Ok, before you get your hopes up, this is a non-riding review… For a good reason. There’s no way to connect a brake lever to this seat. I have a small KH brake adapter that connects to the front bolts; the problem is, the rails of the seat are held in by 2 centrally located bolts that impede the KH adapter from being installed. I’m going to have to rig something up on the seatpost… Or build a handlebar set-up different than the Coker pi bar
I’m pretty dissappointed, Qu-Ax should have thought of this. I sat on the seat and it feels great, I just don’t want to ride without my brakes.
you indeed got my hopes up. . . . what are you using it for?
I don’t really have anything to worry about since I don’t run brakes, But I’m sure you can rig up something on a coker pi bar, even if you had to switch out the bar ends to make a brake fit them.
they do make it pretty clear that even if it coincidentally fits, that a qu-ax saddle is not designed to be compatible with KH components. : (
!!! Post up some more info and maybe some good pictures !!! I can’t wait to get mine, I hope it’ll be here tomorrow! my pi bar was supposed to show up today at a friends house, I haven’t heard from him though.
I’m using it for my 36-er and want to put brakes on it so I can commute. I live on a hill called Mt. Tabor in Portland and I have to go up and over it to get to my clinic. Having brakes will make the steep sections much more smooth and less stressful on my knees.
I know it states that It’s not compatible with KH components but they should at least have an alternative for mounting a brake. I like the Pi Bar but I’m not going to put the brake lever on the bar extender because I don’t hold onto the Pi bar all the time. I am going to try and figure out how I can rig a handle bar system that allows me to stay upright; most of the ones I’ve seen put you in a more bike-like position. I liked Terry’s version of the Pi Bar… we’ll see.
well this may be a drastic (though not as drastic as some) solution. . .
but could you re-drill some holes into the plate on the KH mount, and shave some off the sides to get the same adaptor to fit? : ) you could do that with pretty minimal effort.
I can’t really see the full underside of the saddle, but I see what you’re talking about from the picture in the other thread. . . any chance you could drill into this plate and mount it at a funny angle, if the other idea didn’t work? You may have to really mess up that adaptor, bend it or something, but there’s got to be a way to get a brake lever under there somehow.
Good luck with it : ) I’m sure you’ll figure something out.
edit: after looking at the KH adaptor, it’s not the same configuration I was thinking of, you really don’t have a lot of room to re-drill holes. . . why not just cut some of the tube off? (of the brake mount) pipe cutter anybody? >: )
Here are some pictures:
As you can see, the center bolts come down too far, the bolt holes on the KH brake adapter fit perfectly, the handle is a KH handle. The center bolts come down so far that I would need to cut off the tube part of the adapter…then I’d have no where to bolt the brake lever onto.
I can probably use the plate and have someone weld a piece of tubing that extends down far enough to clear the bolts…this makes the Qu-Ax seat a VERY expensive seat…
what about changing the bolts on the seat to something more low-profile. Then maybe adding a few washers to the two bolts that are on the back part of the handle so that it angles the brake mount downward in order to clear the bolts.
yea, I didn’t realize it was quite that bad n.n’ that is disappointing that they wouldn’t have thought about that. They really are in the worst possible place.
That would require taking the seat apart, the threaded part of the bolt originates from the seat, the nut that is attached to it could be lower profile but the bolt would still stick down. I would need to cut the bolt or replace it with a smaller one, both options would require me to take apart the seat… I’m not doing that. I will just have to have someone weld a piece of tubing to the seatpost
Again…this seat is an expensive option if you want brakes and don’t have a handlebar set-up that already has a place to attach a lever.
O:-) you could grind down the bolt with it still coming out of the seat. (dremmel could cut or grind it down)
yea, probably is : ( that sucks. . . But on the other hand, if it really is more comfy, then it may all be worth it : )
Personally I think that the placement of the bolts could be a good thing. You could easily get a piece of seatpost, or handlebar and drill two holes for the bolts. Then use a threaded spacer to extend the bolt, and follow it with an allen head bolt to hold the tube in place. You could use washers to give some space for the brake lever band to get between the seat and the mount.
In this configuration the threaded spacers would act like the original nuts holding the seat together. The allen head bolts would hold the lever mount in place, and the washers would just give space to the brake lever.
What I like about this is that it would be very easy to mount a brake lever without having to buy an expensive piece of gear. Of course it would be nice to be able to use it if you already have the expensive piece of gear.
Another idea is to get the Coker lever mount. It may still have a problem with the cap nut on the bolt, but you might be able to switch it out for a flange nut or nylock.
do you mind taking a couple more pics with the lever off and of the bottom of the seat with the lever mount installed?
Thanks… I may just have to drill a couple of holes… this seems like a good option.
