Well…i did it again, but not in my usual fashion of breaking the bit where the bolts screw into in half, this time i carefully ripped the whole top off the seatpost…this will be the 3rd post ive done, and the 2nd KH seatpost in 3 weeks…
I think you need to do something to improve your seat posts. Maybe when you buy it you should just go weld 2 diagonal bits of metal on from the edge of the bracket to the post on both side, might at least stop it from happening too quickly. But I really have no experience in this area, just a suggestion.
yeah, an engineer friend of petes will hopefully be able to do that for me…hehe it was quite funny when it happened, i was doing an ‘easy’ hop of 40cm and then i jumped, the seat flipped off and almost took out some people…
Yeah Kh seats suck. I haven’t broken mine as I’ve been using it for like a week. But SWAT has gone through a large number of seatposts, KH style and non. I’m getting tired of it so I’m gonna go to rails and a Thomson. Just have to hope the rails dont break.
is that the newer aluminum version of the KH seat post?
Get one of Darren Bedford’s rail conversion kits, then buy a Thomson mtn bike seat post…problem solved b/c you won’t break a Thomson
That’s what happens when you make a stronger seat. The weakness in the system moves to a different area. It’s a great quality seat, designed for high-level aggressive riding. Unfortunately the seat post is still in the “basic unicycling” cagegory; made to be cheap.
Before people started jumping and hopping all the time, seat posts were never a problem Now we’re putting a lot more stress on them. Adding longer handles to the front of the seat only makes it worse, as there is more leverage being applied to the post.
Eventually, unicycle seats/posts will be designed around the post. It will be some sort of a T shape, with a handle at the front and bumper at the back, designed to take all the torque and repetition of long-term hopping and jumping. Then, the seat can be built a lot lighter (and hopefully simpler/cheaper), because it will only support your butt and not be used for all that other stuff.
Your post broke from metal fatigue. Metal doesn’t (usually) break from a single hard impact. These kinds of breaks develop over the course of hundreds, or more likely thousands, of pulls and drops. I used to tear a lot of Miyata seat posts. My more recent ones are customized to shore them up. They not only won’t break, they help protect the seat from breaking.
They dont make’em like they used to …
I had a simliar comment about planned obsolense, but I got to many ‘KH’ stuff isnt made faulty.
(or similar comments)
That is clearly a aluminum based casted / moulded part.
Maybe you guys should look at Schwinn Uni seatposts.
I think they are still made better than those.
(from those pics)
My post is steel, with a welded seat bracket.
No complaints that it’s to heavy, cuz, this is the second KH ‘seatpost broken’ thread in a week.
(mine has lasted 36 yrs, yes , it has been pounded to concrete)
I’m making a modded seatpost with a triangle of metal welded to the seatpost and then welded to a plate that is attached by the bolts that hold the handle on. It should fix my seatpost problems, my seat problems, and make my seat stiffer than anything out there. EVEN A CF SEATBASE! (and it costs less)
Yes. Swat goes through like one of these a month now. They always break at the holes for mounting the seat or where the mounting plate (idk what to call it, the top part) is welded to the main piece of tubing. For some reason there is a taper there…basically a weak point designed in to it.
Unicycle.com also sells them, the cheapest of which is $22. Not really a kit. Just a bracket with rails on it. I’m getting a thomson, but I still have to worry about the adapter failing.
Those are just as bad. They dont break quite as easily but they bend really easily if you use any length of post. Also they have a tendency to tear apart which can put you in a really bad place (as opposed to the Al ones which, in my experiences always break on impacts such as drops).
Ok , I have to dissagree about bending these …
Heres a closeup.
Maybe the schwinn post you had isnt constructed this way …?
See how thick the steel is …?
I’ve got to tell ya … I have beat this post hard for 36 yrs.
The size of this post (Dia.) allowed me to slide another steel pipe over it too 
If you really think your going to bend it … 
Really? What kinds of hops and drops are you doing on it? What hardcore freestyle? I’m sorry but there comes a time when a post cannot take the abuse it is getting dealt. You haven’t reached that point.
Heres the seatposton my schwinn. Looks the same as yours about. I’d say the only reason it is intact is because I never ride it. Please excuse the crappy webcam nature of these pics.
Also I’m not sure if that pipe thing is good for your frame. Idk maybe its just because it looks wierd to me. Heres mine…cept I use a quick release skewer.
You guys are comparing a 36-year old Schwinn seat post and a contemporary one. I haven’t looked at a Schwinn post recently, but I would hazard to guess that they’ve made some changes to it, cutting down the cost of manufacture, and the strength.
Those old Schwinn posts were definitely a lot more bombproof than most any unicycle post of today. I never had a problem with an old Schwinn seat post, except for the one I bent on my Giraffe. This was from learning to running-mount it into a one-foot idle, without ever touching it with the other foot. That put a lot of stress on the frame and post! But the post bent near the bottom, not at the top.
My Wilder came with a Schwinn-style post and a KH saddle. That post bent after I made a bad landing on the seat after a bad jump. One bad hit bent the plate at the top. Surely it was the weakest part on my Wilder. I replaced it with a Kinport rail adapter and a Pyramid suspension post. No problems there until the suspension wore out after much abuse. I definitely got my money’s worth there.
I’m gonna get another photo for ya for reference , gimme some time :thumbup;
Steel post thickness is 1/8"
I’m not trying to argue anything here …
… trying to be helpfull when selecting a post.
Showing the ‘girth’
ignore the cocoon in my post …
(I bet it’s been there aloooooong time )