Hey guys,
I’ve been unicycling for about a year and was having trouble with an uncomfortable seat. I have a torker unistar cx and the seat was just killing me, so I replaced it with a kris holm fusion freeride seat. Here’s the problem, the bolts attaching the seat to the post keep getting loose no matter how much I tighten them. Can anyone help me?
Thanks
-EP
Locktite perhaps?
Or maybe lock washers.
Use both the blue locktite and lockwashers. I have never had any problems with my bolts loosening once I did this.
How about lock nuts with the nylon inside? They wont come loose on their own.
Where do I get any of those things?
I think I already have the lock washers, or whatever came with the seat when i bought it.
Shouldn’t the pieces the seat comes with work just fine?
Local hardware store… bring the seat in, explain what’s going on, they should hook you up… no, sometimes the stuff that comes with your gear is inadequate.
Bone, they are bolts, not nuts. So Nylocks are not an option.
epp2992, You have the hex head bolts right? I have a FFR and it came with thin ‘split washers’. I had some problem with them coming loose at first and I just kept tightening them a little tighter and then they held. They were getting tight enough that I was a little worried about them pulling through, but they didn’t.
I think the problem comes from the size of the bolt head and the size of the slot. There is very little of the bolt head in contact with the seat post. Also the split washer is very thin so its not doing much to lock the bolt in place.
You could try just a TINY dab of blue loctite on the end of the bolt, but I would be worried about that since they are hex fasteners. I’d hate for you to round your fastener. I would not go the loctite route until you have tried other solutions.
I’m with Tirving take seat, seat post, and bolts to a real hardware store, like Tru-Value (not home dept/lowes).
I would say use a slightly wider flat washer (that by itself should solve it) or the slightly wider washer and either a new split washer or a star washer.
I would try the slightly wider washer first. That really should be all you need.
Someone at a hardware store will know what all those things are. Now that I have looked at mine I think I am going to get slightly wider washers myself. The screw heads are gouging out the screw slots on the seat post.
I would try with just a wider flat washer first. That really should take care of it.
In rethinking this, I would hesitate using two washers. It might not leave enough threads screwed in. Not having seen what is inside the seat I would err of the side of caution.
I also advise against using Loctite thinking about how much force it took to unscrew my pedal where I used loctite. Like I said above you don’t want to strip the hex.
Like I said a slighty wider washer should be all you need anyway. Should be plenty given that I was able to get my seat tight with the stock washers.
oohhhh… NEVER use locktite on pedals. Especially KH moments, you can pop out the inserts. I’ve used locktite on all my pre allen bolt seats. I’ve had no problems with the blue locktite; even if I had to loosen the nuts.
I won’t be doing it again.
It was fine because I use good quality tools and I got good with tools while I owned motorcycles. I was just surprised how much grunt it took to get them loose (more than usual on pedals). But you are right about the inserts (which I have never seen).
My pedals had come loose after practicing some idling so I tried a drop of loctite. If I ever do use it again it will be the smallest of dabs.
It’s easier to to just check them from time to time. One of the things I like about a uni is how little time it takes to go over the fasteners.
The blue loctite (242) is perfect for this application, and you should certainly not be afraid of rounding out your hex heads. It is a releasable compound that prevents corrosion. I have used it for years on bikes with no problems whatsoever.
As for pedals…
You should always grease pedal threads. Pedals are designed to tighten as you ride, and as such shouldn’t need a thread locker. On the other hand you will run into problems getting them off if you don’t grease the threads before you install them. On the Moments you won’t have to worry about galvanic action seizing the threads of your pedals like you would on an aluminum arm without the steel insert, but you should still grease them. If you have steel spindles going into aluminum arms the grease also acts as an anti seize and prevents the galvanic action.
The only time unicycle pedals unscrew and fall off is when they are on the wrong side of the uni, or if you do a lot of riding backwards.