I was never happy with the last handlebar I made for my KH36 road unicycle. It attached underneath the base of my seat, and despite it being carbon fiber it still flexed quite a bit and I was afraid it would break. It also never felt quite right — I wanted it to be slightly lower, and slightly more forward. On my KH24 geared muni I have a handlebar that attaches to the seat post and has always felt great. Using the seat post wouldn’t work for my KH36, since I’m short and run the seat all the way as low as it can go when using 150mm cranks. In fact, I think I cut down the top tube on the KH36 frame a bit so I could get it extra low.

To work around this problem I made a new version that attaches to the frame and adjusts vertically when I use different cranks.

Here is a picture of the completed setup:

The individual pieces I made mainly from 22.2mm tubes (purchased from Aircraft Spruce) brazed together. The small piece at the bottom is an adapter to attach the brake in the direction that I like. I make the little seat post clamps on my lathe, and trim some fat off of them with the milling machine.

The base attaches to the frame:

The top T goes in, and can be adjusted up and down. I could also replace it if it ever breaks or doesn’t work the way I want.

After the brake is installed:

Top view. Notice that I run a set of bar ends backwards. I use these when riding rough terrain, or for climbing steep hills. I really prefer it to the typical front plastic handle found on nearly ever unicycle.

After I finished making it, I painted it with 2 coats of gray primer, 2 coats of black, and 2 clear coats.

Riding with it is a dream — it is exactly the handlebar I want. In theory I could also use this setup like a “V frame” unicycle, by tilting the seat forwards a lot and dropping the front handlebar post down all the way, but I haven’t tried that yet.

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