Hello everyone!
The gallery now contains pictures of a Kinport handle that I modified with a drill, utility knife, and some sports/hockey tape. The result is a strong, comfortable handle suitable for all kinds of riding. Best of all, it costs less than $20 at unicycle.com, and is ambidextrous!
Here’s the link:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuo07
Any constructive criticism on the photography will be gratefully accepted and made use of.
– U-Turn
I like that. My only complaint with the Kinport handle is the closed box right were the fingers go. My fingers get jammed up in there. Cutting out that area so the fingers have more room would fix that problem. Greg Harper has the Kinport handle on several of his unicycles and my only experience with the Kinport has been when riding one of Gregs unis.
How long have you been riding with that modified handle? Do you think the modification weakens the handle if used for muni?
I had trouble with my fingers right away with the closed-up version. It was surprising and a bit disappointing. In fact, I still have pain after about four weeks from just a couple of rides. This is what prompted the experiment. It was toss the handle or modify it.
I haven’t ridden the trials much since I’m mostly working on freestyle. I have a personal challenge I’m trying to achieve. I’ve played around on it, as have some of the Unatics and a couple of local riders. I know one of the Unatics did some hopping and a decent drop on the uni, somewhere around 3 or 4 feet, and said that he thought the handle was very comfortable. A younger rider rode last night (read: hopping up and down curbs and stairs) for almost two hours with no hand pain whatsoever.
So the testing so far has been favorable, although not yet super extensive. My personal conjecture is that it is very strong and suitable for MUni, but that opinion has yet to be proven. I’ll bring it to a second Unatics meeting tomorrow and see if we can thrash it some more.
Dave,
Cool idea, the closed box was my concern with that handle.
You mentioned you destroyed the miyata bumpers getting the stiffener in the seat. What happened?
Well after doing a few of these I don’t always have the patience I should, and I don’t have a Dremel tool yet. So, in removing the cap nuts nothing I tried worked, and I ended up cutting them off with the utility knife. This was the most stubborn one I’ve had. I knew I was going to replace the front bumper anyway, and this gave me an excuse to try the back bumper too! 
Well, John, the Unatics beat on it some more and the basic theme is that the handle as modified is tough and comfortable. I don’t hesitate to recommend this solution for any style of unicycling. If you’re having finger problems, try either a Reeder / GB solution or this one and I think you will be pleased!
I’ve tried three different Reeder handles. The Reeder handle doesn’t work for me. I prefer to have my hand straight in front of the seat rather than slightly angled to the side. I’d also prefer to have more room for the fingers (the handle farther out from the seat). The Reeder handle on a CF seat doesn’t have as much room for the fingers as I would like.
There is no one seat or handle solution that will please everyone.