Really, the title sums it up quite nicely but to be slightly more specific: where on the seat / body do you have the weight?
The mantra “weight on seat” always comes up but I do not recall having ever seen a reference on a best location to apply the pressure.
Reason for asking is that I struggle(d) quite long to get enough weight on the seat and in not sitting enough my legs work way too hard.
Now that I’m (finally) riding more frequent I’m getting gradually better at “saving my legs”. And in the process I noticed I’m sitting more and more upright with my weight more towards the buttocks / back of the seat.
I used have the pressure point more towards the groin and narrowest/deepest part of the seat.
So my questions on this are:
Where do you typically “sit”?
Is there any general consensus on where to have your pressure point?
Sitting on the lowest part of the seat is pretty much unavoidable for any long term sitting. Trying to stay on a sloped part is just too uncomfortable.
But you can choose which part of the seat is flat by adjusting the saddle tilt. A lot of folks ride with the nose of the saddle tilted up as high as possible, which makes the wide back part of the saddle the lowest, flattest part.
Nose up is what I do, but your body might prefer something else, so I would experiment. Also try different saddles if you have access to anything, by borrowing a uni from a friend or whatever.
Yeah I noticed that too for the 29". For a long time I had saddle aches and just wanted to give it a try putting the nose up. This made a world of difference.
I think sitting will automatically let you sink to the lowest part of the seat. Just what gravity chooses for you
As a beginner both my arms were out for balance and I sat in the center, scooped part of the saddle. It was not comfortable. Once I learned to hold the grab handle with one hand, I tilted the nose of the saddle up and sat more on the back of the seat. More comfortable. Once I learned to ride with both hands on the saddle/handle, I pointed the saddle’s nose down again, so the saddle was in a more neutral position or nose-down. Because I had gained the control of my hands, I could sit on the very back of the saddle (which was now raised up) without sliding forward. This position proved to be the most comfortable for riding any kind of distance. The contact points of my butt and the saddle were all around the perimeter of the raised back of the seat.
The more control we have with our hands, the better we are at shifting our weight subtly on the seat. After I learned to ride with both hands on the bar ends, I could shift a lot of my weight onto my arms. While this is not “weight in the seat”, it accomplished the same ends.
When there are threads about what kind of seats there are then surely there should be a thread how to make your saddle the most comfy, by at what angle it is screwed on.
I was thinking kind of the same thing. Not super-helpful, but the point being to take the strain off your legs.
But you already knew that. I think we all have had to work out our own specific positioning on unicycle seats, because each of our crotches is unique. Seats that work great for some people are hated by others, etc.
If your seat has the standardized Schwinn/KH/Nimbus mount, yes, try pushing it all the way forward (nose up) and give that a try for a while to see what you think. My experience is similar to some of the others who already posted; Back before handles, I always preferred the nose-up position. More recently, with handles on the 36", I have gone to a more neutral/middle position with the KH One saddle. Still not done tweaking that…
There is position of your body on the saddle and also angle of your upper torso. Some people sit up very straight, while others have varying degrees of forward lean. The details of that aren’t important while you are still learning the basics. You don’t need to be perfectly straight up, but you should avoid being too much bent forward. Look for a happy medium.
