A short background on my past. I have been riding bikes for years, recumbent, road, fixed gear, mountain and have always wanted a unicycle. I ride with my 6 year old daughter and while fun I don’t get a workout. So I decided a unicycle ride with my daughter will give me a workout and I get have fun with my girl.
I am 38 years old and 6’1” weighting 230 pounds I have a 35” inseem so I went with a 26” SUN uni. I will be clear I want to ride this on the paved trails and no jumping or hopping or tricks. From my knowledge of bikes in general this is a well constructed uni, but the seat for my weight is a killer, I am still learning and my biggest problem is am lifting off the seat to take pressure off. I have searched and found someone saying electric tape a 16” tube to a seat and that will help or I can go for a nice seat like a Kris Holm Fusion Freeride Air Saddle. http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=937 I will say I want to do 10-20 mile rides with my Uni on my own and I really have the bug already so I don’t mind spending $50 to $100 on a seat that will last me when I get my Coker or just enjoy my 26”er on long rides. I am a busy family man and a long ride for me now is at tops 30 miles so I need a seat that will be comfy for 2+ hours of riding.
Please give me any advice on seats that would fit my needs, remember I am 230 pounds and will be sitting the whole time (not hopping or doing tricks).
Thanks and I am very excited to be on a Unicycle!
Vince
Ha, this is the exact same uni I started out with when I first was learning to ride. I don’t know about “well constructed” but it was fairly inexpensive in that if I decided I hated unicycling at least I didn’t invest very much. I will say that I’m 5’8" 150lbs and once I finally learned to ride on pavement with this set up it died! That is to say the cheap wheel deformed and tacoed! And at the same time the welds broke on the hub so that sometimes I’d find myself “freewheeling” as I was riding! Yikes! So if you are serious about your riding I’d at least upgrade to a better wheelset before it falls apart. And you’re right about the stock seat, it’s terrible get one of the newer KH variety and you won’t be disappointed. But if you’re going to go ahead and get a 36er soon I guess there is no reason to spend too much on upgrading your 26" other than it’s good to have another uni around (or like most of us we have several uni’s lying around )
I learned to ride on a 20" Sun and the seat was the worst part about that unicycle. By the end of the night every day my inner thighs would be raw, red, and very sore.
I would go and ride my unicycle whenever my thighs were not in pain, then ride until it hurts. it was horrible. Now I got KH and it is a zero issue.
You don’t need an air saddle just the regular fusion freeride will be fine. I’m not sure if it will bolt to the sun seatpost however.
Sano sorry to hear about your 26" Sun…mine seems very solid and I hope it stays that way. I am looking at adding mouse pad wrist pads (gel pads) or keyboard wrist supports first to my current seat to see if I can go with gel seat and not need an air seat. The main pain is on my inner upper thigh area not the groin itself. As far a tacoed wheel I can build that myself, I used to be a bike mechanic in my younger days.
Thanks for the advise.
air seats have rather gone out of vogue in recent years, they shift around, burst and aren’t as comfy as the high quality seats that have come on to the market. If you search around the forum you will find umpteen threads about people modding their seats for comfort, by adding or removing gel, foam or anything else they can think of.
As for your inner thigh area, this will fade for ever after a period of riding. Once all the hairs on your inner thigh have been ripped out and you learn to relax more it won’t bother you anymore.
The ideal seat seems to be a goal of every unicyclist. The Fusion Freeride will be a good place to start.
Two hours in the seat?!?!? I don’t know if that is possible on a unicycle. My max time is about 20 minutes then I have to stop for about 1 minute and then I am good to go again for another 20 minutes or so. I know some of the diehard long distance riders go longer times but I have to wonder about 2 hours.
Bike shorts or compression shorts will help prevent inner-thigh rubbing.
Good choice with the Fusion Freeride. It is by far the most comfortable stock saddle I have ridden.
My favorite seat is an old school KH (similar to the Nimbus Hightop) carved into a shape very similar to the Fusion Freeride. I find the firmer foam supports me better for longer rides.
Two hours strait is definitely doable but you will have to build up to that, even with a perfect saddle. I don’t like staying in the saddle for more than an hour at a time before having a break.
I think the key to longer saddle times, at least for me, was:
Adjustable seat-post
I have a Primo adjustable seat-post that allows me to tilt the saddle upward i.e. the front of the saddle points more upward that horizontal. You can find the “sweet” spot for your body type to minimize pressure on the “nads.”
Handle bar
You can substitute any handle bar here, I’m currently using the Nimbus T7 and have been very happy with it having completed a 100km road ride last year. With the handle bar you can adjust your position in the saddle, stand up out of the saddle for a bit. All things that can relieve saddle soreness. It’s amazing how good it feels just to adjust slightly!
Unicycle Choice
Obviously what would take you 2 hours to ride on a 26" won’t take near as long as with a 36er so with long distance riding bigger is better.
Between the adjustable seat-post, handle bar and larger wheel you can fine-tune your best position and speed (I know this is obvious to the veterans).
Good luck! Soon you’ll have a whole fleet of unicycles!
For distance riding you could set the count-down timer on your watch for a few minutes and each time it rings slow down a bit and stand up until it stops ringing, then sit and pick up the speed.
Ride your fixed standing up. You could remove the seat for extra incentive.
Thanks yal…I just rode for 20ft with no wobble (in control) until I scared myself and froze! I have 3 hours of idling and trying to ride without holding on to anything. My seat really hurts but by the end of my 45 minute training I didn’t notice it as much. I guess after riding a recumbent for 2 years my butt has gotten soft. With the new seat and time in the saddle I will be fine.
I try not to get too excited about uni riding, I need lots of work to even think of the getting a 36"er…but I have Coker site bookmarked anyway. For only $600+ for a Coker that is the cheapest bike (wheeled vehicle) I will have ever bought.
A little wobble is a good thing. That is what keeps you from falling over sideways. Like a bicycle, you have to wobble a bit from side to side in order to catch your balance.
I would not be concerned with learning to idle at this point. Work on turning the wheel and making forward progress.
As you get better at this you will be able to relax more and rest your weight on the seat instead of your legs. It gets easier when you can relax more.
I wish I had the problem of being in the saddle for too long. I seem to have the opposite problem as a newbie. I guess duct tape may be needed to help me lol. My mountain bike is very upright and has taught me to put weight on my pedals, pull on the handlebars and stand up. So I’m relearning.
Funny the falling over sideways is what is happen too…I guess with time I will get the front/back + left/right down at the same time and then it will be on to the free mount and idling.
The falling over sideways thing normally happens when you start bending at the waist in an attempt to maintain balance.
Bending in the waist is balance-fatal.
Imagine walking across a room, balancing a broomstick on your hand.
You tip the broomstick slightly forward and as soon as it starts ‘falling’, you move your hand in underneath it to rebalance.
If you do this smoothly and continuosly, you simply walk across the room.*
This same ‘dynamic balance’ is the secret to the unicycle.
You’re constantly falling forward and pedalling the wheel in underneath you to prevent yourself from falling.
Try n keep your body as straight as the broomstick and lean slightly forward.
If you do find yourself turning the wheel sharply with every pedal-stroke, that’s an indication that you’re a little too upright.
Oh, and keep your weight on the seat.
*with apologies to Mikefule for using his broomstick example.
Great advice about bending over…that seems to be my main problem now. I am drifting and while can continue to go forward I am not yet able to control my direction. I will focus on staying up straight and keeping my arm out for balance oh and of course keeping weight on the seat. Thanks
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