Hey everyone, i’m honoured to make my contribution to the big wide, slightly eccentric world of the unicyclist.com message board. Anyway, back 2 the point.
I’m new to unicycling, and recently bought a 20"Pashley muni from unicycle.uk.com about 2 weeks ago. I ride muni and trials at the moment, and me and a unicycle friend r currently trying to emmulate Kris Holm with our slightly smaller (ahhhemmm) drop offs and wall rides.
So, all the hopping and stuff that i’ve been doing has lead to a very tired arm and painful aching fingers as a result of grasping the front of my viscount seat. I was concerned that my fingers, (which hurt for a number of days after a decent muni session), risked serious damage in the future eg arthirits etc. So, i tried cutting away some of the plastic bumper on the front of the seat, so that i would be able to fit 2 or three gloved fingers in the space. However, this proved insufficient, and the next day i was still suffering serious discomfort. Bear in mind that i have never had problems with my hands before, and have done ‘finger intensive’ sports alot before, eg Mountain biking, BMX, Street hockey, a bit of climbing etc.
So, what to do? get a miyata saddle?, no such luck, as everywhere seems sold out.
So, i think i need some kind of handle for the front of my seat, and having seen one for sale which bolted under the saddle, i become excited. However, i can only get it from the US, and it costs 40USD.
So i decide to make my own. Picture this if you will-
An L bend bar end from a mountain bike, clamped to an aheadset stem which can be found on your decent modern mountain bike.
The bar end is fastened to the stem via a piece of metal tubing, which i a cut off from a bicycle seat post.
The Aheadset stem is then fastened to the seat post of my Pashley, via the clamp on the stem which would normally hold some handlebars
The crucial link in this assembly is the cut off bicycle seat post. You will need to get one of the old stlye ones which tapers off towards the top to allow a saddle clamp on it. The overall length of this piece of metal is around 2 or 3 inches. 2/3rds of this should be from the larger diameter section of the post, and roughly1/3rd should be the tapered section, once it is all cut down. These sizes will vary depending on, well, everything really, bar end clamp size, stem clamp size etc.
You will need to experiment with all the components in the assembly, as the size of them is pivotal to their fitting together. Using a long aheadset stem, and a reasonable length bar end is important, as the bar end must protrude beyond the front of the saddle so that u can grip it.
The angles of this assembly are very adjustable, however, you will need to be precise if u r fitting it under a narrow saddle, eg. Viscount.
Maybe other people all know this already, or have better ideas of their own. I’ve only just built mine, using just a hacksaw and some allen keys, so i can’t testify yet to its durability, but in the garage it feels very solid providing you assemble and tighten it all properly.
If anyone else has any good ideas, or tries mine and has any comments, i’d love to hear from u.
If u dont understand any of my instructions, please reply too, and i’ll try to make things clearer. I’ll try to get a picture or something out to help you
And while ure getting to know me, a message to Skunker- I worship Jesus too