The reason I’m not really that good of a rider after three years is that I got scared of the ramifications of that pressure point between my legs. I pretty much quit riding except for occasional short ones for about two years. I also worried about the sport having a lasting impact on my kids anatomies. Then I discovered the air seat and we all have them now so I feel a lot safer about it all. I try to build my air seats a little wider and with a dip in the middle so that the weight is resting somewhere other than dead center. Has anyone heard of real problems with this? Do I worry for nothing?
I’m sure somebody will go into more detail soon. I’ll just say one thing. The only cases that you really hear of are with endurance road bike riders. They spend many hours in the saddle (a thin, hard saddle) each day. We don’t. We also stand up every now and then, so don’t worry…go unicycling more often.
Andrew
This gets discussed every so often, if you search testicle, testicles, twins, etc. you will find quite a few threads.
Outside of the occasional rack or pinch flat, major trauma does not seem to be a big factor in unicyling. Longer times in the saddle can lead to numbness but that is usually self resolving because you just plain have to stop to get the circulation back.
I had more problems from long distance bicycling to my prostate then I’ve ever experienced from the uni.
What’s the observations of the uni-tourers?
Oh, and to answer the question: No (Nudge Nudge 
;))
one problem that b*kers have is a temporary disorder which i know as the 12 hour erection. it results from that vein between your legs bursting resulting in blood not flowing out of your hoo-ha thus resulting in 12 hours of pain/pleasure. if you check out the hell on wheel videos (link in my signature) you will notice that both our movies are named after this wonderful injury. no one i know has actually gotten it but its certainly a long term goal. if you are wondering whether i am serious, just keep wondering.
did anyone else think that this was a spam post just from reading the title?
i hoped it was
In all my years of unicycling (since 1979), I have heard of exactly zero cases of this. I think it is most likely to be a problem for road riders doing lots of miles. For the rest of us, we seldom spend that long in constant contact with the saddle.
That said, there have been times when excessive riding has lead do numbness, and a few times in the early years, to painful peeing. This first happened to me about a week after I’d learned to ride usefully. My friend and I took off to ride to a place 5 miles away on our 20" Schwinns (one giraffe and one regular). By the time our inexperienced crotches got there, we were dying. We ended up walking most of the way back. But I haven’t had an experience like that since the early 80s.
This bore repeating…
We should start a counter-rumor.
Start telling people that unicycling helps build muscles in your crutch which improves your performance.
Many of those focus on the momentaneous effect of the boys getting squeezed. Search also for the word “penile”.
Klaas Bil
In all my years of long distance bicycling I’ve never met anyone with these problems either. IMHO it’s a marketing gimic for bike saddles.
For what it’s worth, the “improved” saddles for bikes are more painful than the classic ones. Go figure.
There’s a possible, albeit drastic, solution to this concern, which might lead to a new newsgroup - “eunuchcyclist.com”…
Doug
So, if I’m understanding this post correctly, SEAT OUT riding could result in more benefits than just increasing the height and length of your hopping skills. Correct? --chirokid–
first, i like these sentences:
“search testicle, testicles, twins, etc.” and
“Search also for the word ‘penile’”
its kina funny
i heard one girl say, “I cant understand how any male could unicycle.” what about bikes? on a bike you lean forward on the seat while on a unicycle you are basically sitting straight up. bikes have thin, hard seats, while unis have big soft ones. while every once in a while one might fall wrong and endure a slight blow to the groin, it is generally harmless. one time though, this kid at my school wanted to try to ride. i tried to explain to him about having the pedal down, putting his butt on the seat, then holding onto my shoulder and putting the other foot on the other pedal, but he refused and stood up on a bench and tried to jump on it (not kidding). he landed on the seat but his feet missed the pedals. his friends all laughed while he squirmed on the ground in pain.
I usually ride around right in front of my high school (cause its the only place to ride) and people are always trying to ride. Jocks and the like are always coming up to me and asking me how I can ride it if I’m sitting on my balls. I try to explain but its just not worth it. Then they want to try it and usually they end up hold ing the front of the seat with one hand and the back with the other, pulling the seat up into their crotch. Then they try and get the unicycle under them and they end up waddling around with the wheel dragging behind them. They pop the wheel under them by hopping over it and then try to jump onto the pedals resulting in a resounding howl. I usually end up muttering something to the effect of, “Dolt” or “you everlasting imbecile”.
Yeah. The first reaction everyone says when they see you jump is “that’s gotta hurt.” I always have to explain that you always land standing up.
Haha!! Wish I had been there to see it. When someone wants to try my uni they either end on their back or stop when they are on the saddle. Maybe I should start only using suicide and jump mounts and tell people it’s the only way to mount it.
As previous users have said, the danger of any problems from unicycling are almost unheard of. Investing a little in an airseat conversion will eliminate most of the pain problems entirely from the amount of pressure placed on the tailbone.
If one is really concerned about male genital issues, (s)he might consider the long list of problems that male circumcision causes for a male’s entire life.
Risks of circumcision include:
•Excessive bleeding
•Infection
•Complications from anesthetics
•Surgical mistakes,including loss of glans and loss of entire penis
•Death
Many circumcised males suffer from:
•Extensive scarring
•Skin tags and skin bridges
•Tearing and bleeding at the scar
•Curvature of the penis
•Tight,painful erections
•Difficulty ejaculating
•Impotence
•Feelings of having been violated
•Feelings of having been mutilated
All circumcised males lose some or most of the sensitivity in their glans and all of the sensitivity in their foreskin.
Circumcision may have risks and complications not yet recognized or understood.
For more information, I suggest www.notjustskin.org for more information for those who have experienced this harmful procedure, and for those who want to protect children.
-Erik
Tell me about it!
One time in Couer’d’Alene some kid asked me if he could try. I gave him the uni and he tried to mount it with the cranks at a 45 degree angle. After failing that he proclaimed “I think Im too big in the pants!”. I told him he was too small in the brain. Ya that was great. Oooh I just got back from learning to 1 foot. I can do five revs.
Alex
Re: Are you impotent?
cyberbellum <cyberbellum@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> In all my years of long distance bicycling I’ve never met anyone with
> these problems either. IMHO it’s a marketing gimic for bike saddles.
My friend Chip says he gets mucho relieve from those newfangled bike
saddles. Chip’s life consists of bike riding and skiing, with an
occasional ice climb or dram of single malt for relief. I believe him
when he says he can’t imagine going back to old fashioned seats. For
a less anecdotal source of information, google found this:
For my part, I was having trouble with pressure from my KH saddle
giving me a feeling of incipient numbness at about 30-40 minutes of
road riding. I’m a chicken when it comes to possible numbness down
there, so I haven’t tried pushing the limit.
Last week I broke down and bought some top of the line *cycle shorts
(Pearl Izumi Microsensor 3D shorts). These have raised areas, with
relief down the middle of the chamois. I haven’t had a chance to go
on any long distance rides yet, but mile long rides seem to feel much
better with these shorts. I’ll probably ride 4 miles tomorrow and can
report the results.
The downside of these shorts is the price: $119. That makes over $150
in comfort upgrades (seat and shorts) for a uni that originally cost
less than $100.
Ken