What is up with the Naomi saddle? Is there a reason they didn’t use allen like KH saddles?
The nut covers always break through when I tighten down the nuts, leaving the sharp end of the bolt sticking out. I then cut my hand on them when doing tricks.
Is there a reason they designed their seats this way? Any ideas how to rectify this apart from wearing gloves? Something soft to put on the bolts?
Impact is using the original Velo base which is with nuts, KH was using the same base but developed his own base with bolts some years ago
I guess the quickest fix is to find replacement nut/s and use Dremel tool to shorten bolt/s.
I have this same problem and it makes me very frustrated. My seat never tightens down enough either so there is always a little bit of movement.
Yes it’s very annoying to pay so much for a saddle like that and have this constantly happen.
On both my 19" unis they are on KH posts, if that makes a difference.
I love the saddle–it makes flat and trials a lot easier than with thicker seats. I wonder, though, if I should have gone with the KH slim instead.
I think its from normal usage, wear and tear. Plastics dent and dimple. Maybe add a washer or two if you dont have Dremel cutoff tool. My nuts are tight but the plastic handle and rear is cracked…oh, well, its comes with the sport. rolleyes:
I use this saddle on my ‘main ride’ 29er, and I’ve already lost the top of one nut. It doesn’t seem to have affected it though, everything still feels stiff and not at all wobbly. I got the saddle when they were on sale at UDC UK (Apparently they were factory defects of some sort), but if I paid full price I’d be a bit more bothered about these nuts I think. Specially as the Fusion Zero is only £3 more (And the main reason I like the Naomi is that it’s flat-ish, slim and not too cushiony, all of which the Zero seemingly does better!).
I ended up stacking a second cap nut on top of the ones that popped off. Not really any more obtrusive than the bare bolt sticking through, but still pretty annoying.
Having the seat cover folded under, between the seat base and the seatpost, means that there’s a lot to squish down before the nut finally gets decently tight. So you have to tighten too much for the limited range the cap gives you. Not a great design.
Yeah, those nuts are annoying. I was practicing my kick mounts earlier and my middle nail got caught in it and peeled back a quarter of. Then I realized it started to bleed. Went back in, wrapped a bandaid and back out, nailed another dozen.
Lesson learned, cut finger nails all the way back to the skin.
Yeah my KH20 with Naomi saddle now has blood stains all over it.
It’s a great saddle though aside from that major design flaw. I’ll go with the KH slim next.
I’ve never had any of those issues with my Naomi. The caps all broke off, but I rounded the bolts on the grinder. I’ve never had any loosening - perhaps you guys should put some Loctite on your bolts if they’re slipping.
-botp
I clicked on this thread to find out if Naomi was hurting your nuts.
Don’t know if I’ve seen the current bolts/nuts. Is it a nut with a round cap built into it? That’s what Miyata used to use on their seat bumpers. They were fine when new; nice rounded ends to where the bolts were attached. But over time, and if you added foam or otherwise modified your seat, or just kept tightening the nuts, the bolt would break through that smooth cap, creating a nice, sharp edge.
Just guessing, but the seats might be easier (less expensive) to manufacture using bolts that stick out, rather than being bolted from below, where the bolt has to find its way to the threaded part. Or the hardware might be less expensive.
If the problem is a nut with too much bolt sticking out, you can dremel down the bolt. This could be a problem in future if you do something to make your saddle thicker. Or look for matching nuts with caps on them, or possibly a second nut to cover up the remaining threads.
If it’s just a bolt with a nut on it, then you’re going back to before Miyatas ruled the high-end unicycle world, to the days of Schwinn. No nuts/bolts around the ends of the saddle, but for this reason, you got a more secure catch of the seat by grabbing some post. Hit it wrong, and you would pop a hole in the tip of your finger on one of the seat post nuts.
So Naomi didn’t hurt your nuts. Naomi’s nuts hurt you. 
Tape your nuts, dude. I’ve got gorilla tape on mine. It feels good.
Just FYI, these are known as “acorn” nuts. It’s really a toss-up over which is better, the exposed bolt/acorn nut, or the buried captive nut/hex-head bolt. They both have advantages and disadvantages. If you’ve ever stripped out one of the buried captive nuts, or accidentally pushed it out of position, you know what a hassle it is to take the saddle apart and replace the nut. It’s also somewhat problematic to get everything lined up when mounting the seat, stiffener, brake mount, etc. In a lot of ways, the exposed bolt is the better alternative. But there is the possibility of tightening the nut beyond it’s depth, and pushing the bolt out the end. I’ve done that myself. The solution, as has been mentioned, is either to cut the bolt shorter, or add a washer to make the nut stand off farther. Either of those is easier than tearing the saddle apart to fix the buried nut, IMHO. But that’s what makes horse racing. Anyway, it looks like the buried nut camp will ultimately win this battle, just by force of numbers.
Might be a toss-up in general, but for the Naomi - aimed at street/flat/trials riders, all of whom are going to be grabbing the seat - there’s no question that the bolts sticking out are a bad design.
The BMX pivotal post standard looks like the best yet for seat-grabbers. Let’s hope it spreads.
I agree that the BMX pivotal seatpost is probably the ideal setup. I wonder how the “Fusion Zero” saddle will be rated by the trials/street guys when they become more widespread? I wonder how long it will take before other styles of saddles are adapted to the pivotal seatpost…
I’m not sure how well designed the zero is for street. A flat seat would be alright but maybe not the zero’s shape. I’ll let you know when I get mine.
Silly question, but on the Impact Naomi, are the cover eyelets supposed to go between the plastic saddle core and the seatpost plate, or between the seatpost plate and the nuts?
In indecision I momentarily left them hanging loose entirely and attached the plate with nylock nuts rather than the stock acorn ones to avoid breaking their caps off… figure I can always tie a shoelace across the eyelets, or re-do the installation but until I know if I like this saddle I want to preserve it as much as possible and not risk cutting into the cover with the corners of the seatpost plate.
Silly question, but on the Impact Naomi, are the cover eyelets supposed to go between the plastic saddle core and the seatpost plate, or between the seatpost plate and the nuts?
In indecision I momentarily left them hanging loose entirely and attached the plate with nylock nuts rather than the stock acorn ones to avoid breaking their caps off… figure I can always tie a shoelace across the eyelets, or re-do the installation but until I know if I like this saddle I like, I want to preserve it as much as possible and not risk cutting into the cover with the corners of the seatpost plate.
Plastic saddle core, then eyelets, then seatpost plate, then nuts. (And it can be a bear getting the nuts started if the width of the cover material is near the small end of its tolerance.) (And I punched through the acorn nuts on mine too.)