I’m thinking of buying a air cushion for my torker unistar(it has a miyata style seat), is it worth buying? Does anyone else have one?
You can convert your Miyata style Torker seat yourself.
Miyata air seat conversion at unicycling.org
My air seat gallery at unicyclist.com
My air seat uses a high volume Roach cover rather than the slimmer Miyata cover. You can skip the foam on top of the air pillow to slim the seat down so it will fit in a Miyata cover. If you don’t want to sew your own air pillow you can use the dogbone air pillow at unicycle.com. Just sew the dogbone pillow cover in half to turn it into a single layer air pillow.
I would recommend putting the tube in an air pillow. The pillow cover protects the tube which will help cut down on seat flats. The air pillow cover also keeps the tube in place so it doesn’t bulge out where it shouldn’t (what I call a seat hernia).
If you’re doing long rides an air seat is worth it. If you’re doing freestyle you may find the air seat leaves you too disconnected from the unicycle when doing freestyle skills. For long rides an air seat is worth it. For a freestyle unicycle an air seat is not worth it. For a freestyle seat use squishy closed cell foam like Neoprene to make a more comfy seat.
OK thanks. I find my miyata seat hurts when I go for long rides, but usally I just ride around the street learning new tricks like ride with my seat in front, putting my seat on my stomach, and other things like that. If I do that is it worth it? I might started to MUNI, is it good for that?
Oh ya, if I get it, is it easy to put together?
Changing the padding in a Miyata style seat or changing it into an air seat is an easy process. The Miyata cover is easy to take off and put on. The only area where you might have problems is if one of the bolts for the bumpers spins in place when you try to take the nuts off. As long as you can get the bumpers off the rest is easy. If the bolts spin and you can’t get the bumpers off, there have been some threads in the main forum about how to cut the bolts off.
A seat made with squishy closed cell foam can be quite comfy and is what I would suggest for freestyle. Neoprene is expensive, but there are camping sleeping pads made from closed cell foam that also do well and are less expensive than Neoprene. Closed cell foam does eventually compress due to you sitting on it and it won’t spring back. At that point you have to replace the foam with fresh closed cell foam.
For muni an air seat works very well. For Coker/road riding an air seat works very well.
Make yourself an air seat and see how you like it. If you find it too bouncy or if it makes the unicycle feel detached and more difficult to control for freestyle stuff then try the closed cell foam. The changes aren’t permanent and it’s easy to change your seat from air to foam.
Torker conversion
I recently converted my Torker and it’s a snap with a 12 1/2 " tube. To make it more stable I took the standard pad that came with the seat and carefully cut it in half length wise so it is approx. 3/8 thick. I kept the thin white foam pad between the seat cover and the pad so the pad sits on the inner tube.
It’s cushy but stable. You need very little air in the tube!
My first try was without the thinner pad and it felt like a water bed under my butt. Now I can ride without any toosh discomfort and the “boys” are happier too. No crushing like before.
Took approx. 45 minutes time, well worth it.
Just be careful bending the tabs that hold the cover on as they can break off as two of mine did. The handle and back seat guard hold the cover in place for the most part though.
I just did the same today with my black Torker/Miyata. Used a 12" tube and kept the stock cover. The cover’s a little tight, but overall feels much better now.
One item of note for the new Torker/Miyata saddle: the bumpers attach with a square U-bolt through the plastic seat frame.
So no more spun nuts!
Ya, I converted mine about a month ago, it’s awesome!!!
The only thing is that it’s harder to grab the seat when your holding it behind you, but otherwise it’s awesome! And it doesn’t hurt your ass in the morning after riding for a hour!!!
1 week later, and I’ve ramped up my Miyata seat even more: a GB plate with GB handle, a custom-welded post to adjust the seat angle slightly higher, and under the big Gemcrest cover an inner tube, then stock Miyata foam, then gel pad, then thin neoprene at the top. My ass is now floating…
I just busted a KH saddle, though I have all the essential bits still, so I was going to cut the foam in half (horizontally) and put an air pillow in and put a leather cover over it all- will this work so you think?
No clue, go for it! It’ll be cool if it work, send pics!
Just thought I would add my page on making a miyata airseat…
http://www.unicyclejester.com/airsaddle.htm
-Jess