I have a few hundred miles under my belt on a 36" - I’m now on my second big wheel, which is a Nimbus. I used to be good for 2 hours without a stop, riding hard, and averaging speeds that I can no longer reach for a few seconds.
Now I’m starting to find it uncomfortable on long grinds along the road. So I decided to get a touring handle to take some of the weight off my backside.
I asked a few questions by email and received prompt, detailed and patient emails from Unicycle.uk.com. I started a thread here, and got some really well thought out replies. I read the “Pictures of my 36” thread and studied the pictures.
Then yesterday I placed an order for the Nimbus Shadow handle. With Unicycle.uk.com’s usual speed of service, it arrived today.
First impressions: some nicely made bits of metal work, well packaged for transport, and - in true blokish style - supplied without instructions.
I had to remove the basic seat post from the bottom of the saddle. 4 nuts.
I had to remove the rear bumper. 2 nuts.
I had to remove 2 nuts from the front bumper, and loosen the other 2.
I attached the “BMX style” seat post to the base unit with the single bolt provided. This allows a degree of crude adjustment. Adjusting it means removing the seat from the base, so it’s a 5 minute workshop job - but how often do you adjust the angle of your seat once it’s set up right?
The base unit only fits onto the bottom of the seat one way, so there’s no way you can get it wrong. It took a bit of wiggling because the holes were not exactly the same spacing as the threads on the bottom of the seat. I suspect this is variation in the seat rather than the base unit.
Slight problem: the 25.4 mm seat post felt very tight indeed in the frame. I had to cut the post short anyway, so while I was at it I used a fine file to take the black paint off, then used a smear of grease and the post slipped in nicely.
The front and rear T handles fit the obvious way, with neat clamps.
A pair of fairly standard-looking bar ends then slip on to the front T handle.
A bit of tightening and general adjusting and I was good to go.
The set comes with two T handles. One is bent so it can be used with the T in high or low position. The other is straight, so it can put the T in an intermediate position. I chose the bent one in high position, but it will be easy to change if required.
Illustrations on the wekbsite show the straight one on the back where it doubles as a handle for wheeling the uni, and can be used as a stand, or as a support for lights, bags, etc. I’m a bit sceptical - it looks like an afterthought to me, but I’ll leave it on for now.
The set contained two bungs, but there was no obvious place to fit them. (No, don’t! Stoppit! Oo-er Matron, etc.)
With everything set up, I had retained the front bumper/handle of the original KH seat, but the rear bumper would not fit back on. Of course, with the rear T handle in place, you don’t really need it. However, the threads built into the seat were not long enough to go through the bumper and the handle base. It may be different with the later models of seat.
Freemounting was not obstructed by the projecting rear handle. Having the unfamiliar front handle waving about in front of me was a minor distraction.
Once on the straight, the bar ends seemed to be just in the right place. However, steering and sudden changes of speed had me reverting to my old habit of holding the front of the seat. It’s a very weird feeling, but I can remember when holding the front of the seat felt like an advanced technique!
Dismounting took some faith - I always step off the back, and with that 2 foot long metal projection there, I didn’t know what to expect - but it was no problem.