so i got to thinking a little bit today, and i realized that every unicycle has 2 or 3 inches of seatpost (usually pretty thick) going into the frame… that doesn’t need much structural integrity compared to the rest of the seatpost, on that note, what happens if you drill a bunch of small (i’m thinking 3/16" or so) holes in the seatpost beyond the seatpost clamp, very few at the top more as you go lower into the frame.
if done in a strategic pattern this should work, and i don’t see much of a downside to being careful while doing this (if you shave too much off its going to break in the frame and not be pretty, but has anyone done this, or thought about it, what are your thoughts?
For me, that read like a famous scene from Taxi Driver. Do all the above and then practice suicide mounts in front of a mirror, after each one saying ‘are you looking at me?’…
It sounds like you wish to take the world gap record. Or perhaps you have it already, I remember that special vid.
Drilling holes in parts has a long and glorious history in motorcycle racing. The reason the manufacturer does not drill the parts has mostly to do with the high labor and tool costs. There is a lot of metal that could be lost with good machining, without sacrificing much strength. I think drilling the post in the way you described is a good idea for you, as you are trying to stretch the limits in a way that a lighter uni can only help. I wouldn’t bother myself LOL, but I am not much of a jumper yet.
I was looking into buying ti seat bolts and drilled hollow alum bolts for the bumpers a while back, not that it would help my riding, but just because I like to look for stuff. “Someone” could buy enough of them to put together a kit that would save some grams, and not cost to much $. Someone would have to buy 1000 or so bolts- nuts etc. to get a reasonable price.
I thought of this a little awhile ago too… I don’t see much wrong with it other than it may(or may not) cause trouble in getting the seatpost in the frame.
Haha my back bumper broke so I just didn’t bother putting another one on. I just have a buncha duct tape on now.
It is very obvious that the max stress in the seat tube is at the top. The bottom part will never break stock and could be reliably drilled. The gain is small, but it is a real gain.
Eh, I’ve broken/bent plenty of 22.2mm posts not at the top at all. Mostly bent though. I’m not sure how drilling the post would affect it though.
Edit: what about drilling the frame? I’ve been thinking of that too. Not drilling too much, but I have never seen a frame break on any place but the neck or on welds. I think the side parts of the fork could probably be drilled a bit.
i wasn’t really planning on doing much as far as on my own unicycle, but now i don’t see a reason not to, its something i don’t need a huge amount of strength on… a lighter uni would help me quite a bit, but then again, i have a seat that weighs about as much as my seatpost and frame combined. gaining 1lb of weight back might be 2 or 3 inches on my jump, but that is not important to me because i am less predictable than that, some days i can jump 2 feet farther than other days
drilling seatposts effectively is not reasonable for a manufacturer; we all cut a good chunk off of them.
forgot to include this… my unicycle is built to be strong over being light, i don’t ride to have the longest jump… its something that just happened because of my riding style (wanting to jump over bigger and bigger objects) and i’m not that worried about improving it all that much.
