Seat post awesomeness:

BUMP

I aree. any takers? I don’t have a site, but I would be honored to be included on somebody’s site.

that a good looking reinforcement. you should market them on ebay.

I might get one of these made but I’m not clear on some things. Whats a punch? Did you use the grinding wheel to get the curve of the saddle? If so how’d you do it? If not how’d you do it?

David

I see. So do you pay for all of your music and/or software? :smiley: Just kidding.

I think copyright applies to intellectual property. For physical stuff like a seatpost, I think the correct thing is a patent. In any case, the purpose of a patent or copyright is to protect the originator of a product (not necessarily just an idea) so they can reap the benefits of their creation – assuming they feel a need to do so.

I am not anticipating making a fortune on super-stiff, well-designed seat posts. Somebody may someday, but not in the near future. Until then, I’ve already asked for a chrome one, which I’m ready to pay for.

BTW, I cannot claim credit for inventing the gusset. I think those have been around for a while. I just applied a little common sense to my seat posts.

Beyond that, the choice to protect one’s intellectual or physical property is up to the creator. All the images on my web site are copyrighted:
http://www.unicycling.com/copyrite.htm
That’s because I do occasionally make sales to magazines and such. I also give away lots of images for free, for On One Wheel or to the JUA, for instance (buy the Unicon XII photo CD–I don’t collect a dime!).

Fortunately it looks like nobody’s trying to prevent anything, especially if they post closeup pictures of it here. An environment of competition is a good thing for unicyclists. More competition means more choices and lower prices. An environment of hostility is not directly related in any way.

Make mine a chrome one that fits KH or Miyata seats and you’ve really got a winner there!

a punch is a little metal pointy thing thta I used to scratch an outline in my original piece of sheet metal. you should be able to get one for cheap at a hardware store, i think

I used the hacksaw for a rough outline (including the curve of the saddle.) and then used a grinding wheel to make it fit perfectly.

An easier way to outline a design on metal or any other hard surface (instead of using a punch) is to use masking tape. Tape the surface and trace the pattern on the tape like painters do. Cut
the material a few millimeters outside and grind or file until desired shape is achieved. This also prevents the surface from getting scratched.:slight_smile:

The seatpost looks great, eventhough I don’t go off anything high enough to even think about breaking a seat ^^. Although, I do have some design Ideas, you guys can tell me what you think. I’m thinking of more likea flat arch support desgin, which would give you some flex, it would be lighter, and it would still protect the seat from all of our fat @ss’s. Anyways I’ll attach a photo.

Who else here hates kami’s?

seat.jpg

One potential problem with that design is that the stiffener arch would be blocking two of the bolts that attach the seat to the seatpost. You might not be able to get a socket wrench or other convenient tool in there to tighten the two front bolts.

As far as stiffening a seat it seems that adding more metal to the seat post seems like we are just avoiding the problem of weak plastic seat bases. I’m wondering if it could be lighter to just make the base out of metal in the first place than adding stiffening plates.

Here’s an idea, why not use rails on all unicycle seats? There is already a huge supply of Bicycle seatposts that are way stronger than the typical seat plate/ post ones that are found on many unicycle seats.

I like the rail idea. You get quality posts and the ability to adjust angle and also fore-aft position. But for the near future, I think rail seats will only be relatively expensive add-ons. The system is way more expensive to manufacture than what we currently have.

Also I worry about the little rails busting out of my Kinport rail adapter. They haven’t yet, but that bike seats are not made for the type of abuse we give unicycle seats. I think a stronger design is in order, and we should just skip past the traditional bike stuff.

The purple seat with curved gusset above looks elegant, but I envision a catastrophic failure at some point in the future. The advantage of a bit of springiness will be outweighed by the metal fatigue that will happen at the joints. Eventually it is likely to break like a regular seatpost, only not as soon. Plus, one real bad impact could collapse the gusset in a single fell swoop.

Whatever a swoop is.

I’ve been riding on gussetted seats for many years and I don’t have a problem with the stiffness. Stiffness=responsiveness! Though it may cut down on comfort a bit, it’s definitely better in all non-endurance sport situations. Racing, Trials, etc.

