I received my kh24 only a week ago. The first day I got it, I brought it to my LBS and asked them to tighten everything. Today, I realized that both the cranks seem a little bit loose. I don’t know if its been like this since the day they tightened everything or if its just gotten loose over time. When the unicycle is stationary I can grab either of the cranks and rattle it around. It seems to be free to move about 5 mm or a cm in each direction. Is it supposed to be like this, or should i take it back to them to have the cranks retightened? Im not sure i have the proper tools to tighten it myself, if thats what it needs.
My 2nd issue is the bolts holding the seat to the seatpost. There are 4 bolts, two in the back and two in the front. The ones in the front are close to impossible to tighten because of the brake boss that was welded onto the frame. I think this is the right term for it. http://www.unicycle.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=619 In the picture you can see the piece of metal sticking out underneath the seat. Anyways, there is no way to tighten those bolts because it is in the way. Has anyone else experienced this problem? It seems that even unicycle.com (or whoever did most of the assembling of the unicycle) couldn’t tighten them either because the two bolts in the front were completely loose while the two in teh back were tight and snug. Sorry for such a detailed explanation of what should be a small problem.
heh, today is my first day owning this thing and those are the exact same problems im having. Well actually, for the second problem, I had a tool that was able to tighten those bolts when I held it at an angle, but im sure your LBS can take care of that for you.
For the first problem tho, I think we need to take the cranks off, and lather the hub with anti-seize. I had the same problem with the kh cranks on my summit and the anti-seize worked, so im guessing its the same for the kh24. I am however going to wait until someone confirms this theory for me before i go ahead and put the anti-seize on.
Anyways, dont get too excited over this cuz both problems are not real a big deal. Your baby is gonna be alright!
Yea, it will tighten if you have the right tools. As for the cranks, use loctite on the screws, and anti sieze in the splines. That’s all. Now go out and enjoy that KH24.
Funny that you mention the loose seatpost, because yesterday I was having the same problem. Today I tightened up the nuts very very tight (bad idea), and one of the bolts broke off halfway!
Recommendation: err on the side of undertightening the bolts holding the seat to the seatpost since they are a real bugger to replace. First you have to take out a few staples on one side, then pull really hard on the foam and wiggle the broken bolt out. Then you have to go to the hardware store and get a replacement bolt and nut, which they probably won’t have in quite as small a size. Finally you have to put the new bolt in place, and staple the seat up with a staple gun, which is bothersome since it is a hard angle to use staple guns in, and the staples aren’t a common size.
Humph! I can see that I’m not needed here any longer. Soon everyone here is going to be praising the miracles of Loctite and anti-seize.
Fortunately, I am still needed here because the apprentices are not yet ready. Loctite is a brand name and needs to be capitalized. The generic term for it would be threadlocker. And it’s anti-seize not anti-sieze. You still have a long way to go in your studies young grasshopper.
Tightening the nuts under the seat can be tricky especially if you have a brake mount under the seat. Sometimes a standard socket wrench will fit in there, but you’ll probably need a deep socket or an extension. Other times you can fit an open ended wrench in there, but that’s terribly inconvenient.
I use a screwdriver with removable tips. I’ve fitted a socket attachment on it. It will fit in the tight places where a standard socket wrench won’t. Although I have not tried this tool on a KH that has the brake mount welded on the seatpost. I’ll attach a pic of the tool.
Oh, and Loctite on the nuts under the seat is a good thing. That will keep the nuts tight so you won’t have to mess with them again.
> My 2nd issue is the bolts holding the seat to the seatpost. … The
> [bolts] in the front are close to impossible to tighten because of
> the brake boss that was welded onto the frame.
the cranks can be taken off and then you put red thread locker on all the bolts and tighten them really good. and the seatpost and saddle problem cannot be fixed unless you want to spend money. what i did was bent the right size wrench so it could reach down there, but still it works horrible. and later on one of the front bolts will come loose, and you will tighten it ant it will come loose again.
It’s no problem. I use anti-seize on the pinch bolts of my DM cranks.
You just want something to lubricate the threads as you’re tightening them. Threadlocker will act as a lubricant when it’s wet. Dry threads bad. Lubricated threads good.
Using anti-seize instead of threadlocker means that you’ll have to check the bolts occasionally to make sure they’re still tight.
