I really like two handed riding for uphills. I find I can get more torque on the pedals for really steep hills. I would never rather ride no handed when I have the chance to ride with both of my hands on. When riding muni, one of my hands is always ready to come of so I can stick that arm out for balance, however I find that I ride smoother (and therefore faster and using less energy) if I have both hands on.
Turtle, how are you liking that saddle for muni? I understand the desire for a slim saddle for distance, but I don’t think I would want thinner than a KH street for muni. Also, is the older velo base strong enough for the handle? Does it flex a lot?
i ride also only uphill both handed otherwise always one handed at to lower part of the T that’s why i put a bike handle thing on it (on the prototype above also but after i took the pic) like this i’ve always perfect control.
and yes i love the saddle, i’ve got fou of them all with fibreglass base (no flex at all) trial, 26" street, 36" road and on the muni. i like it also fir muni because i got a direct response.
I love riding no handed on trails, I can hang my arms down, fiddle with stuff, stretch out, it’s the one advantage unicycles have over bikes: we don’t “need” to use our hands.
I can ride some fairly rough terrain free handed, funny how I refused to ride with hands when learning, then developed an obsession with always having a hand on the grab handle, and now might not have a hand on the handle unless I really need to be pulling up or steering.
I am only riding single track, so maybe for double track or road it might be different and I’d have a twin handle, but for the riding I do it’s a one handed “all the days” (my son’s phrase)
I like to keep my hand on a grip and be able to brake at the same time.
Such setup is good enough for my XC riding.
I plan to cut the T-bar in length but after I change my saddle as this one is bit off to the side so I can’t decide how much shall I cut exactly. I prefer the bar short and I now ride it shorter then on the second photo.
I recently bought the KH T-bar and have started using it for technical singletrack Muni. So far I really like it. My pedal strokes seem to be much more efficient. I have considered shortening the bar even more and moving the handles closer to the saddle, but right now my current setup is attached. The one negative about the T-bar is that it’s harder to jump/step clear of the Uni during a UPD now.
It’s hard to see, but I have a Starfighter on the end of my disc brake lever.
This is what I’m using for 36er muni in place of my single bar end, it gives me a two handed position for climbing double track while still providing decent grab for downhill. I still ride the majority of the time with my right hand dominant, either grabbing the right side or the center.
The T Bar is narrowed by 1/2 inch on either side, I did this to reduce leg bruising when climbing out of the saddle. I cut the two bar ends with a hacksaw so they match tightly, then wrapped them with rubberized cloth tape.
Replacing the grab handle with a freestyle handle saves weight and makes it easier to get an in-close hand position.
Has anyone tried to shorten the mounting bracket? It sorta looks like Turtle might have shortened his…
I worked on mine all last night with hand tools after killing both of my dremels; one caught on fire and the other just stopped running. I was able to use the stock hardware, and with some fancy filing I got the brakcket as short as possible and it is just as secure as new, but over an 1/2" closer to the seat
My next mod will be similar to Turtle’s silver T bar, but with a sleeve welded to a removeable bracket, so the bar will be snug to the underside of the seat. I’ll lose angular adjustment, retain extension/retraction, and increase stability/reduce flex.
Hey Turtle, here are some pics of the shortened bracket installed. The factory holes were 15mm apart center to center, I had ~13mm to work with, so I had to fudge things a bit, but the factory hardware and factory hole that remained were loose enough that it worked okay. I had to file down the “rounded tab” welded to the tube to allow complete rotation full, other than losing a little angle adjustment, it works like new, but is 13mm closer to the seat.
The next modification I’d like to do is to cut the bracket down as short as possible and weld the tube directly to the bracket, so that the bar rests against the bottom of the front bumper. It would be nice if I could get a second bracket without buying the whole rig, but then I’d need some tubing…anyway, I’ll have to figure out the “perfect” angle, that way it’s not too steep.
