga High, it was mostly downhill and easily cruising at 20mph. I think the first 2.2 miles at the really slow speed killed my average.

Unicycle Ride log, April 20, 2008

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

Unicycle Ride Log Entry 5 – April 20, 2008

Ride: Geoff’s 12th annual birthday ride, Crystal Springs reservoir through woodside and portola valley, to Ladera and back.

Time: 9:15-2pm (ish)

Riding Time: long.

Distance: 50 km

Average Speed: ?

Max Speed: 24.9 mph (seriously)

ODO: ?

Notes: The geared unicycle is way cool. 150mm crank holes. geared nimbus 36 with KH hub. In the high gear for the majority of the time. It was totally fun to hang out with everyone and ride. Pictures from Tom W.: Tom’s Ladera Pictures on Flickr

Unicycle ride log, April 19, 2008

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

I’ve missed some ride log days, but here’s a new one.

Unicycle Ride Log Entry 4 – April 19, 2008

Ride: Bottom of highway 9, up UCON down Sick and Twisted. Geared 36′er.

Date: April 19, 2008

Time: 11:30-12:20 (ish)

Riding Time: 0:58

Distance: ? miles (forgot to look)

Average Speed: ?

Max Speed: 16 or 17 mph (off road)

ODO: ?

Notes: Mostly in 1-1, except on the fireroad, when I could blast in the high gear.

Peter Nelson’s Treehouse Blog

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

I just ran across a great blog, Peter Nelson’s The Treehouse Guy. He wrote several great treehouse books, some of which were the inspiration to make my own treehouse.


(c) 2008-2009 Corbin Dunn

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