Nice one guys!
Tony, did you get to ride up Mt Wellington in the end? I’ve always wanted to do that.
I know Tony was having all sorts of issues trying to mount his KH touring handle onto his custom seat base the day before the tour. He’s got an unusual setup as his Schlumpf frame requires a 25.0mm seat post and the only seat post he has that will fit was fitted to a carbon fibre saddle. The KH touring handle is designed to work with the new 09 saddles so I wouldn’t be surprised if he had teething problems with his KH handle setup and had to revert to the tried and tested T7..
Remember the number one rule of distance riding: never fit untested equipment the day before a big ride 
I can’t remember how many times I’ve broken that one and been caught out.
I’ll be interested to hear Tony’s explanation. I tried the KH T-bar for the first time this morning and my first impression was I’m going to have to experiment a lot with positions until I find something that works for me. Fortunately it has a lot of adjustability, so hopefully I can find a good position.
Ive have muni’d down the Wellington a couple of times, yet to make it up on a 24’ thought. Awsome ride.
Although they have built a new track since i was last there.
I am cross i missed this whole thing, blasted not having the internet.
I changed to my old chopped-down T7 handle after two days because my KH T-bar was a few degrees off parallel with my seat. This caused muscle pain on one side of my back. This is no fault of the handle itself, rather my poor hole-drilling abilities. The holes I drilled for the usual handle I use on this seat (taken from my muni) weren’t perfectly placed. KH carbon base was fine when it had only a Deathgrip handle on it, and the few degrees off being perfectly parallel didn’t matter. But when I mounted the t-bar the imperfection reared its ugly head.
As Peter mentioned, I didn’t use a '09 KH saddle as my Schlumpf frame for some reason has a 25.0mm seatpost, which rules out using a KH Adjustable post, which in turn rules out using an '09 saddle! My only practical option, seeing as I got the handle the day before the tour, was to use a carbon base. I might be able to use a Thompson 25.0mm post with the top part of a KH Adjustable post as an alternative, and a rather expensive alternative which may not work very well. Not sure how willing I am to try this. I might try to drill another CF seatbase to fit my T-bar, but unless there’s a foolproof way of getting the holes perfectly placed this again could be a costly (in time and $) excercise. Any suggestions anyone?
As far as the T-bar handle goes, I really liked the adjustability and the low weight. The body position seemed better and lower than the T7 (at least that’s how I had it set up). Its a bit more flexible than the T7, but that’s to be expected as its aluminium rather than steel. However it never felt flimsy or like it would break readily.
Knees versus angles
Tynan
The seventh day of the tour write up:
http://aegis666.com/tasuni2009/?page_id=236
was tititled Hills vs Ankles
I seem to remember earlier in the tour you had soreness of the knees. I think the consensus was to raise the seat to take the soreness off the knees. Overdo the seat height increase and that can cause soreness of the ankles. Is that what happened? Did you try lowering your seat again?
Barry
Thanks for the explanation. I am keen to try out the new saddle and touring handle. I recently switched back to the GB4s on my geared 36 from the T7 because I found the CF base + gb4 was a lot easier on my ass than the T7 set up I had going. I think I can relieve more pressure with the gb4s.
hi guys, well done on what looks like it was a really nice ride!
About touring handles. I tried tony’s new KH touring bar at uninats before the tour and while i liked its lower position, to me it seemed flimsy, with the design putting to much force through the seat base (mind you this was on a CF base as well). I could perceive an unnerving amount of flex through the seat base while even riding pretty casually on flat terrain.
When i am really cranking on my 36, especially on hill climbs, i like to get a lot of power through the handle to the pedals and i’m not sure if i would feel comfortable doing that on the new handle.
In my mind, if it was made from a more substantial type of tubing and had its main fixing point as the seat post it would be a better handle design.
I will be sticking with my t7 for now- that is for sure.
Mark