these aren't supposed to break

well, i was out riding today, and i did some uni-spins, some
one foot and two foot wheel walking, and practiced some hop-on-
wheel. about 20 mins later, while holding my wheel, i notice
something odd. one of my spokes is broken! "what the heck?"
i ask, but i figure i can still do some mild tricks and ride
it home. i did make 24" before it broke, but maybe that
caused it to break.....i dont really know. that wasn't even
the worst part/

later on it was dark out, and as i was hanging out with my
friends, i saw a small 3-set, and decided to 180 over it.
i rode, jumped, twisted 90 degrees and fell. why did i
fall? because my SEATPOST BROKE. i thought those were hard
to break. i was using the 350mm x 25mm? that comes with
the stock KH 20" trials, and it broke at the weld. i was
sad that it broke, but not dumbfounded by where it broke.
i ask Kris Holm this question, "why does the seatpost
taper down at the weld? doesn't that make that one spot
really weak?" the post gets thinner at the weld. bad stuff
that was my day.

Optimists say: you improved on your one foot wheel walk and
you hopped 24" today! Pessimists say: you definitely broke a
spoke and your seatpost. the spoke will be hard to find,
while the seatpost is out of stock! I say: long day

--
shadowuni - Level 5.5 Unicyclist

"No one is taller than the last man standing"
"Freeze, Mother Stickers! This is a F**k up!" - Stupid Criminal

"unless I'm catastrophically off-balance, in which I'll have to hop to
stay up." - gerblefranklin
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I've killed many a seat post over the years. Mostly Miyata
posts, which were made out of low grade steel. I don't think
I ever broke one at the weld; the actual metal would rip
from repeated seat flexing.

Today's unicycle seat posts are subjected to way more
stress than their original designs were intended for.
Nobody expected, years ago, for riders to be doing what
we're doing, let alone yanking and squashing on the front
of the seat. Adding an extended handle to that makes the
problem worse. So sometimes the seat breaks, and sometimes
it's the post.

Over the years I've had several gusseted seat posts made, to
make the seat/post joint more strong and rigid. This
preserves the life of both the seat and post, and also gives
you better power transmission because there is no flex in
that area. This was most useful on my old track uni.

I believe future high-end unicycles will have lighter-
weight seats, and handles that are built into the posts, so
the seats don't get stressed. This should allow for more
overall lightness (assuming you need a strong handle) and
less breakage.

Hard to find spoke? Many bike shops have tools to cut and
thread spokes to whatever length you need. When I get
wheels built (or rebuilt) I always order a few extra spokes
to save hassles when I have to replace one. The hard part
then is finding the right spoke several years later when I
need it...

--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"I should be wearing a helmet here -- so should you." -- George Peck,
who almost never wears one, in the 1991 video Rough Terrain Unicycling
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these aren't supposed to break

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