You sold it already?
I agree that the bolts are a bit on the loose end and you really want to use a good wrench to avoid rounding them.
As far as riding goes, I haven’t had much time on mine to have a strong opinion. But so far so good - it’s currently on a “naked” (no handle bars, no brakes, ultra light) road 29".
Just got my new Stadium saddle yesterday… I went for a Muni ride with my also newly arrived 24" Muni… I have to say that so far I am loving it and I am seriously considering to get one for my 26 Muni. I am using it wihout any handle bars. It feels narrow and light with loads of room to shift about (you don’t feel stuck onto the seat like you do in a standard banana type saddle). Not issues about the foam feeling too firm or too soft. It just feels right to me as it is. Maybe it is because I am already used to a flat saddles (got the Zero on my 36).
Untill now I have only ridden Muni with the banana shaped saddle (Nimbus gel, and standard Quax) and I have to say this saddle is a huge improvement. As it is mentioned somewhere the Stadium is quite flat but it seems to have enough shape to hold you in place when you are not holding onto anything… I don’t do much long distance when doing Muni so don’t know how it feels when sitting on it uninterrupted for long periods of time (I think all saddles are going to feel unconfortable on a non-stop long ride regardless of the shape).
I think this saddle is fantastic and in my opinion it is an improvement from the nimbus gel saddle. I have used it on a standard seat post and, unlike the Zero, I didn’t feel it needed an ‘angle adjustable seatpost’ or anything…
Have the stadium on a Muni for some weeks now. Coming from a KH Street saddle. The street felt fine, however after some time of riding I felt numbness. First rides with the stadium where quite though as it felt so hard. I decided to give the saddle and my backside (more important) some time. Now after several rides it feels really fine and I got used to it. No more numbness as I sit on my sitbones, like on a bike.
Of course a saddle is a very individual thing, however if you are not used to a modern, hard, flatish saddle like the KH Zero or One already, my recommendation is to give it some time when trying.
I find the Stadium saddle to be considerably easier to get out for seat in front and seat drag tricks.
I like this saddle. I’ve given mine a few rides, and so far it’s my favorite non-customized saddle.
I’m coming from a bicycle background, so I’m used to sitting for hours on a firm seat, and always wear bike shorts. My favorite saddle is a semi-flattened KH freeride that I made; the Nimbus saddle has about the same curve.
I’m using an adjustable KH seatpost with the seat tilted back far enough that the back of the saddle is level.
The seat is very firm, maybe a little too firm for my taste; riding over bumps can be pretty painful. It actually has more padding than a typical bicycle saddle, but bicycle saddle bases are pretty flexible and mounted on flexible rails. The Nimbus base is pretty stiff, and my weight sits right over the seatpost, so the base can’t really flex under my weight at all.
The handle is a little longer and thinner than previous generations; it’s pretty flexible. Most of the flex I feel when I’m pulling up on the handle is the handle itself bending, not the saddle. The extra length and the hole on top make it a little more convenient for resting some of my weight on it. But I had to move my brake forward on the brake mount, and it doesn’t fit quite as well in the new position. I might swap an older type handle in instead.
I would agree with folks who complained about the bolts. The bolt holes seem to be a little larger than normal, and my allen keys want to slip.
Overall I would rate it about equal to my customized KH Freeride, but getting that one right was a big pain in the neck. This one is fine as is.
Just a followup to my review:
Anybody else have this?
I haven’t taken it apart, so I don’t know what the saddle’s internals look like. Is there a reinforcement plate that might be shifting around? Or something broken?
No reinforcement plate. Glass filled nylon only, but a separate plate is or should be available in the near future. I haven’t experienced any creaks or squeaks coming from my stadium saddle, but in your case it could be something else. Have you checked the seatpost bracket bolts or maybe even the cranks or hub? If everything else has been ruled out, I would call UDC and tell them about it, and see if they will replace it.
I’ve got mine a few weeks ago and everything is ok so far. During my second ride with the new sadle I was getting some repetitive noise which I thought it came from around the saddle/post combo: I was wrong (the bearing holders were a bit loose and were causing the noise).
It’s not the saddle; you folks called it. I had already tried a seatpost swap, no help. But just now I moved the saddle to a different uni, and the noise didn’t move with it, so there must be something else going on.
I still don’t know what’s wrong, but the Stadium saddle is fine.
One more followup on this: I broke the KH seatpost (top of the post came free where it’s pinned/bonded) and I can’t tilt the saddle back far enough using a standard seatpost for it to be comfortable for me.
The 27.2 KH seatposts are a stronger one piece construction, but the 25.4 which I need are still the two piece pinned and bonded design, so I don’t want to get another.
I ended up making a wedge-shaped shim to fit between a standard seatpost and saddle, to tilt the saddle back some more.
I probably would have given the saddle a worse review if I hadn’t had that adjustable KH post lying around; I wouldn’t have bothered trying tilting the saddle back beyond what a standard post permits, and would never had found a comfortable position.
Not sure if it works nor if anybody has ever tested it, but i could imagine that the top (tilting) part of the KH post could possibly be attached to a standard bike seat post like this: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/thomson-elite-inline-seatpost/rp-prod6066
Maybe take off the upper part, take it to your LBS and check it out.
I have Thomson posts on a couple of bikes - I just went and tried to fit them together.
The curve matches almost perfectly; the KH top piece sits nicely in the Thomson post.
But the KH uses larger bolts, which fit into cylinders that let them pivot on both ends. The Thomson post uses smaller diameter bolts that are fixed in place at the seatpost, and free to pivot on the upper end only. And the bolts aren’t in quite the right position to line up with the KH piece.
So it would take some customization to make it work, and even then I probably would be stuck using the smaller, and presumably weaker, Thomson bolts. Plus those Thomson posts aren’t cheap…
Maybe some cheaper bike post would fit?
The Stadium saddle was too hard for me, so I took it off and put the old Nimbus Gel back on my 36’er. The Stadium was much better than the Nimbus Gel for the first 10 miles, but after that it became increasingly uncomfortable. I used the Stadium for 4 rides with padded shorts. I probably need more time to get used to it, but I only ride the 36’er periodically. I have ordered the new KH Freeride and will try that out in the near future.
Why not the QX Eleven? It is also developed by Kris Holm and uses dual density foam.
I considered the QX 11 too. I read some reviews on the KH Freeride that was positive, so I chose that. I also have an older KH Freeride that I like, and the new one is supposed to be better. I could just as easy have gone with the QX.
I got the KH Freeride today, and the first impression is positive, but I have to ride at least 20 - 30 km to say for sure. It is firmer than the old one.
Cheaper source for Stadium base
I just discovered, that some other saddles than the nimbus Stadium seem to have moved to the Stadium base. (e.g. UDC Trainer Saddle or some Club saddles). So who wants just a Stadium base for an own saddle project now has a cheaper alternative than to rip apart a Stadium saddle.