I run a gb4 stiffener plate and I’ve never had problem with flex doing jumps or drops. I’ll bet this makes it a lot stiffer though.

I got a kinport handle on my air seated viscount on my trials unicycle. I bearly have any flex. The only thing is I know the seat post is going to go soon. Just an over all stronger seat post would be good. That super seat post that Fuego made would be sweet but its a little to much work and with out the equipment very time consuming.

the viscount seats have a metal base…

why dont they make a KH with a metal base? or at least a carbon fibre base. you gotta make it yourself these days.

i dont wanna go through that effort

They do make a CF KH base.

bang!

Metal bases are way too heavy to bother with. As Nick said, KH cf bases already exist.

The metalwork required to make a good seatbase is much harder than many people wish to take on, and requires some tools most people don’t have. Cf isn’t a very nice material, as the fibers from it can cause chronic respiratory issues.

Wow, this is becoming another technical brainstorming session! awesome!

I’m gonna get a MUni, and for that I think I’m going to do some kind of redesign on my old stiffener. I like the old one because as far as I can tell it completely eliminates flex and breakage, but I’m going to try to think of a way to make it lighter, because right now it weighs quite a bit, seeing as it’s a chunk of steel.

Some cool designs… good stuff!

The thing about protecting designs, etc…

It’s all well and good to have an open system when your livelihood is not in that market. In that case, your research simply benefits the sport which you are fond of. You are a small guy, spending your spare time and money to solve a problem. You get some cool fame for solving a problem in an insightful way.

When your livelihood is in a particular market, though, the matter is completely different. If you are a small guy, then when your idea appears, the big guys see it, and with their vast resources, immediately refine it, produce it at cheap labor rates, market it, and sell it far more cheaply than you could ever have done. So all those many hours and personal resources you have spent inventing are down the tubes, and you have no way to pay the bills.

The consumer often never sees this chain of events. He also may not see that the heart of local inventive talent is being cut out and sold overseas, and that the idea that was developed with such pain and suffering, is now being produced at criminally low, exploitative wages elsewhere.

Patenting an idea or design is nearly impossible for this unicycle market. The cost of developing, obtaining, and enforcing national or international patents is HUGE. Intellectual property lawyers start at $300 an hour.

You may not see it, but the way this great uni research is happening is partly because most of the researchers are trying hard to be polite to one another and not steal from one another, or at least to ask permission and to give attribution. This is not the case for everyone, though. Don’t kid yourselves – the people here that invent new uni technology often don’t get any recompense from the companies producing the parts from those ideas. Do you think that Chris Reeder ever got a single royalty from the Reeder handle? Or what is there going to Bruce Bundy for his co-development of the current Hunter frame design?

When someone complains about the labor charges for producing a hand-built airseat, remember that the person building it has to pay bills, and when he is building your airseat, he is not doing something else. The mass-produced uni seats you see today are not made in this country (the USA) – they are made overseas by people who are barely making a couple of bucks a day.

Be assured that anyone that makes you a custom unicycle part of any kind is not charging you full amount – no matter what that amount is. Tom Miller’s labor rate is half that of a normal machine shop. Scott Wallis charges about 1/3 the rate to unicyclists that he charges to corporate customers. To build a 36" wheel (in fact, any wheel) I charge for less than half the hours I spend on it directly, not to mention the time spent procuring parts. I am convinced that is also true for Rick Hunter and George Barnes. None of these guys will charge you for a phone call or email… unlike that $300/hour IP lawyer! They are great guys with high standards and an eye for improving your riding experience.

We are living in exciting times of unicycle technology and skill development. Enjoy it, appreciate what is going on, and support the people that are making it happen. Don’t make your purchase decisions based only on price. Invest in your unicycle community. Otherwise, we will only have Wal-Mart left to buy from.

Wow, Dave, excellent writeup and points! I never understood what went into custom parts until I made my own. To give people an idea of the costs of normal shop time, we estimated at the shop that my frame would’ve cost around $1000-1500 to have made for me. Many machinists charge between $120-$250 per hour! With that in mind, what custom fabricators do for the sport is amazing charity.