KH seat spinning bolts

So I’ve had my Summit trials uni for about 6 months now, and it has held up really well. But a little while ago the nuts that hold the KH seat to the post started going funky. I had seen a post or two on here about this problem and I have a few questions about this.

  1. Is this spinning bolt problem always caused by overtightening the nuts?

  2. Is there anything I can do to fix this problem other than buying another 48 dollar KH seat?

  3. Am I at risk of busting the seat off if 2 of the 4 nuts that hold the seat on are impossible to tighten?

So for all KH seat owners, do you have this problem? and if so what was the cause, have you been able to fix it in anyway, and did your seat ever completely bust off from this problem while riding or doing trials?

the bolts spin because the plastic they are nestled in no longer holds the head of the bolt. this can be because overtightening rounds out the hole, or if you push up on the bolt too much and unseat the bolt (possibly)

You’ll have to rip apart the seat, I think, to do anything about it. But because it’s glued and stapled, you’re better off replacing the cover with a Roach seat cover, or replacing the seat entirely. At that price, they are almost disposable.

My Muni saddle (velo) is held on by 3 tight bolts and a spinner, and it holds up. Unfortunately, due to the spinner, removing it from the seatpost will be a big chore, I’ll probably just wait till it breaks, or throw out the post as well.

I’d like a high quality saddle version of the Velo made, it would be worth any price

edit: oh yeah, I’ll just tear apart the Velo to get at the spinning bolt, they can be grabbed by needlenose pliers

What I’ce done, is with the saddle taken apart, held onto the bolt heads as tight and getting them to as flush wit the saddle as I can. Then I tighten nuts to the underside of the saddle, so they start to chew into the plastic underneath. this holds the bolts tight.

the seatpost is technically sitting on only 4 nuts, and the rest of the plastic held in by some pressure, I supppose, but I have found no issues with this setup

Unless you have a first generation seat (which should be older than 6 months) then you should not get problems with the bolts spinning. I had a second generation seat which I came with my Wilder in March 2003. The bolts never gave me any problems, because they are carriage bolts. They have square bit above the thread, which sits in a square hole in the metal plate, and a square hole in the plastic. Unless you have rounded out the holes in the metal plate and the plastic, they should not spin. Only the rear bumper bolts are not carriage bolts, and they are embedded deeply in hexagon shaped holes in the plastic, which would be very difficult to round out. I’d say the summit probably was equipped with a first generation saddle, considering how cheap the summits were. My second generation seat snapped, and I replaced it myself. You should not have any trouble with seats snapping or bolts spinning if you fork out the $48 for a new one, because the design has improved.

Re: KH seat spinning bolts

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 16:50:10 -0600, Rockey
<Rockey@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:

>So for all KH seat owners, do you have this problem?

I haven’t had the problem on any of my two KH seats (MUni and 29’er).
Both are first-generation (the one on the MUni was the second to
arrive at a European customer I believe, the first going to Mr.
Cattleprod). I have done nothing to the bolts but tightening them once
(medium tight) when I got them.

If one bolt at the back is spinning that shouldn’t be too bad I think,
since the most force occurs when you pull up on the front handle.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

Today (2 January) is the first day this year that is not the first day this year.

Problems over here with my 3rd generation KH seat. It’s still quite new (got it for christmas) and fairly unabused but have had all the bolts come loose.

I tightened the 4 that hold the handle on and they’re ok. I’ve also tightened up the back two of the four that hold the seat post on but my socket set won’t help me tighten the front 2 because the bracket for mounting the brake (KH24) is in the way.

I reckon that with KH24s, the way that the brake bracket goes diagonally up towards the front of the seat, it may aswell join up with the seat or the handle for additional support and to stop all of the strain going on those 4 seatpost bolts.

try putting washers under the bolts, on my seats the bolts were too long, and the dome headed bolts wouldnt tighten properly.

some early seats had a worse problem, others just have bolts that are a couple of mm too long.

A 2 minute chore with a Dremel cut-off tool. My Dad works for Dremel. --chirokid–

At least if the nuts come loose the bolts are not spinning. Have you tried using a 10mm spanner to reach them instead of a socket? If they keep coming loose you can try applying blue loctite on them, or use lock-nuts.

I’ve heard it can be done. It would be good if they came like that, but you could rig something up yourself, or get someone to do it for you. The flexing was the worst flaw in the first KH saddles. I haven’t tested my new one much to see if it will develop any flex, I’m in no hurry to.

I snapped my metal plate in my KH seat and then the bolts started spinning, because I’d broken it in a clean line along the top of the first two holes. Nothing I did moved them so I pulled the cover off and used mole grips to undo them. Using a rail bracket to hold the seat to seat post now tho.

Re: KH seat spinning bolts

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 00:12:16 -0600, chirokid
<chirokid@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:

>A 2 minute chore with a Dremel cut-off tool. My Dad works for Dremel.

The problem is that with the design of the Velo KH seat, it is
virtually impossible to access the top side of the bolt without
permanently damaging the seat.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

Today (4 January) is the first day this year that is neither the first day this year nor the first day this year that is not the first day this year nor the first day this year that is neither the first day this year nor the first day this year that is
not the first day this year.