I weigh 250 and my T7 Handle rails would bend easily when putting my weight into it or hopping. A little cad work and a friend with a mill…<p>
Jamdallen, that’s a heavy looking contraption. How about building something like a Y frame, then you’d have all your weight on a frame section.
I think the seat/post mounted handles hit a certain limit, then you start breaking stuff, like the post, the seat base, the seat…
Ben, the bracket does look chunky and heavy in the picture, but it only weighs about 200 grams. I have 10 minutes of CAD work and zero dollars into this so it was the cheap and quick solution at the time. I thought about the seat post breaking too, but surprisingly it’s held up through two years of big man abuse.
An $850 uni should have been engineered correctly to be strong as an ox in the first place! The knightrider is quite delicate, but at least it’s heavy. One of these days I’ll replace the frame and handle with something better…But for now this works and I have money for other unicycles!
-jd
Yeah, the handle has a history of failing, so it could use a redesign, not sure what year you own, maybe they have improved them since your was made?
I think mine is a 2009 model. I was looking at the new knightriders on UDC and they now come with a “shadow handle.” It looks like a stronger design. But the uni frame itself looks the same, so I imagine it still flexes a lot - which is a bummer.
a prototype of the muni T(turtle)-bar:
Nice bar turtle, I like how it’s closer to the seat than the KH; I rode a KH T bar for a little while.
I should dig up pictures of all the setups I have taken pictures of and write reviews for each but am just going to put in my blurb about the handle mount that Ben sent me (with a few other goodies).
I set up the handle with a mid-length aluminum bar end I found in the back of my vehicle. I fiddled around with different angles and positions and ended up ditching the freestyle bumper to give my hand a bit more room and sliding the bar end all the way up the mount.
I was a bit surprised that I found it a bit more comfortable if the bar end was angled slightly to the right (my grab hand), then the tip curves down and to the left. It was indeed a tight fit getting the bar end on and had to prop it open to get it on and positioned. I measured the stub 3 times with a digital calliper and came up with 22.30mm each time, which would explain it.
Getting around to using it I did a easy 5km loop across the lake and back on the snowmobile trails. It was comfortable and sturdy. definitely the lightest handle I have ever used other than the stock grab handle, and very stiff.
Overall I really like it. very simple and un-obtrusive. Where it really shined was climbing up the lakeshore cranking hard. It didn’t budge and is in a great neutral position allowing the force to to strait to the pedals.
Well I finally took my 29er out for a ride today since I got my Nurse_Ben special grab handle. Just went out for a short road ride which turned into an hour and a half ride, about 8 miles with a good mix of ups and downs and a few flat spots. I was about 3/4 of the way through my ride thinking “I don’t get this handle at all? Maybe I’ll take it off when I get home.” I was coming up to a pretty good uphill, I grabbed the handle and kind of pushed down on my thigh with my forearm and I just took off… It was really weird, I smoked up the hill! So it clicked all of a sudden and I got it.
I’ve been doing a lot of trials stuff on my 20 for the last month so I’m really used to grabbing the regular seat handle, when I went to hop up and down some stairs today on the 29 I kind of missed the old handle, but I reckon I just need to get comfortable with the new one.
As with most things in this sport I need to find my own way of doing it. It’s gonna take some time adapting, but I think it is a definite worth while investment. The custom handle is a keeper.
Thanks Ben for making these, I really appreciate it. Hope your bottom line didn’t suffer too much.
Anton, it is a little wierd when you first start using it, only because you are used to grabbing the seat closer in and with your hand turned, but once you use the grab handle for a while it becomes natural because it is a more natural position for your hand.
Eric, have you thawed out up there yet?
