Coker enthusiasts describe your seat

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Cokerhead has the nicest setup I’ve ever personally laid eyes on. However, he’s apparently out chasing trucks at the present time.

Once he visited Mudville, he revealed his most impressive seat (on his coker). All cooshy and handles and breaks…

Many of you have opted for the Reconditioned Coker at Unicycle.com. It has the KH seat. This is like the one I rode the other day. Charles did complain that he’d bent the wheel some (and bent it back) by just twisting about. (Bare in mind that Charles is notoriously rough on his equipment. We love Charles. He’d have made a great test pilot. It likely would’ve been a short career tho. So I suspect there’s more to the story than “just twisting around”.)

I’ve got a rugged off-road pickup truck (MUni). A responsive multi-use vehicle (Niner). A demolishion derby tank (Summit). And a couple of other toys.

I’m thinking that if you’re going to buy a Caddy, get one with posh seats. But of course, this adds $100+ to the hole.

What seats do you ride? Are you happy?

I would ride roads and crosscountry. Also, regular readers will remember my busted tailbone from last June that aches after too much Uni.

Do you want the posh cushy for off road? Or the KH like my MUni. Is KH a more stable platform because it is not so cushy?

2

I rode a stock KH Velo on my coker, and start to get noticably sore after 40km’s or so.

I think a rail adapter making the Velo less tilted would make this better.

I have also recently converted my Velo into an air saddle, much like the miyata. I have noticed that this fixes the sloping issue, meaning my air converted seat will probably not need a rail adapter.

I have yet to do any 40+ km rides with this new setup, but have done MUch MUni’ing with it and it is very comfy, and will most likely be great for long rides.

3

Sofa, is there any chance you could post some pics of the air seat? I am considering making mine into one- how did you do it?

4

Here’s a couple of links to some of the homemade air saddle conversions of mine. Perhaps they will be of some interest:

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29770

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29728&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

5

Here’s the Original thread that I posted after doing it.

This was done with a roach cover, I have since redone it with a Rock’s Cover available from bedford.

I will never buy another roach cover after using the Rock’s!

You can remove the laces and just set all you seat guts upside down on the cover (on the floor) then pull it up and lace it tight.

Just tear off the Velo cover (and throw it out!) and pull off the foam.

Follow any posts about miyata air conversions.

6

I ride with the stock KHvelo with the rail adapter added. I am very pleased with it.

I was working on ideas for converting it to airseat before I got the rail adapter. After I got the rail adapter, I forgot all about it. It does make a big difference and I get lots of comfortable distance from it (as comfortable as a unicycle saddle can be…)

7

I ride a standard Viscount saddle. From time to time, I fit a Viscount with a Reeder handle (swapped from my MUni).

This set up is good for hard riding for the best part of an hour, and I have managed 2 hours at a sit. However, for gentle riding, it starts to get a bit uncomfortable after 30 minutes or so.

I tried a crude air cushion and hated the bouncy effect.

I tried a Velo saddle and it didn’t suit me. (Ladies, avert your eyes.) Basically, my bottom sank into the deep foam, and my gonads floated to the top, and it was most uncomfortable.

8

Please avoid lewd thread titles like, “Coker enthusiasts describe your seat.” And PLEASE, no photos in this thread.

I have a standard, old style Miyata converted using a 20" tube, dogbone bag, and Gemcrest vinyl cover. I added anti spin hardware to the bolts when I took the saddle apart for obvious reasons. The vinyl has worn very well. I have had two seat flats from rubbing the tube thin in places. I keep the pressure quite low for comfort. A higher pressure might minimize the tube wear. Thicker dogbone material might also help. I use no other padding.

Nothing compares to an airseat for distance riding. KH saddles are nice and would be nicer with tilt rail adapters but airseats they are not.

9

Correct me if I’m wrong, but seeing as everyone who get’s a rail adaptor uses it to tilt the seat back a bit, wouldn’t it make more sense if the bracket on the top of a normal seatpost was tilted back slightly? As happy as I am to spend £60 on an adaptor and new post just to tilt the seat a bit, a tilted post seems a simpler, cheaper, stronger alternative.

John

10

It depends on the type of seat, and rider preference.

KH seats don’t ‘need’ to be tilted forwads (not back) but some people prefer it. Not all seats would require the same amount of tilting. Not everyone would want to tilt all seats, or any.

