Q: Why does cool stuff like this always happen to Greg? Sushi Bar down the streat, Johny Cash lives next door, Ed McMan delivers his mail personaly…
A: Oh, ya: he’s doesn’t live in Mississippi. Nnnnnoooooooooooo! (at least I can drown my sorrow in fired food, so there)
-Buba-Cris
Harper, thanks for the review and taking time to educate Harvy’s people. I’m glad he gave you the discount.
I have taken the liberty and transferred the pertinent information over to the new “Product Reviews” forum.
Greg, I’m sure George Barnes could make you a seat post in any length you want. Or, you can probably get a shim for that size, and use any 400mm seat post.
cheers… Mojoe
Harper wrote:
If it was mine I would surf on over to nashbar.com and order their “all aluminum post with an anodized black satin finish - 350mm length” in 25.4mm diameter for $12.95. Then I would build (or aquire somehow) a bike seat rail adapter that fits the saddle. If the 24.5mm seat post was too tight in the Torker frame I would borrow (or buy) an adjustable reamer to enlarge the seat tube by .2mm.
If the 350mm seat post with attached rail adapter was still too short then I would see if it’s possible to ream out the seat tube to 26.2mm - that IS a fair amount of material to remove with a reamer - but possible if it doesn’t make the wall thickness of the seat tube real thin. If so then I’d surf on over to nashbar.com again and buy a “Syncros extra long aluminum seatpost - 425mm long” in 26.2mm diameter for $39.95 from their “closeouts” section.
Yes sir! That’s what I’d do …
Steve Howard
Yeah, but you do elegant work and you do the job right. I, on the other hand, am a hack. I was walking Buster today and this is what he told me to do.
“Greg, 25.2mm, 25.4mm, what do you care…it’s an inch, chump. Get some one inch aluminum round and skim it to the seat post OD. Turn down part of the round to the seatpost ID. Pound the round into the seatpost after coating it with A-12 epoxy. Drill two 1/4-20 clearance holes through the assembly up high enough so that the seatpost and extension slides through the frame seat tube. Anchor it with black, 1/4-20 button head cap screws and nuts. Peen the nuts. No painting, no fuss. Now let me off leash so I can catch that squirrel and try to figure out some of the details on your own.”
I hate Buster. He’s so precocious. So I left him on leash until the squirrel was 125cm from a tree.
Ooohhh…it gets better. There is a tube weld on the inside of the 25.4mm seatpost. I made the extension to be a plug that goes about 3" into the seatpost with a groove milled in it to accept the weld bulge. I pasted the plug part with A-12 which is a 24 hour cure, 50,000 psi epoxy. If I’m lucky (and I am blessed with frequent instances of atrociously bad luck) I won’t have to put any screws in it. And it’s pretty right now. Pictures are at:
He would have made Buster do it, but he can’t be trusted with the epoxy.
-C
This epoxy thing seems to work OK. I had to let it cure overnight so this evening is the first I rode on it. I hopped up 10 stairs, dropped down an 18" drop, wheel walked (all weight on the seat) so time will tell. It’s getting dark too early. That aluminum alloy wheel with 48 spokes is stiff. This could turn into a trials unicycle for a weak geezer like me. Except for the cranks…and the pedals…and the axle…
Also, I got a flat in the airseat on my Coker on the way home so I have to fix it. Finally, I hacked up the uni.5 hub on the cut-off wheel so I could get the bearings off. I cut in past the tapers by 1/2" or so. The axle was bent even in the middle. I couldn’t get it to run true on the lathe.
Do unicycles own you guys like they seem to own me now? What’s up with that? Why am I working on three unicycle projects today?
its been said before and i’ll say it again now,sombodies got to be the mad scientist and we have chose you…
Harper’s seatpost extension IS pretty … Buster had a good idea there. Is there any of the aluminum extension visible or is it all hidden in the frame?
Harper wrote about the uni.5 hub:
I think it’s really strange that the first uni.5 axle held up through it’s cross country tour but the second one lasted an hour. Do you or Buster have any idea why?
Steve Howard
Yeah, there is a 2.5cm stripe of aluminum which is exposed. It just adds to the coolness (reduces the temperature).
Buster has an idea but won’t tell me. Retribution for the squirrel incident I suppose.
Once again, Greg, ingenious solution provided by buster and a beautiful execution provided by you.
It’s too bad for me that you fixed it, though. I might have been your hypothetical buyer if you had decided to just dump the saddle. I’ve always wanted an all black miyata saddle (and I’ve come very close to ordering one from Japan). I’ve also always wanted a miyata saddle with a post that would fit in my Pashley without shims. I thought such a thing didn’t exist, but now it looks like I was wrong.
Is this oddball miyata obtainable to people outside the Seattle area? Does this shop sell online?
These desires will probably be eliminated by the new Velo saddle, but its nice to have options.
i also need a fatter diameter post for a Miyata or 27.2 KH post so i can get away from the Wilder adapter bracket.i wish they made those posts out of alluminium.
Nick-
The Stealth Torker is at
Harvy’s Bike Shop
19920 Hwy 99 Suite C
Lynnwood, WA
(425)774-8951
You could call the guy and see what you could work out. You might get the whole thing for $100 like I did.