I found that photo on the thread for the Coker currently for sale in the trading post. My lever mount is a home grown job. I think with some minor changes my mount would also work for the Qu-Ax seat though.
My mount is a piece of 1" steel angle with a piece of seatpost attached via a bolt through the middle. You could make my set up with a little shorter piece of seatpost and I think it would fit just fine. You could also use aluminum angle to save a bunch of weight.
OK, here’s what I came up with, no welding, just 4 6mm couplers, 4 6mm allen head bolts…the shortest the hardware store had… and some locktite.
Here are the results, total cost $12.00 for hardware… I already had the KH lever mount
It looks solid.
Now we all await a review! If it performs the way I think it might I will probably be ordering one.
another issue has arisen. The rail mount has wider rails than the nimbus seatpost that came with my T7 . . . so . . basically . . . I need a new seatpost, which is one of the reasons I had gotten this saddle to begin with : ( so I wouldn’t have to do that. It came with an adaptor, that of course doesn’t fit the seatpost bar that I have, so I can’t cut off the mount on the one I have and use that . . . it pretty much sucks. . . I’ll have to figure something else out. maybe a bike shop has a seatpost that fits both. . . maybe a seatpost that isn’t 30 bucks.
I thought this was a standard thing. . . am I crazy? and yea, I know there are all sorts of variable standards, but COME ON! the width of rails on a seatpost mount?
I just checked it with my regular seatpost on my road bike as well. . . I’m beginning to wonder if it is just not bent properly, perhaps I’ll try to tighten the original mount until the bars bend in just a tad, it’s not far off, but I certainly wouldn’t want to leave it like that for an extended period of time.
That’s what I did… I have it on a Mt. Bike seatpost. I just tightened it down until the rails bent to fit the post. I think I’m going to take it off and bend it with some pliers, It’s not horribly off but it’s off.
This is another strike against this seat. I REFUSE to use the crappy 1970’s post clamp that comes with the seat, plus, it doesn’t fit on the seatpost I have on the 36-er. I am getting my 36-er ISIS wheelset back on Friday and will be able to properly try the Qu-Ax seat out…so far, I’m not too psyched about the lack of though put into attaching a brake lever and making it compatible with regular rail-type posts.
Oh well… this is unicycling, half of the shit we use is rigged one way or another. :o
Finally it’s here!
Here’s the new setup : ) took it out for a test ride a few minutes ago, and my first impressions are that this seat is WAAY more comfy than the nimbus gel. I haven’t ridden a freeride, so I couldn’t compare there. It is more firm, but it also feels thinner, and fits me a little better. I say feels thinner, because I can’t really tell much of a difference when I look at the two side by side.
The coker bar is set a little lower than I had the T7 which also really helps out to make it more comfy because I can put a little more downward pressure on the seat, though that has taken a teeensy bit of my stability away, or so it seems.
I cannot run the 150s anymore because of the extra seatpost that the coker bar takes up. (I’m short, 30 inch inseam 5’8") But I had planned on getting some ventures with my new muni coming soon and slapping lighter 125s on there permenantly, and putting the double holes on the muni. I only had the 150s for learning really.
There was also a considerable amount of weight saved, enough that I noticed when I was rolling around the uni. : ) I think if I had used that stupid clamp that came with the saddle, that would have been negated . . . yes it was really that heavy of a clamp. The clamp took considerable effort to get off as well.
I don’t know what I’m going to do about the seatpost not fitting quite right . . . to be honest if it hadn’t been wider than it should be I wouldn’t have been able to get the top piece through the bars, I had to kinda force it through. For right now, it seems pretty secure . . . for some reason it looks like the bottom of the clamp fits and the top is off, I wonder if I’m bending the seatpost mount. I believe this could be a flaw in design, since we’ve both had this problem. I’m leaving it as is, it’s on there, and it’s not going anywhere, and I seriously doubt I’m going to screw up those rails.
all ‘n’ all I’m pretty happy with it : ) there are a few things that will bug some people about it, but this is their original design for the seat, so I’m certainly not disappointed. I payed 2/3 of what a freeride costs, and I’ll pay anything for comfort on the long hauls.
I’ll let you know more about long distance comfort on thursday, I ride it to the local juggling club : )
This is fairly standard, but even bike seatposts are variable. I have installed many bike seats that had the same problem. It works fine to just squeeze them together as you tighten the seatpost, and you really don’t need to do more than that. As long as you were able to mount it to the seatpost I would leave well enough alone.
Yeah, mine worked fine when I squeezed the rails while installing it onto the seatpost.
I have been playing with the seat and I am realizing that it’s a bit more curved than the Freeride. I also have a Nimbus Gel seat and it’s less agressive than that seat (a good thing for the taint) but seems to squish “the boys” more than the Freeride. I get my 36-er back on Friday so I’ll know for sure then.