I have a Coker and it’s great, but can anybody recommend a good comfortable
seat to replace my Viscount seat? After a mile of riding, I get sore.
Search the fora archives using “air seat” “airseat conversion” and variations thereof to find a plethora of threads devoted to the topic of comfortable seats. Many projects and tips for making your own can be found there. Go to unicycle.com to find entire pre-converted saddles or parts for doing it yourself.
Going to unicycle.com can be frustrating. I wish they had a note that said THIS FITS COKER SCHWINN MYATA etc. They have a seat-seatpost arrangement for about a hundred bucks but I need to know if it is right before I ask the Mighty Wife to order it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these guys and I am a very satisfied customer, I just feel stupid asking questions over the phone and I can’t seem to get the website e-mail to go through, I think they have a filter with my fingerprints on it… carjug the paranoiac
Not being rude, but perhaps a little too frank… if your Viscount is hurting after a mile on a Coker, the problem ain’t the seat.
Try adjusting the height of the seat.
Adjust the seat angle (move forwards to put the seat nose UP, backwards to put the seat nose DOWN.)
Possibly let a bit of air out of the tyre to smooth the bumps a bit.
Wear padded cycle shorts with no underpants. Position yourself carefully and ensure no folds of skin are trapped.
learn to pedal reasonably briskly, spinning instead of pushing.
And ride it a bit more. Practice practice practice.
When you first get a Coker, it feels unwieldy, and you ride it in a very tense way. As you get more confident, the seat gets more comfortable. I reckon a Viscount is good for up to an hour’s solid riding with no UPDs or deliberate stops.
Good luck.
Re: Coker seat (any recomendations?)
Mike, you certainly provided a lot of good tips. Thank you. I didn’t know
the Viscount seat could be adjusted, as you mentioned. I’ll look into that
later. But I don’t think I could wear those padded cycle shorts … I
guess I’m wimp for not trying that out, but thanks for mentioning it anyhow.
Yeah, you’re right about the the inital unweildy feeling of riding with the
coker. I’m still fairly new at it, but so far, I think I’ve been
controlling it okay.
I think I’m going to order the $99.00 Miyata Air Saddle (custom made) at
Re: Re: Coker seat (any recomendations?)
There is also the Velo seat. I haven’t used one for a long ride but from sitting on one at UNICON it is a comfy seat that is almost like an air seat. The Velo would be good to go right out of the box. An air seat, even one that is already put together for you, will require some fiddling to get it just right (adjusting the way the tube lays, tucking things in, etc.). If you’re not the kind of person who likes to fiddle with the innards of a seat the Velo will do OK.
Padded cycling shorts make a big difference. Just don’t wear them with underwear (the underwear will cause chafing). Cycling shorts cut way down on chafing and other discomforts.
If you don’t like the lycra roadie cyclist look, you can get the mountain bike style shorts that have a baggy outer short over the tight fitting lycra liner. Or you can wear regular shorts over the lycra roadie cycling shorts. Just don’t wear something that has a big knot of a seam right in the crotch (like jeans do).
On re-reading it, I think my last post on this thread was a little too abrubt in tone. Sorry.
The general point remains, though, that the seat will magically get less uncomfortable the more you use it. A Viscount seat is good for an hour or so’s riding. I have no problem doing 40 minutes to the cafe or pub and 40 minutes back. I have no problem doing an hour or more MUniing. When I did my longest ever ride - 53 miles on a fairly smooth surface - on the Coker, I was fine for the first 20 miles or so, then it gradually became more and more excruciating.
Look at the seat post and you will see four slots with the seat polts poking through. Loosen the bolts and slide the seat forwards or backwards. There is nothing to stop you elongating the slots, or putting spacer washers under the front or back mounting point. As the plate at the top of the seatpost is curved, the forward/backward movement of the seat changes the angle of the seat.
Most people seem to prefer the seat ‘nose up’. This gives better control of the uni when standing on the pedals for hill climbing or going over obstacles. Nose down puts more weight on the ‘sit bones’. Nose up can lead to numbness in the crotch.
I have a Velo seat. I took it off the Coker because the seat feels shorter, and it seemed to make mounting a bit trickier - probably more to do with my technique than anything else. I usually hold the front of the seat when I freemount. I put the Velo on the 28 (my pure road machine) and it’s not noticeably more comfortable than the Viscount. It is deeper padded, and I get less numbness in the crotch, but it seems to put more weight on the sit bones, and it also chafes the inside legs a bit.
Padded shorts really really really do make a difference. On those rare occasions when I have not bothered, I have deeply regretted it. If you are (understandably) reluctant to be seen wearing lycra shorts with what looks like a full nappy (US = Diaper) concealed beneath, then wear some loose fitting jogging bottoms over the shorts.
Much of the discomfort asociated with unicycle seats is related to bits being trapped, pinched or stretched by friction, rather than just pressure. Adjust yourself discreetly but thoroughly.
You wouldn’t sit on a kitchen stool with no other support for an hour at a time without shifting your weight to get comfortable. Don’t expect a unicycle seat to be a bed of down.
And the other good tip is ride something so challenging you don’t have time to notice the pain! ;0)
Re: Coker seat (any recomendations?)
No problem. I did not perceive your good advice as being abrupt. I looked
underneath my viscount seat, and there is very little room to maneuve it
(nose down). There is just barely enough room to swing the seat in the
favorable dicrection, but there is a lot of space to move the nose up. It
was already like this when unicycle.com shipped it to me.
Hmm… I will admit one thing … you sure did a hell of a good job of
trying to convince me to wear those funny looking biker shorts. Your pitch
was good. Okay, maybe one day I’ll just buy it and try it out.
Thanks.
Re: Coker seat (any recomendations?)
Doh! I just bought the $99 air seat! How come you didn’t respond faster
about the Velo seat before I made the big order! :-p (just kidding, just
kidding). But, yeah, I MEANT to pre-order the Velo seat for my off-road
unicycle, and I completely forgot about it until you brought it up! Gezz, I
can’t believe I forgot. I have to go back and order that thing, too.