What invention-ideas can you suggest for unicycling?

If you have the set of both a right and left handlebar riser then there are loads of options for how short you cut them and which one you use depending on which way around you have your handles.

Take the seat handle off so you use the handlebars for everything.
Make it easy on your body by keeping your setup the same for every type of riding.
In short time, you wonā€™t miss it.

I use the seat handle though for hopping.

This is the prototype from 4 years ago. Never removed it as does just what I need.


Allows saddle handle to be used with the brake, when itā€™s needed most at times when extra control and pull up is required. It would be nice to also have on tbar for long gentle downhills.

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Thatā€™s actually a really slick idea. Not only would that extend the reach of the brake up the handle, it would add very little weight, might improve modulation and could make it ambidextrous all while keeping the brake handle protected.

This is my old, but not executed dream, to make quick folding seat tube. It is not too easy to find ready hinge with suitable diameter of tubes.

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I think this could be great for making 20ā€ up to probably 26ā€ much smaller for saving trunk space and such but a 29er or larger most likely wouldnā€™t gain much from this.

mine

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Youā€™d need to try my handle setup. I think it gets to a point where it all depends on the gear you choose and the size of your hands. The way mine is set is on point for my hand and my brake. I can use my index for braking, thereā€™s no way I can squeeze my other fingers and Iā€™ve never had my finger slipping off my brake lever (nothing added to my brake lever!). It took a while until I managed to find that combo for riding, I did feel like there had to be a solution to our wonky ergonomics. Itā€™s also a matter of preference and riding style, Iā€™ve tried other available handles and never felt like it was natural enough for me. Having the dominant hand on an angle did the whole difference.

This is a fixed version of the tiny handles I sell. I ended up never moving mine, so I built a lighter one :sunglasses:




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Iā€™m so thankful that my preference and riding style match the KH t-bar handlebar with aluminum bar ends for handles.
The brake is easily accessible, doesnā€™t get damaged (mostly) in falls, and can be rotated out of the way to make room for a secondary light source.
I can use one finger, multiple fingers or even mitts very easily from either side.
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Thanks for the invention Kris.

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So being a noob, I donā€™t yet have any experience with uni braking, but I see the starfigher extension for sale, and on folkā€™s brake levers here (like yours), and I have seen where people use some moldable plastic to form a similar ā€œpaddleā€ on the end of the levers, And I have wondered several times why doesnā€™t somebody just make a lever that is paddle shaped at the end in the first place???

In the dirt biking world, there are lots of aftermarket companies that make brake and clutch leversā€¦ shorter/longer than stock, rubber grips on the levers, ones with Spring loaded hinges so it can fold away instead of breaking in a fall, you name it. You would think it would be a very simple thing to make a paddle shaped lever designed for unicyclist needs.
Of course itā€™s probably a very small market though.

I did one using a square tube. It is longer and flat. It is also easy to make.

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The brake parts used are made for ordinary bicycles and I can imagine that the unicycle market is far too small for the bicycle part manufacturers (for example Shimano) to care about them. Just my thoughts. There are some adjustable brake handles though, but the adjustable range could have been significantly larger.

There are hundreds of different brakes with different levers on the market. So for which ones should a manufacturer offer a unicycle specific lever? If there were only a handful of defined interfaces between lever and brake, that could be done, but most levers differ there. There even isnā€™t an aftermarket for brake levers in the bike world, so this will definitely never happen.
An extention that fits most of the common levers on the market will always be the way to go.

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I made quick and crude brake lever extension for my 27.5". I just cut a piece of 1/4" aluminum square bar to about 3" long and shaped it with a disc sander to match the curvature in the inside of my brake lever and tapered it to get the correct angle. I had originally planned on drilling and tapping it and bolting it to the brake lever, but decided to test it first by attaching it with zip ties and electrical tape. As it turned out, the zip ties and electrical tape worked fine and the kludgy appearance wasnā€™t that bad.

it extends the brake lever about an inch, allowing me to use my forefinger for braking.


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I was kind of assuming that most of the levers on most Shimano brakes would be the same or very similar (it serves no benefit to Shimano to make each brake system need a different lever), but I am not real familiar with this hardware myself to know the level of parts variability.

Itā€™s hard to know how many unicyclists actually have/use brakes, and of those that do, how many feel they need to have something ā€œbetterā€ than the stock lever. Probably a very small number.

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I think youā€™re probably seeing an exaggerated number of muni and serious road riders on this forum and brakes are the norm for them. I would guess however that 90% of unicyclists donā€™t post on forums and have never ridden one with brakes.

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When the KH Spooner, which only fits Magura HS levers, was Ā£18 last I checked, any kind of custom lever would likely be a hard sell. Thereā€™s a good reason why the KH Starfighter is like it is - relatively simple machining, and a universal lever fit. Sadly that makes it horrible to use IMO.

Iā€™d love a Spooner for Shimano hydraulic levers as they are basically all the same end shape (at least all of the ones I have) but I canā€™t imagine thereā€™s enough demand to do a new injection moulding run. The original Spooners only had one injection moulding run, and theyā€™re still available to buy nowā€¦

Iā€™ve thought a few times that itā€™d be an ideal thing to 3D print, but Iā€™ve just not got around to doing the design work for it yet - getting the negative of the lever end profile correct is non-trivial (even the KH Spooner extensions arenā€™t perfect for the 2005 HS33 levers).

If thereā€™s enough interest, I could be convinced to move it further up my list.

@Medaceina did these ones too:

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Itā€™s my next invention. Airless tire project. I try to install a pice of rubber hose on my wheel. It is not so easy to fix it on the rim. Here are some underwater stones. But I was be able to ride a hundred meters already, from third attamption. The weight of this hose tire is 850g.
Has anybody experience with airless tire on unicycle?

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Anyone think bolt-through axles will ever be a reality on yoons?