A rail adapter combo makes everyone happy because they can fine tune it just for them

11

The GB4 seatposts are angled up slightly compared to a Miyata seatpost.

But the GB4 seatpost gives you a fixed angle. The rail adapters allow you to choose any angle. I have my Coker seat at a different angle than my muni seats. A fixed angle isn’t going to be the best angle for everyone or for every situation. The rail adapters are the most flexible solution, but certainly not the cheapest.

Some people have stacked washers on a normal seatpost or a GB4 seatpost to adjust the angle of the seat. Perhaps some specially made wedges would be a good solution for a less expensive seat angle adjustment.

12

I mean tilting the seat so that it sticks up more at the front. That’s what the photos I’ve seen look like, anyway.
I realise a tilted seat wouldn’t be for everyone, but I wouldn’t have thought it would be too difficult to make a few posts with a slight tilt. It probably wouldn’t be as good as a rail adaptor, but it would be a fraction of the price.
Either way, I’ve got my fake visount airseat with kinport handle now, and it’s proper nice. Interesting random fact: Kinport handles fit on the fake visounts with no modification. They stick out a bit, and the front hole on the handle is unused but no drilling or cover removal is required, and it seems pretty solid. Just need a coker now, and then this would be a bit more topic related :slight_smile:

John

13

Waay back, I rode Rhysling’s Coker. I think it had that Viscount saddle. I experienced a lot of discomfort and then numbness. I’ve experimented some with tilting seats up (via washers or good old fashioned bending). Knowing what I know now, I think that Viscount would’ve benefited from some upward tilt. My weight was mostly pressing on the thin mid part of that saddle just behind my twins. Upward tilt would’ve moved the force of my weight to the wider part of the saddle and thus my butt-bones. I believe Rhysling has since switched to the KH.

I’ve made a couple of basic, on top of what’s there, tubed air seats. They’ve transformed my daughter’s United seat into something actually rideable. The addition of a handle would be nice. I also didn’t like the bouncy effect. But my experience has been limited.

What about those reconditioned Cokers on U.com? Does anyone have horror stories? I expect to hear: “fine for gentle road riding but bendable if doing too hardcore off roading”. Those are “used” rims after all.

14

I use the KH saddle on my Muni and my 29’er, but i still prefer my Miyata airseat for the Coker. At one point i was going to switch to a KH on it too, but after a few long rides on the 29’er i just decided i like the Miyata better for distance.

Its an old-style Miyata with a single layer, using a small (10 inch, if i remember correctly) tube and the stock cover, and mounted on a GB4 post to tilt the front up a little from stock.

I converted another Miyata, a new style, using a 20" tube and a dogbone to make two layers, with a Roach cover, and never really liked it. Just a little too soft and squishy for my tastes. I eventually tore it apart and switched it to single layer with a small tube and the stock cover, and that is when i discovered one more difference between the “old” and “new” style Miyata seats…the new version uses a different material for the cover. Its got more stretch than the old-style, and i could never get it put together where it felt as good to me as my first conversion.

Chuck

15

Keep in mind that a Coker seat that is comfortable for one person may be uncomfortable for a different person. For example, there is no consensus on the best Coker seat at the unicycle tours. Some have air, some have special foam, some have loose floppy seat covers, some have a lot of air, some have only a little air, some have no air. There is different shapes, different padding, different construction, and other differences.

I’ve been tweaking my Coker seat. I’ve come up with something that is comfortable for 20 mile and 30 mile rides. I haven’t tried it yet on longer rides.

I’ll attach a picture of my Coker seat to this post.

My Coker seat is very similar to my muni air seat in my air seat gallery. What’s different is that I used a different foam that has a different shape and I pump up the air pillow so it is more firm that on my muni seat. What’s comfortable for my muni riding did not turn out to be comfortable for my Coker riding.

For my Coker air seat I used the foam from an old 1970’s era Schwinn saddle. The Schwinn saddles back then had a specially shaped foam insert that was shaped very similarly to a Viscount saddle. Rounded sides and top, wide in back, thicker in the middle. My muni air seat uses the foam from a Miyata seat. The Miyata foam is blocky and does not have rounded edges. The 90 degree edges on the Miyata foam got uncomfortable on the Coker. The edges caused chaffing. The foam from a Viscount saddle could be substituted for the Schwinn foam. They both are shaped almost the same and the cushyness is similar.

