Hi -
I’m big on using bike seat posts with unicycles because they are light, cheap, strong and let you adjust the saddle tilt. But it requires some kind of rail adapter to use a unicycle saddle with a bike post. What the world needs is a unicycle saddle with the rails already built in … like a bike seat.
I’ve had the idea for quite a while that I could fabricate such a saddle base. I have some titanium sheet metal and round stock so yesterday I took some time and gave it a shot … and the world’s first titanium unicycle saddle base was born!
First let me say that I don’t know anything about titanium. I know there’s different grades but don’t know what’s best for various aplications. I used 6al/4v titanium and I know that bike frames are made from 3al/2.5v grade but I don’t know what the difference is.
This thing was a pain to make so it’s not likely that I’ll be making another one. The grade of titanium I have probably isn’t the best to use for a project like this. It was like working with strong spring steel. It’s very hard to cut, bend, form etc. It does drill nicely though.
I’ve uploaded some pictures to this gallery if you want to take a look:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/showard
The goal, of course, was to make something strong and light with seat rails. Turns out that the EXCELLENT carbon fiber saddle base that’s sold at uni.com actually weighs less until you add a rail adapter and fasteners.
If I’d known to start with how tough this thing would be to make I wouldn’t have done it. While working on it, the radio station I was listening to played Pink Floyd for about two hours straight so it wasn’t really time wasted.
Steve Howard
