I plan on getting one and trying my aero bars on it. It could be great, especially with the adjustable capability. It will give to possibility of getting a really comfortable fine tuned setup. All I need to get is some good shims and I’m good to go.
Sounds great! Tell us how it turns out.
Hey when is udc merica going to get the new 09 stuff? Anyone know?
I considered releasing a 2nd T-section with a cross-piece that was sized for aero bars but it was just too small of a niche right now. Will be great to see how it works out for you with the shims; that would be a good solution.
Kris
No problem. I just need to mill out some hacked sections of 25.4mm seatpost and slide those over the bars. Right now I have a custom setup kinda similar to your T-bar except it’s an extension of my old T7. I’m also using cut up soda cans as shims right now which needs to be changed, really sketchy. I’ll post some pics.
Here’s what I got going so far. It’s a work in progress. I’ll probably end up buying your T-bar handle Kris.
New Freeride saddle => 2x “front seat-post inserts” question
Hi there!
I am happy enough to have received today 3 units of the new '09 KH Fusion Freeride saddles from UDC UK. 
Now, having played a bit with 2 of the 3 saddles this afternoon, I do have serious doubts about the new “female” threaded inserts that replace the old-style “male” type of inserts (which required those little obsolete dome nuts we are all very familiar with).
Actually, my doubts are specifically about the 2 front-side seat-post inserts (the rear-side and the bumper-related ones indeed seem to be out of question).
At least on the saddles I have received, these 2 inserts are NOT an actual part of the saddle frame, but are instead freely moving inwards on the vertical axis 
- in the “space” between the frame and the foam.
This means that it is very hard to properly screw in the Allen bolts into these 2 very inserts, because the bolts will tend to push the insert away into the foam, instead of screwing in as they should if the inserts were an integral part of the saddle frame.
Hemmm… not sure what I just wrote is understandable, sorry… it would surely have been if I had written in French… 
or if I had taken pictures (even though the only pictures which would really help here would probably have to be taken “from the inside”, i.e. with foam removed from the saddle frame).
Am I the only one facing this problem?
Am I wrong to expect these 2 particular inserts to behave the same way the other inserts behave, i.e. to “resist” against the bolt being screwed in, instead of being pushed away?
Of course, because of this problem, I so far did not succeed in mounting the T-bar touring handle onto the new saddle.
I’ll be very grateful to any person testifying about his/her own experience with these 2 recalcitrant inserts.
Cheers, MadC.
Hey,
The inserts have a square head inside, which sits inside a square inset in the reinforcement plate to stop it from turning. In saddle construction they are held under the foam by adhesive backing.
This is the same way that the old bolts were held in place in the frame.
If you screw the bolts in normally, it works great. However, if you push down hard on the bolt without turning it, you can potentially push the square head through the adhesive backing, out of the inset hole in the reinforcement plate. If that happens, the insert would turn in the hole.
The same thing happens on the '08 or earlier saddles if you were to push down on the dome nut without turning it.
If this happens, you can either:
- try to seat the insert again by threading the bolt a few turns (which is still possible usually), and use pliers to pull up on the bolt to pull the insert back into place
- peel back the foam and push the insert back into place, and tape over top of it to hold it.
Kris
Many thanks Kris for such a quick and detailed answer!
It’s me then who has not been careful enough. Next time I’ll know!
I have actually never experienced this problem with any of my KH’08 saddles, but by essence I guess the new design (“male to female” instead of “female to male”) may expose a bit more the user to this risk.
Anyway, I will fix my 2 “damaged” saddles using either of the 2 methods you described on Friday or Saturday.
One advice to people reading this, though => if you feel like you have killed the thread of the insert, you have most probably NOT damaged it at all… it’s just that the insert is gone! Then use either of the fixes given above by Kris to solve the problem.
Thanks again Kris for your clarification and advices.
Cheers, MadC.
Sounds good. One more thing.
Around the time that the saddles were being ordered for the first time, I was also a bit worried about the chance that you could insert the bolt wrong (e.g. on an angle) into the insert, with the potential to cross-thread and wreck the insert. There haven’t been any cases of it yet but theoretically it’s possible.
