I am looking for a durable handle design for my Nightrider. I am considering using a stoker stem bolted to the seat post with the handle bit /_\ from the T7 at the other end.
I am also considering using a handle bolted to the underside of the seat, GB4 style.
If anyone out there has any experience with similar designs I would like to hear how durable they were. If you broke something in a crash, what bit broke?
To you have a T7? If not, I think it would be cheaper with regular bike parts. And the handle would be more adjustable too.
As far as I know, it’s highly recommended to have a carbon fiber seat base for this kind of mount.
I had a T7 which cracked at the front plate, where the “boom” is welded on and the rails are welded on the other side. I thought I could chop the U shaped section of the handle off and then mount that up somehow.
I have another T7 on there at the moment but I have a few multi day rides coming up so I am looking for a handle that can last the whole trip.
here is my handle. It is made out of the front part of a T7 and part of an old road bike. I have lowered it since I took the pictures. It has been great, much stiffer than a regular T7 and I like the lower further out position better.
My T7 broke at the front plate.
I like your design Eric, I don’t know if I would want to go that low though. I might try the local bike shop and see what they have lying around. Have you dropped it yet? It looks pretty solid, just wondering how it or the rest of the uni held up.
I have dropped it many times. The seatpost that the bike had was 0.2mm bigger than the one on the uni so I have it shimmed. The shim is a piece of a tin can and not ideal so the whole handle turns a bit when dropped. This might help prevent bending but can also be sort of annoying.
The handles themselves are slightly bent from when it was a standard T7, I don’t think it has gotten any worse.
I also tried with the handles “upside-right” instead of dropped, I didn’t like it as much but there is no reason you can’t set it up to be a similar position as a standard T7.
Thanks for letting me know. I like the T7 position and the bit off the back is good for hanging lights off but just need something that won’t break in the middle of nowhere.
I’ll post some pics up when I’m finished.
I know that some of the other people that have broken the t7 at the front of the rails section have had it re-welded with a plate of thicker steel as reinforcement. If you like the handle as it is (like i do) then i would pay an engineer with a 6 pack of VB to do it in his lunch break- would take all of about 5 minutes i think.
mark
I am trying to avoid using a rail type seat post to give my setup a bit more strength. If the handle is seperate it might still break but at least I can still ride the uni. When I broke the T7 I had to walk about 5 km to get home since it wasn’t really safe to ride the uni with the seat half attached.
I am waiting on some parts but should have something sorted this weekend when I get a chance to go to the lus (local unicycle shop).
I haven’t found a stoker stem long enough yet. I investigated using a tri-bar setup but could not get enough clearance around my knees. I might try to find someone to build a GB4 style handle, I don’t think GB is making them anymore(?). The Coker handle is my other option if I can find someone to sell one to me.