I’m leaning towards the Torker 24-inch Unistar black
(http://www.unicycle.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=675) as my first uni. The
description at this link refers to a “Miyata-style” saddle, which I assume
is modeled after the Miyata but not the real thing – it certainly looks the
same, to my untrained eyes.
Opinions? As a newbie, my questions are: what kind of a beating can these
things take? I’m not into the extreme stuff, probably just 3- to 5-mile
drives on pavement, several times a week for exercise. So when I say “a
beating,” I mean watching the uni fall as I learn. How comfortable are
these, really? Should I buy the above uni and purchase a second, spare
saddle?
Having never owned an “original” miyata, I’m not in the best position to help, but I’ll do my best.
With what little experience I have had with the originals, I can say the the new ones don’t feel as rigid. I broke the handle on mine, probably by a combination of dropping it and using it to pull up on when doing MUni stuff. For what you are going to use it for, it should last for quite a while.
Of course, you could email and see if they would swap the miyata for a KH, which are very comfortable and hard wearing. It means you pay an extra $8, but if they will do it for you it is well worth it.
The saddle on the stealth Torker is a Miyata - either that or its such a perfect clone that you can consider it an actual Miyata. Between two “official” Miyata saddles (with “Miyata” stamped on the rear bumper) and one stealth torker saddle (“Torker” stamped on), I have succesfully juggled around seat posts, front and rear bumpers with no compatibility issues. To my eye, everything on that saddle is identical.