Well, it’s been a few weeks with my new KH Saddle, and due to weather I’ve only gotten to put in about 100 miles.
At first, I really truly hated it. I got bruises, a burning sensation, and it generally wasn’t fun. I took 2 days off to heal from the bruises, and ever since, I have had little to no discomfort.
I went for a 30 mile training ride with my parents yesterday, and my 2:45 on the saddle wasn’t too bad. I experienced no numbness, and for the most part I was comfortable.
Had I been on my old Velo Gel Saddle, I might have gotten chaffing, and unnecessary pressure would have been placed on the perineal nerve.
Of course, with any unicycle saddle you’re going to want to at least stand up while riding for a minute or two every half hour (That’s only in my experience; please note that I do not have a handlebar yet). But, I feel like I could ride all day on this saddle, without compromising health or comfort.
While it is primarily a freestyle/street saddle, it holds it’s own on longer distances, and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to acquire a different saddle.
I don’t have any experience with the Nimbus Gel, sorry. The closest thing I could compare it to is the Velo Gel. In that case, it’s just a matter of the added center cut away, firmer padding, a flatter saddle, and in my opinion, a better handle.
Have you ever seen the Impact Naomi? It’s a lot like that.
If you want to see any pictures (sorry, I don’t have any up close), I put some up on the Pictures of Your Latest Ride thread. I just put 'em up yesterday, so it shouldn’t be too far back.
I have a Nimbus Gel on my 29er, but I only have a Qu-ax to compare it with. I’m numb in less than 4 miles on the Qu-ax, but have ridden up to 10 miles on the Nimbus Gel with neither numbness nor chafing. Endura baggy bike shorts with tight padded liner worn on both saddles.
I haven’t seen the Velo Gel, but the Nimbus Gel has a KH base with less of a curve than the Velo bases I’ve seen. Your review sounds like it is what I would expect it to be, so it will be worth trying.
I haven’t seen any Impact uni parts.
Yup, bike saddles with any padding are extremely uncomfortable. I can easily spend all day on my nice completely unpadded bike saddle, but I have yet to find a comfortable unicycle seat.
I have noticed that often the padding on a unicycle seat is to correct another design flaw: excessive front-to-back curve. For example, the KH Fusion Freeride is fairly flat on top, but this is accomplished by using a ton of foam to fill in the center of the seat. If the frame was reasonably flat, the thick padding wouldn’t be necessary. Fortunately the recent bases aren’t nearly as curved as the old Velo base, but they still have a way to go.
The bases also tend to be way to wide in the back, but that is more a individual fit issue than something that will help everyone.
I currently ride an older KH Fusion Street, and hope to try the current version and the Slim soon. They should be better, but still not optimal.
The reason for that is that the moulds for bases cost a lot to manufacture. The curve can’t change easily without investing a lot in a new mould. Far easier just to slap a whole lot of foam on it to compensate.
Unicycle saddle curves are a relic of freestyle unicycling. For long distance stuff we rely much more on the handle, instead of curved seat wedged against the crotch, to hold us on.
In effect, unicycle saddles resemble horse saddles more than bike saddles. I think they should resemble the latter more.
