Rod: I'm not quite sure what you'd call a "normal" monowheel. It seems that everyone who builds one brings their own unique approach to the design, and there are as many design solutions as there are wheels. Probably the most experienced monowheel builder is Kerry McLean who appeared as Judge on our show. Kerry has been building and riding these things for thirty years, and now bases all his wheels on a narrow section tubular steel wheel, which he has specially made. Power units vary from a 5HP Briggs & Stratton engine to a 5.7 V8.

J: A V8? Between your legs? Obviously a machine for those who wish to have no more children! What had your previous experience been with monowheels?

R: Short! My learning curve began about three weeks before filming the programme. My usual field is motorcycles and I have a history of building custom bikes and trikes. I've done some TV work before and currently work as a presenter on a bike TV show on a UK satellite channel, which is how the "Scrapheap" people knew of me. The truth is, they simply couldn't find two TCs with experience of monowheels, and I guess I was a bit of a stand in. Having said that I'm no stranger to bike related one-off engineering projects, so felt fairly comfortable in what we were doing. A couple of weeks before filming I went down to the site to test ride Geraint's old wheel, and I spent some time riding Kerrys wheel the day before we filmed the build. That's about it really!

J: Three weeks experience before the show?! I hope the team didn't know as that isn't much of a confidence builder. Speaking of that team, how did you get on with them?

R: Pretty good, though one of our team hit the bar a little too hard in the evenings before shooting and maybe didn't quite contribute as much as other two. But the other two team members were great, I'd be very happy to work with them again anytime.

J: Uh-oh...that's not good. Your design was based on a friction-drive system...why?

R: Mainly because it's so much easier than any other system. Using a friction drive allowed us to use the complete engine and transmission from a mini-bike, which solves a huge amount of design/fabrication problems at a stroke. Any other drive system would require precision engineering to make sure everything is perfectly concentric, not really possible when working under pressure on a tight schedule. Another advantage of a friction drive is that the weight of the rider keeps the drive engaged. If the wheel starts to "gerbil" too far the drive wheel moves out from under the rider and begins to slip on the outer wheel rim. In practice this makes the wheel much easier to control for novice riders.

J: Ah, and since all of you were novices...sounds like a great plan. How did it feel to drive it?

R: It was such a buzz. I was really pleased that it worked so well and couldn't believe how easy it was to ride compared to other wheels I'd ridden. Of course we didn't get any practice time as the TV people were scared that
we'd break the machines before they've had chance to film them in the challenge, so I felt like I'd just had the first test ride when the show ended. I would have really liked to have done a couple of laps of the circuit after we finished filming, but there just wasn't time. Our wheel was pulling to one side a little, and it would have been so good to play around with the weight distribution and set up, but we never got the chance.

J: Next time perhaps? Ok, so you've built the thing and have seen what the other team built. Did that bolster your confidence?

R: Definitely. I could see they were going to have problems with stability, and their chain drive system was very harsh and unforgiving.

J: Speaking of harsh and unforgiving, their final driver had a good scare when he started to "gerbil." Assuming he either hadn't or gotten over his nerves, could they have won?

R: I believe they could have won, yes. Having had some experience with monowheels before I knew that riding one for the first time in the challenge was going to be really tough for the guys in the teams. For that reason I wanted our wheel to be as stable and easy to ride as possible, and always expected it to "inch along" at walking speed. The other team built a much faster wheel with a more powerful engine, and found out the hard way that it was much more difficult to control. Given an hour or so to get the hang of riding it they could have beaten us despite the evil handling!
In the end I was pleased I'd persuaded the Hammerlocks to go for low power and easy handling and the strategy worked out OK. It was touch and go though, particularly when we got the results of the first part of the challenge and found ourselves thirty seconds adrift!

J: As it turned out, those thirty seconds made no difference. Did you think the final show was a fair representation of the day(s) as a whole?

R: I think so, yes. It poured with rain during the build and we were freezing cold and soaked to the skin all day, but I think that came across on the show. There was a lot of standing around waiting for the cameras during the challenge itself and we had to take a rather longer than scheduled lunch break to watch the England Soccer team play Argentina in the World Cup. I did get to celebrate our first goal by hugging Lisa Rogers! It was great to remember how much fun we'd had when I saw the show on TV. I thought it was a great show and really enjoyed watching it. What perhaps
didn't come over was how exhausted we all were after the build. It's a tough day for everyone, including the TV crew.

J: Sounds like a common thread...about how hard it is. Thanks so much for your time Doctor Rod. I'll give you the final word sir.