Consequently I had a bunch of free inserts sent to all the UDC franchises, just in case. So just to let you know if you happen to have this problem, extra replacement inserts are available.
Kris
Do you know if UDC UK have any of these? I looked earlier but couldn’t find anything. I’m presuming from madc-ccc’s comment that they did have them though.
If you’re referring to the inserts, yes they have some but they probably wouldn’t put it on their site as they’re not really for sale.
Kris
Oh right, I’m after a new saddle for my Muni so was hoping to get the whole lot. I’ll just wait a while then lol.
Thanks Kris
I’m a bit confused. They have the saddles, if that’s what you mean by the “whole lot”.
Kris
To 1-wheeled-grape:
/* Little off-topic, sorry… */
UDC UK have got most of if not all the new KHU products in stock now - and they actually started to refresh their Web site accordingly yesterday or so (even though I can’t see all the new parts yet on-line).
FYI: anytime new stuff is out, they will let you order these BEFORE the stuff is shown on their Web site - basically, they only need to have defined the street price for it, and of course to have the goods in stock locally.
I could get this way 1x T-bar touring handle, 3x Fusion Freeride saddles and 2x stiffener plates.
I know they also have the new hubs (the new CrMo one, at least), but I eventually dropped in my shopping basket the “old” version, because the new hub is (of course for a reason - I don’t want to debate that!) significantly more expensive (70£ vs 38£).
To Kris Holm:
Very good to know that we UDC customers could request some spare inserts, would the case happen that 1 or 2 get killed… Thanks for the info - even if I’m not there yet!
Cheers, Pascal.
Okay so, I just got the new handle and stiffener plate a few days ago. I was very impressed with the overall look of the handle and its adjustability. It is so nice to have an infinite amount of adjustability. I just went outside a few minutes ago to admire the handle when I noticed there is a large crack in the weld of the tube that the T slides into. It’s kind of cool to feel that you ride hard enough to break things but I’m pretty bummed. Kris, hopefully you see this post so we can work out a refund. If not I’ll just email you. I don’t have any pictures to show for it yet. I’ll borrow a camera later today and post some.
Cross listed, didn’t notice the thread spefic to the new seats:
Just got my 2009 KH Freeride seat mounted, rode it yesterday.
At first glance the cushioing at the rear seems a little thin and a bit firmer, but after getting the seat angle corrected to accomodae the slight changes in the seat geometry, I really didn’t notice any problems with the seat in comparison to the 2008 Freeride.
The seat cover has a hidden draw string, which is nice, and the seat top is now a mesh, not sure how that will work with excessive sweating, though I’ll be sure to let you all know
The seat attached with allen bolts and inserts, so a little better way to go than the cap nuts for finger clearance, etc… I did have to tighten the allen bolts once on the trail, but after than no problems.
I don’t believe the seat is significantly stiffer than the old Freeride; I compared the new seat to two other Freeride seats, one that was well worn and one that was fresh. This comparison is with a stock seat, no stiffener.
I’m thinking of getting the KH stiffener or making my own.
When you take the newer KH saddles apart is there not a chunk of metal (stiffener plate) between the foam and plastic saddle base? I recently had occasion to take apart the KH Fusion Freeride saddle that came, stock, with my 2007 KH24. I was suprised to find this large chunk of metal in there! I didn’t find any such thing with the older KH saddle I bought, circa 2006? I think this was the older KH fusion freeride before the center channel was cut out. I took this saddle apart and cut my own channel and I know I didn’t find that chunk of metal in there? Just curious was this metal bit just found in the 07 KH saddles? Is it still there in the latest 09 KH saddles? And do I really need it?
My soon to be wife, Louise, got her new KH saddle last night. We installed it and she is going to give it a go on this sunday’s 100km Strawberry field forever ride. She’s been wanting a better seat; we’ll see if this one works well for the ladies.
corbin
without that metal your seat would likely break in 1/2 if you tried anything involving a use of the handle.