NB Handle Review
My trails are still snow covered, but I have had a few road shoulder rides using the bar mount, and add my initial impressions. The mount provides an extremely solid connection to the grip, and I immediately noticed the additional stiffness over the stock plastic base/plastic handle. I tried two versions of a handle. The first was a converted MTB quill stem (something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Alloy-Quill-22-2x90mm-Degree-Polished/dp/B00075CLMS) with the handlebar clamp mounted to the post, and the quill (modified and padded) serving as the handle. My goal was to come closer to the GB4/Reeder handle position. Since the handlebar clamp was too large at 25.4, even with extensive shimming, this didn’t work out, but showed potential. I then mounted the recommended bar end, which gave a fantastically stiff and connected feeling. I’m 100% sold on the stiffener/post for a mounting platform, but still want a handle with a better angle than a bar end can provide. I’d love to see a remake of the GB4/Reeder handles (http://www.gb4mfg.com/products.html
) but set up to mount to the stiffener/post platform. Better review to follow when trails open … edg
Lets try that again-
My trails are still snow covered, but I have had a few road shoulder rides using the bar mount, and add my initial impressions. The mount provides an extremely solid connection to the bar, and I immediately noticed the additional stiffness over the stock plastic base/plastic handle. I tried two versions of a handle. The first was a converted MTB quill stem with the handlebar clamp mounted to the post, and the quill (modified and padded) serving as the handle. My goal was to come closer to the GB4/Reeder handle position. Since the handlebar clamp was too large at 25.4, even with extensive shimming, this didn’t work out, but showed potential. I then mounted the recommended bar end, which gave a fantastically stiff and connected feeling. I’m 100% sold on the stiffener/post for a mounting position, but still want a handle with a better angle than a bar end can provide. I’d love to see a remake of the GB4/Reeder handles (http://www.gb4mfg.com/products.html) but setup to mount to the stiffener/post platform. Better review to follow when trails open …edg
Hey Guys,
I received my handle from Ben (thanks Ben).
I have not had a chance to mount it yet.
2 questions:
-
Did you guys buy the adjustable bar-end that Ben mentioned,
and if so do you have a link to it? -
What angle of the bar-end do you find the most beneficial?
Thanks!
Sorry, I see there is info on this on previous posts!
Here is the ebay link:
Did anyone try these?
And what angle did you settle on?
Thanks
You guys seen this handle?
http://mountainuni.com/collections/seat-and-handle-collection/products/wallis-designs-carbon-fiber
After riding with Nurse Ben’s handle setup for a while I began to wonder if the brake couldn’t be mounted directly to the bar-end grab handle. This turns out to work well as it looks cleaner, drops the weight of the secondary stubby end (2 oz) plus extra tubing, and puts the brake lever in a better position.
While I was at it shortened the bar-end by about an inch, being sure to keep a good amount of material extending past the curve as this area is really helpful when climbing. I also swapped the grip for a slightly longer one.
Before and after pics below:
1 Like
David - that looks pretty good. What bar end are you using now?
I need to order a different pair. I got the Performance Forte OS ones, which are too big in diameter to mount the brake lever on.
Tom, these are a generic aluminum bar end that I bought used on eBay. Originally I was also leaning towards an oversize bar end to give a more comfortable grip but ended up going with whatever I could find cheap. It seems to me that pretty much any non-oversized, non-stubby, curved bar end should work.
ok - I bought the Bontrager bar ends. Hope they do the trick.
Nobody carries a selection of bar ends any more, so I can’t go to a store and take a look. A lot of the ones that are out there are oversized (Profile, Performance Forte) and many others don’t list enough information in their specs to know if they are.
I’d really like mine not to have any “twist” on the curved part of the bar end, so I can use it either right-handed or left-handed. I switch hands a lot.
The setup you have looks the best to me. It puts the brake lever where I want it. The stubby bar end mount below the long one puts it a bit too far away and too far back.
Those Bontrager bar ends look pretty similar to mine.
Before actually trying the handle my biggest concern was that the bar end angle would be comfortable for one hand but not the other. The ends I have do twist/angle at the bend, but I don’t find this discourages me from using either hand. I tend to mount and hop with my left hand on the handle, climb and descend/brake with my right hand, and turn with either hand.
I used the bar end that angled to the left after the curve (i.e. it would be the right hand bar end if mounted on a bike), but if had a second mount I’d probably use the other bar end instead of buying a new set; I don’t think it makes much difference in practice.