I currently ride a 20-inch schwinn unicycle (I’m 12yrs) on about a half hour, (1 mile, accumulated distance), paper route. Unfortunately, the saddle is so uncomfortable that I now have to do the route on my bike! AAAHHHH! I’m planning to get a miyata saddle (without seat post), air pillow and roach cover. Would this be a good investment for my uni? It’s about $76
Re: Paper route uni!
>I currently ride a 20-inch schwinn unicycle (I’m 12yrs) on about a half
>hour, (1 mile, accumulated distance), paper route. Unfortunately, the
>saddle is so uncomfortable that I now have to do the route on my bike!
>AAAHHHH! I’m planning to get a miyata saddle (without seat post), air
>pillow and roach cover. Would this be a good investment for my uni? It’s
>about $76
>
It will probably help. But be aware that the Miyata saddle will not fit
directly onto your current seatpost, as the bolt pattern is different.
Seems to me that it would be good business sense for Miyata to just use the
same mounting as every other uni in the world, since so many people would like
to use their saddles.
- Joe
What saddle do you have on your 20" Schwinn? Is it the Viscount saddle or the older style Schwinn saddle with the slip on vinyl cover?
Here is a picture of the Viscount style Schwinn saddle
<http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=479>
Here is a picture of the old style Schwinn saddle
<http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=239>
The Viscount is a bit difficult to convert to an air seat. But the old style Schwinn seats are easy to convert to an air seat. If you’re lucky you have the old style Schwinn seat and you can easily convert it to an air seat.
The seatpost bolt pattern where the seat attaches to the seatpost is different for the Miyata seats and the Schwinn or Viscount seats. Putting a Miyata seat on a Schwinn would require a custom seatpost.
I used to do my paper route on a Shwinn 24 inch unicycle. From what I remember the route consisted of 144 papers, covering a distance of about 1.5 miles.
Carrying the papers on your shoulder’s will add additional weight to the area that lies on the saddle, possibly causing the discomfort. Have you tried adjusting the saddle by tilting it up or down? Most saddles are fine when only ridding an hour or less, even with the additional weight from the papers.
My suggestion is that if there is an adjustment (I cant remember if there is) to tip the saddle up or down, try doing so. If there isn’t an adjustment system, or if you have already done so, then try riding the same distance without the papers. If you still experience discomfortable without the added weight of the papers, then my guess is that the new air saddle will not fix the problem. Solving your problem may simply be a matter of spending more time on the saddle in order for your butt to get use to it.
I just don’t want you to spend money if you don’t need to. Typically air saddles assist with very long rides, or muniing (having to endure bumps). I don’t think it will help you with your short ride. However if you plan on muning or doing longer rides than by all means by the air saddle regardless.
Anybody else?
dan
My oh my, the youth of today! Are you a man or a mouse? In my day, we used to ride for two hours before breakfast, delivering sacks of coal to the big house on the hill, and we never complained about the seats, because the beadle would whip us to within an inch of our lives - those of us who were lucky enough to have seats.
A few suggestions:
Loosen the four nuts under the seat and slide the seat as far forward as possible. This will tilt the seat up at the front slightly.
Now set the seat at the right height for a bicycle - sit properly on the seat, put your heel on the pedal with the pedal at the bottom of its travel. Your leg should be straight but the knee should not be ‘locked’. Now drop the seat another centimetre or so from this height. Unicycle seats are more comfortable, and the uni more controlable with the seat a touch lower than a bicycle seat would be.
Now buy some padded shorts without a seam through the crotch, and wear them alone, or under trousers (pants) with no seam under the crotch. Don’t wear underpants under the shorts (and don’t report me for suggesting this to a minor!). Certainly don’t wear jeans - they can be very painful.
Now ride your unicycle lots and lots until one day you forget it hurts. Columbus suffered terribly from sea sickness but he didn’t post on the explorers’ community forum, ‘How can I stop feeling seasick?’ He just went and discovered America, got off the boat there and sat under an apple tree until he felt better. ;0)
Then an apple fell on his head and he discovered relativity.
Re: Paper route uni!
>
>My oh my, the youth of today! Are you a man or a mouse? In my day, we
>used to ride for two hours before breakfast, delivering sacks of coal to
>the big house on the hill, and we never complained about the seats,
>because the beadle would whip us to within an inch of our lives - those
>of us who were lucky enough to have seats.
>
You got breakfast?! Man… I wish we’d had a beadle like yours.
