Air Seat Cover Material

General
1

Hello,

My question is for distance riding Cokerheads. I’m looking to put together a long distance specific unicycle saddle. This is the saddle I’ll be riding across the state of Iowa on. (www.ragbrai.org if you care)

I’m pretty sure I’m going with a CF base and an air pillow. I’m debating between the nylon Roach cover and the leather Gemcrest cover. Does anyone who has experience with both of these covers have a preference for long rides, and if so why?

Thanks,

2

I’ve used both the Roach cover and the Gemcrest Vinyl cover, which I think has the same design as the leather one. The Roach cover has much more capacity than the Gemcrest, which makes it a lot more cushy. The Gemcrest doesn’t really have enough capacity to warrant the double layer air pillow, IMO. I put it on my freestyle seat with just a 12" tube, and it is more comfortable than it was with the folded 20" tube.

I think the Roach cover is a much better product, and is more comfortable than the Gemcrest, but this is based on using it for MUni. Its possible that the leather cover has some advantages for distance riding.

Ben

3

Re: Air Seat Cover Material

I have recently changed my air seat on my Coker for a foam version. I was
finding that the air was applying pressure where I did not want it… let me
try and explain. The weight on the rear of the seat was forcing a lump to
appear on the front which put pressure on the soft tissue there.
What I have done now is use the original form for only half the seat (rear
only) and put soft form on the front. I have then added an additional 1" of
foam through out the seat for extra comfort. For the Coker I have found this
more comfortable. Have others found this as well?
As for Leather v Roach Nylon I have only really got experience with the
leather and have found it incredibly durable and comfortable offering just
the right amount of grip to cycling shorts. Better than the vinyl for this.
We are experimenting with a new leather cover at the moment, it is 1.5"
taller so would be more suitable for Muni. It will not be available for a
month or so as I only picked up the prototype yesterday, but it looked
interesting. It is going on my muni today if I get the chance.

Roger

The UK’s Unicycle Source

----- Original Message -----
From: “gbarnes” <gbarnes.4s04z@timelimit.unicyclist.com>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
To: <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2002 3:29 AM
Subject: Re: Air Seat Cover Material

>
> Hello,
>
> My question is for distance riding Cokerheads. I’m looking to put
> together a long distance specific unicycle saddle. This is the saddle
> I’ll be riding across the state of Iowa on. (www.ragbrai.org if you
> care)
>
> I’m pretty sure I’m going with a CF base and an air pillow. I’m
> debating between the nylon Roach cover and the leather Gemcrest cover.
> Does anyone who has experience with both of these covers have a
> preference for long rides, and if so why?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> –
> gbarnes
>
> George C. Barnes IV
> President, ISU Unicycle Club
> http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gbarnes/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> gbarnes’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/174
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/18158
>
>

> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list -
www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
>
>

4

Re: Air Seat Cover Material

The leather-cover with air pillow has worked fine for me. I have added
a strap around the front of the saddle (as tight as I can get) in
order to avoid pressure there.

Part of the strap can be seen very faintly in the picture:
http://tinyurl.com/5rl

-Mika

On Thu, 16 May 2002 21:29:50 -0500, gbarnes
<gbarnes.4s04z@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>
>Hello,
>
>My question is for distance riding Cokerheads. I’m looking to put
>together a long distance specific unicycle saddle. This is the saddle
>I’ll be riding across the state of Iowa on. (www.ragbrai.org if you
>care)
>
>I’m pretty sure I’m going with a CF base and an air pillow. I’m
>debating between the nylon Roach cover and the leather Gemcrest cover.
>Does anyone who has experience with both of these covers have a
>preference for long rides, and if so why?
>
>Thanks,

5

Re: Air Seat Cover Material

I have both the leather Gemcrest and the Roach seatcover. The Roach offers a
lot more volume, and this adds immensly to the comfort.

I’ve layered my Roach with a 12 inch tube inside a tube-corset, a layer of gel
cut from a stationary bikeseat cover, and a layer of lightweight foam (like
what’s in a pillow). All of this sits on a carbon fiber seat–which I like
because of its greater width.

Go Roach for a really long ride.

David Maxfield
Bainbridge Island, WA

6

Another idea (which I have not tried) is to use two 12" inner tubes instead of one 20", and inflate each to taste. Might take some extra sewing. I have also heard of people experimenting with neoprene, which could easily be layered like a contour map for a custom pressure pattern.