My Coker air seat also has less of a “U” shape. It’s more flat than my muni seat. The flatter shape (less deep of a U shape) is more comfortable for Coker riding. I trimmed the front and back of the Schwinn foam just like I did with the Miyata foam in my muni seat. The middle part of the foam is thicker than the front and the back. That alters the shape and gives the saddle a flatter shape (less deep of a U shape).

The seat cover is one of the new KH ballistics nylon seat covers with a draw string to hold it in place. It works great. The draw string really holds it in place. The seat cover is taught and not saggy or baggy. The taughtness is important. I tried a Gemcrest leather seat cover and found it to be uncomfortable. I was using the same air pillow and foam. The only difference was the seat cover. The leather cover was baggy and did not hold the seat innards in place as well. The seat was uncomfortable. I went back to the ballistics nylon KH seat cover and all was well again.

And the right air pressure in the air pillow is important. Too soft and the seat is not comfortable for longer rides.

So there you have it. No guarantees that it will be comfortable for anyone but me. And there is always the possibility that I’ll discover a seat that is better and very different than my current design.

jc_coker_seat.jpg

16

Beautiful John.

Thanks for the pix. Thats a high end rig you’ve got there. And the picture lets me notice that the seat is tilted up more than mine. That will surely help my tailbone issue.

Question remains: Does anyone have horror stories about those reconditioned Cokers on U.com? I’m not going to be able to scratch up much more than $300 right now. Should I wait till the PiggyBank is double?

I was thinking I’d get that ride and add brakes and stuff little by little?

You folks have me a little worried about the rim.

17

Playing with the saddle angle is next on my list of tweaks. My Coker saddle is less angled than my muni saddle. I just haven’t played around with the angle enough yet to find that perfect angle for long Coker rides.

I put a slight potato chip wobble in my stock steel Coker wheel. It happened on a twist and slight hop to try to recover from a bad mount while riding the Iron Horse Trail. The wheel was still ridable after that, but it certainly wasn’t in good shape. I got it bent back into shape and trued but after a bending like that the wheel is never going to be the same. Once the steel wheel gets bent it’s not going to hold up as well after being straightened.

The problem with the steel rim is that you cannot tension the spokes. The rim just can’t handle it. The spokes have to be left loose. The rim is also weak. The combination of loose spokes, narrow hub, and wimpy rim makes for a weak wheel.

The reconditioned wheels have a wider hub than the stock Coker. That should strengthen up the wheel some, but I don’t know by how much since the spokes will still have to be a bit loose. I’d take one of the reconditioned Cokers over a stock Coker. I’m assuming that the rims came from Coker bikes that never sold. If that’s the case, and the wheels haven’t been ridden before then I wouldn’t exactly consider them used wheels.

The steel wheel isn’t a complete piece of junk. They are rideable and quite functional. Lars Clausen used a steel wheel on his ride across the US. See pictures here. He also had a brake with the steel rim and a stock Coker frame. But there is a limit to what you can do with the steel wheel and stock Coker frame. But if you stick to the pavement and ride carefully (don’t do any hops to recover from a bad mount) then a steel rim can do OK.

If your plans are to add a brake and build the uni up to something fancy I’d suggest going with an Airfoil rim. There’s a big difference in the Airfoil rim. You actually end up with a strong wheel. The Airfoil rim is an extrusion for a downhill MTB rim. It’s a strong rim.

One option would be to save up for a wide hub Airfoil wheel (like the Strongest Coker Wheel In The World). Get a stock Coker frame that has been widened to fit the wide hub. Put on a saddle and call it good for now. Then upgrade bit by bit later on.

Another option would be to get an Airfoil wheel with a standard wide hub like the Schwinn hub or the new CrMo Unicycle.com hub. Put on a stock Coker frame, add a saddle and call it good for now. You can upgrade to a better frame later on.

If you want to save money and are careful with the wheel you could do OK with the reconditioned Coker. Just don’t plan on good results if you add a brake. You’ll have too much wheel flex when climbing and the wheel will rub the brake pads. The steel rim is also not smooth and true so braking will be jumpy and difficult to control.

I don’t really know prices for how much an Airfoil wheel with wide hub would be. I bought all my parts over a long period of time and didn’t pay attention to the cost. I’m sure if you emailed U-Turn you could get a proper estimate for the cost of different wheel options.