I have the new viscount saddle. My dad said he would reward me for my good grades, so price should not matter. I’m just wondering if there is anything else I could do. To dan, the answer is yes, I do take quite long rides on my unicycle. I’m just as fast as my friends on bikes, but only because all the places we travel to are uphills usually.
Re: Paper route uni!
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe <ickyslug@aol.complexity>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
To: <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 7:08 PM
Subject: Re: Paper route uni!
> >
> >My oh my, the youth of today! Are you a man or a mouse? In my day, we
> >used to ride for two hours before breakfast, delivering sacks of coal to
> >the big house on the hill, and we never complained about the seats,
> >because the beadle would whip us to within an inch of our lives - those
> >of us who were lucky enough to have seats.
> >
>
> You got breakfast?! Man… I wish we’d had a beadle like yours.
What’s a “beadle” ?
Lowell
Re: Paper route uni!
>> >My oh my, the youth of today! Are you a man or a mouse? In my day, we[color=darkred]
>> >used to ride for two hours before breakfast, delivering sacks of coal to
>> >the big house on the hill, and we never complained about the seats,
>> >because the beadle would whip us to within an inch of our lives - those
>> >of us who were lucky enough to have seats.
>> >
>>
>> You got breakfast?! Man… I wish we’d had a beadle like yours.
>
>What’s a “beadle” ?
>
>Lowell
>[/color]
bea•dle "bed-el\ n : a usu. English parish officer whose duties include
keeping order in church
©2000 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights
reserved.
I had to look it up too.
- Joe
Re: Paper route uni!
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe <ickyslug@aol.complexity>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
[color=darkred]
>> >My oh my, the youth of today! Are you a man or a mouse? In my day, we
>> >used to ride for two hours before breakfast, delivering sacks of coal to
>> >the big house on the hill, and we never complained about the seats,
>> >because the beadle would whip us to within an inch of our lives - those
>> >of us who were lucky enough to have seats.
>> >
>>
>> You got breakfast?! Man… I wish we’d had a beadle like yours.
>
>What’s a “beadle” ?
>
>Lowell
>[/color]
bea•dle "bed-el\ n : a usu. English parish officer whose duties include
keeping order in church
©2000 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights
reserved.
I had to look it up too.
- Joe
I finally thought to do that too. Next time…?
Lowell
One option would be to do an air seat conversion on the Viscount. That will get you by for now. Then later when the Kris Holm Velo seat comes out (maybe three months or so) you could to the new seat.
An air seat conversion on a Viscount is a bit more difficult than other seats, but not too bad. You’ll need your dad to help.
Here are some old messages describing the process
When making an air seat be careful not to overinflate the tube. It only takes a little bit of air. Too much air and you will rip the seat cover. Use a hand pump to inflate the tube and don’t use full strokes.
[message one]
From: “Leo White” <l.white@cableinet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: what air seat…
You can make your Viscount into an airseat - here’s how …
- Undo the back screws and remove the crash guard.
- Carefully (with patience) peel back the cover which is glued over the foam back towards the “nose” of the saddle.
- Cut out a section of the foam with very sharp scissors, I cut out a largish diamond (nearly half the foam) around the weight bearing area of the saddle and leaving the front and outer edges more or less intact. This will leave some shape to the saddle.
- Drill a hole thru’ the base.
- Arrange a deflated inner tube inside the space where the foam once was (valve thru’ hole in base). I used a narrow 700c which I had to hand - others recommend smaller kids-bike tubes.
- Stretch the cover back and glue the outside using fabric adhesive, impact adhesive or something similar and screw back the crash guard.
- Pump up the tube and experiment with the pressure.
Miyata saddles are easier to adapt (removable foam) and lighter (but more flexy) - again leave some of the foam to shape the nose of the saddle.
Happy air-riding
Leo White
Brad Gwynn wrote in message <377251EB.F3B@shore.net>…
>what is the best air seat setup?
>tyre tube combo?
>miyata,semcycle ect.?
>and would it be a large inprovement over my viscount?
>and what about some of the new high tec. petrochemecal compounds?
>like sorbathane ect.
>some of these may work fairly well.
>any sugestions are very much appreciated
>esp.by my behind.
[message two]
Subject: Re: Viscount air conversions?
Date: 05/26/2000
Author: John Hooten <jhooten@softcom.net>
Peter,
I have done an air conversion on a Viscount seat. I will describe it as best I can.
-
Remove plastic bumpers
-
Slowly peal back leatherette cover from metal base and foam pad. The cover is glued down with some sort of contact cement. The foam is probably injected into a mold with the cover lining the mold. You want to be careful here that the foam doesn’t rip off in big chunks that stick to the cover. I used an exacto knife to almost shave it off. I removed about 75% of the edges of the saddle, but left the section on the back of the saddle attached so that it would be earsier to line the cover up when I glued it back on.
