Broken KH Fusion Saddle Allready?!

[munimanpete]

I've had my new KH Fusion Saddle now for only 2 months and 4 days (I checked the invoice), and I think I've allready broken it. Yesterday I was just casually riding around in my garage, I went to do a small hop to test my tire pressure, and as i hopped I heard a fairly loud 'crack' in my seat, now I can flex it and every time I do it makes the cracking noise. Im really annoyed at this because I haven't had the seat very long (not nearly as long as my old, old version KH seat) and havent yet done any too strenuous riding on it, but also because when I broke it I was just doing a small hop.
I looked at the seat base and it doesnt look like the plastic base is broken, but the way it cracks and moves (it kind of jolts every time it cracks) I have a feeling I may have snapped the metal reniforcer plate insdie it. Does this sound like it would be right?
So now im wondering what to do. I have no money to repair it or buy a new seat at the moment, and probably won't have for a while. So should I:
- take off the cover, find the problem and figure how to fix it etc, then put the cover back on, ride it how it is until I can fix it.
- leave the cover on until I know I have enough money to fix it straight away when I take the cover off because if I take it off now I probably wont be able to put it back on due to the problem..
Im really annoyed as this is a fairly new seat, wasnt broken under extreme circumstances, and is supposed to be the much stronger new version KH, when its lasted much less then my old (probably about 1st generation) KH seat.

As a side note would the 'added stiffness' they say the new seats have possibly be a problem? The old seats flexed more, and over time just got more flexy, breaking eventually. With the new stiffnes would it be like wood: bamboo is extremely strong and can bend heaps, while stiff wood doesnt bend, but can snap much more easily...if you get my drift, do you think it could be like this with the seats?

[jagur]

that sucks. whats weird is the bolts didnt rip out like usual.

[Brian MacKenzie]

you may as well utilize the cover for how it was designed, pull it apart and take a look inside to see what is broken.

if it's the metal reinforcement that's cracked, throw it out (or weld it if it's steel)

I've lost those steel pieces on most of my Velo seats , they add stiffness I guess, but it's still not ideal.

[U-Turn]

Warrantee it, that's what the warrantee is for. :)

[brockfisher05]

i dont think there is a warantee on kh stuff I could be wrong but I still dont think so

[U-Turn]

Originally posted by brockfisher05
i dont think there is a warantee on kh stuff I could be wrong but I still dont think so Well the uni.com warrantee is for one month, which of course does not help in the current situation. :(

[johnfoss]

It's hard for us to have an opinion if nobody knows what happened to your seat. Unfortunately, sometimes things to break. It could be a defect, or just a very unlikely shock that got applied to the part at some time, possibly before it arrived at your house.

If the seat weren't so new, I'd say it could be metal fatigue, which can happen with thousands of small bends, rather than one big one. But 2 months seems kind of short for that, unless you hop constantly.

So to continue with this thread, you really need to rip it open and take a picture. It will be cool to see inside one of those!

[UniTyler]

Pic please..... :D

[munimanpete]

Well the noise seems to have lessened now, but it's still there. So yeah I think I'll pull it apart tonight and take a look.

[KcTheAcy@School]

That happend to me too and after it happend the seat would creak and squeek when I pulled up on it. I took the seat apart and the stiffner plate had cracked where the front bolts are. There wasent much I could do so I took the oppertunity to trim my foam down to make a very comfy seat out hold. I am thinking about getting a CF base, or waiting untill the GB4 stiffners come out.

[munimanpete]

Okay so today I took my seat apart and as I suspected I have snapped the reninforcing plate right in half where the front bolts are. I dont have access to a digital camera at the moment, but should do around tuesday, then I'll get some pics and post them.
The Fusion cover is really good and easy to remove, definatley made my job a lot easier, though now Im wondering what to do. I know if I leave it how it is im putting all the stress on just the plastic, which wont last long, so I need to do something. I was thinking of simply welding the plate back together, but it looks like a pretty cheap alloy which wouldnt be good for welding, and where its broken theres very limited space to weld. So now I think im going to have to get my hands on another plate.
I'll post pics soon.

[U-Turn]

Are the bolts the same as the older KH saddles? I don't have a Fusion yet to examine. If so, I have some lighter stiffener plates that George made for me, and that I had hardened here in CT. They work pretty well. They are flexier than George's older ones but just as strong and about 1/3 the weight. I put them in my air saddles, but I have a couple extra.

I'm not infringing on George's turf here; we've already discussed this, and this is a stop-gap measure from my perspective.

The price is $15 plus shipping, which covers the additional hardening expense.

[caw89]

I snapped mine a long time ago, and I never replaced it, just put it back together as is, still works for me.

[THE dave]

think mines broken too.. i have lots of flex in it... are there stiffeners availible for the fusion saddle yet? or replacement parts? damn... and im going to fernie this weekend
i can just use my old kh

[TrialsUni]

I broke my possibly first generation KH seat...or rather, the stiffening plate. I broke it about a month ago, and I haven't even had the seat for a year yet--not until late August. The only thing keeping my seat together, is me switching to almost all seat-out only trials...and my rail-post-adaptor...which the seat bottoms out on when I do seat-in skills.

I'm switching to a scott wallis base in up to a few weeks. I think I'll like that a lot better...all of that flex and foam is beginning to be quite enough for me.

But, I will still use a fusion cover. I've heard good things about them.