So, … should we assume that the manufacturers of unicycles saddles do NOT read this forum?
There have been lots of discussions on which saddle is best, and instructions on how to improve stock saddles, and Unicycle.com offers upgrade kits for existing saddles…
but howcome nobody is trying to make an off-the-shelf saddle that doesn’t grind your go-nads or (as unijess said) inbetweenthingies ???
WELL?
Imean… they make Corvette seats comfortable, don’t they?
…point being: Corvettes aren’t exactly mass-market vehicles… any more than unicycles are, but Chevy doesn’t make you pay for UNIqueness with pain.
I was wondering the same thing and I posted something a while ago. I’m looking forward to the new Kris Holm saddle (mfg by Norco?). Mr. Holm designed it and he says its pretty comfortable. I hope I can check it out at UNICON.
One thing that Kris mentioned when he was posting about his saddle design was that it is too expensive and thus fairly impossible to mass-produce an air-pillow type saddle (like the Miyata air conversion). That’s why when he designed his saddle for Norco, he used foam. That, at least, answers some questions.
Hesays his foam rivals the Miyata airsaddle. Can’t wait to try it.
When I converted my Miyata seat. It looked ugly. It was and is still very comfortable. I suspect that the dealers think that a new cyclist would be swayed more by appearance than functionality.
Corvettes are mass market vehicles!
how much money do you think is spent on unicycles in one year, now compare that to the amount spent on 1 corvette.($50,000)
Lets say 50,000 (wild guess) corvettes are sold each year, thats 2.5 billion dollars. now with 2.5B you can pay 10 engineers 100,000 dollars apiece to build the most comfortable seat they can. and you would still have 2.49 billion dollars.
Also, the most comfortable seats out there cost over $200 to make. ($35 for miyata seat, $65 for carbon fibre seat base, $25 for roach cover, $12 for air pillow, $4 for the 20inch tube, $30-75 for seat post, $61 for wilder adapter.)
The saddle Kris Holm designed is not being designed by Norco (as one would expect), but by Velo, which I think is a biking company, but then so is Norco. Anyhow, i would also love to have it, or an air Miyata for that matter, but as of yet don’t really need it. (I may soon)
> Hesays his foam rivals the Miyata airsaddle. Can’t wait to try it.
I and several others tried it out yesterday at the Uni meet in
Stourport. The KH saddle by Velo does indeed rival the Miyata. Its deeper
in the curve and the handle at front is larger. The cover is very sexy
black and gray with blk bumpers. The corners of the cover appear to be
made of a touhened fabric compared to the rest. I’m told it was a
prototype we were riding, but If the final version is basicly like that,
I’ll be thinking hard about which unicycle I can justify putting on on.
Its a bit of a bit of a lust after product. Black is Sooo much better
than baby sick green.
sarah
–
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships. http://www.nwcue.org
A few weeks ago I took all the foam out of my cheap unicycle saddle and replaced it with a 20" inner tube. It is now a lot more comfortable!
I think my seat is either a butterfinger or bogglefinger make, it’s good in that the cover is held on by the seatpost bolts, so its easy to take it off/put it back on.
I was originally going to leave some foam on and cut a slit down the center, but it wasn’t working so I just tore it all out.
So the cost of a decent seat can be as low as the price of a cheap saddle plus an inner tube.
