I live on a tropical island that gets 120 inches of rainfall per year. It is a bicyclist community and I literally ride my unicycle everywhere. The only problem is that my super comfortable Kris holm freeride seat soaks up the rainfall like a sponge and when I ride it I am left with a wet butt all day. Does anybody have any suggestions on maybe a vynl cover or another comfortable seat that will not soak up water?
Get a trash bag, remove your seat cover, and tape a few layers of the trash bag around the foam. Then put the seat cover back on and you should be good to go. : ) it won’t last forever. A large, thick, ziplock bag would work best. It will still collect water on the stretchy fabric at the front and back, but at least it won’t soak up like a sponge.
Alternative: grocery bags wrapped around the whole seat.
Haven’t tried it myself, but what about waterproof spray or wax designed for shoes. They should do the trick on the KH vinyl cover.
The Nimbus Gel will be less likely to absorb moisture.
Hey,
Originally I hesitated switching to stretch nylon for the top panel (from vinyl) for this reason, because I too live in a rainy area and ride in constantly wet conditions all winter (The Vancouver North Shore gets about 200 inches of precipitation/year). Plus there’s the inevitable wipeout that sends your uni tumbling into a puddle =).
The stretch nylon probably soaks up a little more compared to vinyl in a slight drizzle, but everything soaks out in truly wet conditions and the breathable stretch-nylon lets the internals of the saddle dry more quickly.
If you’re confident you’ll get a good seal, putting a bag under the cover is good, but not if it means the saddle will remain slightly wet all the time due to humidity (would eventually lead to rust).
Kris
you could use Gortex or a Gortex-like material to put between the seat and the cover. It would help keep the seat dry and still breathe.
Didn’t think about that. That’s a good point. (mold would be a fun issue to deal with too) : P
Just have 2 seats to rotate between
On tropical islands, things don’t dry out.
Can’t leave on in the sun outside when not in use?
When the humidity is too high, leaving items out in the sun will do no good, it will not evaporate because the moisture in the air is already too high.
Things like to meet an equilibrium. So if you are in a climate with less humid air, objects will evaporate that moisture to try to reach equilibrium with the air. But if the object is wet, and the air is wet, they are already at equilibrium and there is nowhere for the moisture to go!
Ohhh!! Just ride with it. Just play with some different things.
Thank you everyone. I like the idea of putting a trash bag under the seat cover, but then I still have the cloth cover that will gather moisture (whereas I can wipe rainwater off a vynl seat with a cloth). Can anyone tall me where I can buy a different seat cover, or how I can make one?
By the way, I keep my brand new uni in an air conditioned room with a dehumidifier and I have been very careful not to get rain on it yet, so right now the saddle is dry. I am just worried I’ll go to the store and come back out to find that it dropped an inch of rain while I was in there, and ride a soaked seat home.
A simple solution is to cover the seat with a plastic bag when you are not sitting on it.
I think it will be less of an issue than you think. As mentioned I ride with this saddle in wet conditions all the time. If you stick a bag over the saddle when you park it outside in the rain, and just use it normally otherwise, you’ll probably be alright.
Kris
Carry a plastic bag with you, and put it on the seat when you’re not riding.
Standard operating procedure for cyclists here.
(Actually, I just leave my 29 out in the rain, but the seat is at rest at something like 20deg past vertical, so the top of the seat remains dry.)
Edit: tsk, Klaus beat me to it.
I made my seat covers by deconstructing the cover of a KH saddle. I very carefully peeled the cover off the seat, then cut the stitches off the cover to get the individual panels used to make the seat.
I then found some 1000 denier nylon (aka ripstop nylon, ballistic nylon, or cordura), cut the nylon into the shapes of the original panels, and carefully sewed them back together with a machine.
There are several methods to attach the cover to the seat. I did not want to use staples or glue as I was using a CF base with an air pillow which needs occasional adjustment or replacement. I made the bottom of the cover extra long, and sewed channels into the cover through which I threaded some shoelace. Pulling the shoelace taught keeps the cover on the saddle.
Some searching on the terms “seat cover” will get you pictures of how others have done this. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera at the time, otherwise I’d post my photos!
Don’t put a bag over a wet seat! Mold grows a lot easier than you think!
I’m outstanding at coming up with ideas, but not so good at capitalizing on them. My advice Ereksonj is to develop unicycling/bicycling’s first “water proof” or highly water resistant saddle.
The other option is that since the foam seems to be the big issue with mold and holding water, you could always remove the foam and wrap it in something water proof, then just put the saddle back together. If you do go that route, make sure you cover anything sharp with duct tape or silicone caulking or you can kiss that water proof cover good bye. A more simplistic option would be to fit a rain cover over your saddle and zip tie it underneath where the saddle and post meet.
give Darren Bedford a call. he might have a cover that might work 
he carries around a lot of different covers from Miyata to KH. Tell him about your propblem and maybe he’ll have a solution or saddle accessory that can help. if not maybe he’ll have a full vinyl unicycle cover. hes a great guy and a lot of help.
+1.416.729.9696
he does ship worldwide a belive too