-
Cut away foam to make room for the inner tube. I decided to use a 1.25" x 8" wheel-chair (small fromt wheel) tube. This could be pushed together in 2 sections with folds only on the ends and fit in the saddle evenly with a slight gap between the two sides. George Peck recommends this slight gap down the center and I strongly concur. To create the slot in the foam I used a Dremel power hand tool (like a power drill) with a small cutting disk bit. When the edges were cut leaving foam in place all around so that the innertube would be surrounded by foam and the basic saddle shape would be maintained, I pealed the section from the middle. It looked like a hot dog, of sausage.
-
Drill hole for tube stem. (I put it in the center in the back)
-
Make sure there metal saddle plate where foam has been removed is covered with tape so nothiing will puncture the tube.
-
Insert tube into saddle.
-
Stretch cover back on and glue in place with contact cenent.
-
Return saddle to unicycle.
-
Inflate tube (not too much).
-
Ride
This procedue was more complicated than converting a Miyata seat, but not too difficult. I find this saddle to be very comfortanle. I have it on my Coker. I also drilled holes in the saddles metal plate and bolted on a Miyata handle to replace the plastic bumper. An excellent impeovement.
I understand Unicycle Source may be carrying Miyata seat parts. So you may soon be able to get just a Miyata seat handle without having to buy the entire saddle.
Good Luck,
John Hooten
“Kittle, Peter” wrote:
>Hi all–
>
>I was just wondering if anyone had done an airseat conversion
>on a Viscount seat. My 9 year old son, Drew, has one on his uni,
>and has complained recently about groin pain. Since there are
>no easy ways to remove the cover, I was especially hoping
>someone might have advice about ways to reattach the cover
>after stripping it and putting in an inner tube. Thanks
>for any suggestions.
>
>Peter
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>Peter Kittle
>Department of English
>CSU, Chico
>Chico CA 95929-0830
>ph: 530/898-5305
>fax: 530/898-4450
>email: pkittle@csuchico.edu
>www: http://www.csuchico.edu/~pkittle
>---------------------------------------------------------
[message three]
Subject: Re: Viscount air conversions?
Date: 05/26/2000
Author: John Childs <john_childs@hotmail.com>
Yes it is possible to improve the padding in a Viscount seat. I stuffed a gel pad in the Viscount seat that came with my Coker (I’m now using a Miyata air seat on the Coker). I went with a gel pad in the Viscount because a gel pad will never go flat. Reparing a flat tube in a Viscount would not be fun because you would have to peel the whole thing apart again.
What you will need:
Screwdriver
Sharp cuting tools like a utility knife, and other knives
A big fat gel pad for an exercise bike or a tube if you are going to do an air seat
Thick tacky glue similar to rubber cement (I think I used a thick silicon based glue)
How to do it:
- Remove the bumpers from the seat
- Carefully remove the cover from the seat
Start at the back and work your way forward
Important: Leave the cover still attached to the nose of the seat - Cut out the center area of the foam
Leave the front, rear, and edges of the foam so you can still
keep the general shape of the viscount seat and so you will
have a place to glue the cover back to - If you are doing an air seat drill a hole for the tube valve
- Stuff the center of the seat with your favorite material
- Glue the cover back on
- Attach the bumpers
The Viscount with a gel pad is fairly comfortable (better than the original padding for long rides). But a Miyata air seat is better yet.
john_childs
Re: Paper route uni!
On Sun, 30 Jun 2002 18:21:42 -0500, U-Turn
<U-Turn.733ca@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>> *He just went and discovered America, got off the boat there and sat
>> under an apple tree until he felt better. ;0)
>> *Then an apple fell on his head and he discovered relativity.
Umm, Newton and Einstein would like to have a say in this…
Klaas Bil
Re: Paper route uni!
On Sun, 30 Jun 2002 18:21:42 -0500, U-Turn
<U-Turn.733ca@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>> *He just went and discovered America, got off the boat there and sat
>> under an apple tree until he felt better. ;0)
>> *Then an apple fell on his head and he discovered relativity.
Umm, Newton and Einstein would like to have a say in this…
Klaas Bil
Re: Paper route uni!
After falling in love with OE-Quotefix, I read what john_childs wrote:
> Then later when the Kris Holm Velo seat comes out (maybe three
> months or so) you could to the new seat.
Now that is an ultra-comfortable seat! I may get one myself…
Graham W. Boyes