Perineum pressure issues

Hello !

I recently bought a 29" road uni, but I have a serious problem with pressure on perineum, I can’t exceed 4 miles cause of too big pain, blood stop and so…

That uni was mounted with a stadium Nimbus saddle, I tried to replace by a KH fusion freeride but it’s not better.
I’ve tried to change saddle angle, and what ever the angle result is still the same.

I don’t have any idea of what I can do, should I try a flat saddle ? or ad a handle bar ? or anything else ?

I already searched for such problems, but except the angle I didn’t found many things…

Thanks for your help !

Do you use an adjustable seatpost, or just the standard one? Because on the standard one you can’t get the nose high enough to bring all your weight to your sitting bones.
Btw.: I prefer the QX Eleven saddle

I have standard one, but I enlarged holes to allow high angle, the saddle is about : _ , and my ass is already half on “nothing” behind rear saddle :smiley:
The pressure isn’t on front part of anatomy, but on perineum.

Quality cushioned bike shorts with a home flattened KH seat work for me. It took me a while to get it right. I also have a couple of washers under the front of the seat to help angle the seat up a bit more.

What do you mean by “home flattened”?
I already tried with my road bike short, it was worst than with nothing…

Hi Blaznee most people go through this I tried KH freeride gave me thigh rash them KH street no rash but very firm but with padded bike pants was ok them I got a new qu-ax uni which came with a qu-ax 11 which is a KH branded as qu-ax which is softer than street but firmer than freeride, there is no perfect saddle for everyone you will have to find the one that suits you body shape your Nimbus stadium gets good reviews maybe try different angles and height .

http://www.bisaddle.com/effect-of-bicycle-saddle-designs-on-the-pressure-to-the-perineum-of-the-bicyclist/

Other than a handle to grab on the end of it, I really don’t see the point of the front of the saddle. It just seemd to be a ball crushing health hazard. Why not a noseless saddle?

Women and men have different pelvic and understructures. It surprises me that there are not specific unicycle seats for male and female.

The front of a unicycle saddle is there for control. You don’t need this on a bike… you have 2 wheels!

As you pedal on a unicycle the unicycle turns towards the direction of the pedal you are pressing. The lump on the front of the saddle holds the unicycle in a straight line.

Once you think about this it explains several things about unicycles.

  1. The wider the Q-Factor on the cranks the more it turns. This is liked by some Muni riders as they use it to offer control and grip but also explains why fast racers and freestylers go for narrow q-factors - they want to concentrate on going forward and don’t want to be constantly correcting the wheel direction.
  2. Muni riders who lower their saddle to help with rough conditions tilt their saddle up. This is to places the control part of the saddle at the top of their crotch that is not pounding up and down and relatively static.
  3. The Zero and Fi saddles from Kris Holm are not popular with inexperienced riders as it makes the unicycle more difficult to ride with as it is narrower at the front.

Roger

Have you tried riding such a saddle? It would not be pleasant to ride hands-free. If using a handlebar it would probably be ok.

On my 36er I use a KH Zero (flat and narrow) set horizontally and with the grab handle removed. This works well for me because I have handlebars which I use 99% of the time. Riding hands free is much less comfortable than a wider, more curved saddle mounted nose-high.

Hi Blaznee

I think we all get that annoying pressure/rubbing in that area from time to time. I think road rides are definitely tough on that area as you are sitting on it for long periods of time.

When I started unicycling it wasn’t something that bothered me but later on, for some reason, I started to get it a lot. As other people advise the first solution is to use bike shorts and chamois cream (they really do improve things). The other thing is the type of saddle (flattish one?) as it can improve things for longer rides: I’ve got the stadium saddle and I love it for Muni. I haven’t used it for long road rides so I don’t know how comfortable it is for that (it should be good as it is quite flat). Another thing that really helps, if doing road rides, is to use a handlebar so you can shift part of your weight away from that area (basically you are adopting a bicycle type posture). Using handlebars feels odd in the beginning but you quickly get used to it and it does allow you to continuously and easily change your posture slightly and therefore putting less constant pressure in that area (sort of having a few seconds mini break as you ride a long without stopping). Also, regardless of using handle bars or not, you do this by lifting your weight off the saddle (standing on your pedals only) whilst you ride (something you usually do if riding uphill as it gives you more leverage). When doing Muni I mostly ride with my weight off the saddle to go over rough terrain/roots etc… so I don’t spend much time putting my weight on the saddle and I definitely could spend hours riding without feeling anything in that area.

Good luck, I am sure it will get better eventually

Try using the shortest cranks you can comfortably ride with.

It reduces choppiness due to leg movement, and adds resistance which lifts you up slightly, resulting in less perineal pressure.

I can ride all day on 89’s, but 150s on the flat would have me standing up on my pedals every couple of kms.

Thanks for answers.

I use 125mm cranks.
Maybe I’ll give a try to handlebars so.

A KH Freeride, handlebar and 114’s on my 36er work great. I use my handlebar for a bit of support to take pressure off my saddle every once in a while and I can ride ride ride. Not a fan if the Stadium for distance.

I given a try with the stadium at max angle, a bit better than the kh freeride, but 5 miles was the maximum, it’s still ridiculous.
So I’ll order a handlebar, hope it will help :slight_smile:
Thanks !

When I built my geared 29er I added a Stadium saddle - not because I knew anything about it, but because it was the cheapest ‘good’ saddle going! I found it caused me some weird pains in that department at first.

The weird thing is, once I got more comfortable riding it, it became far more comfortable in return! The saddle feels sort of volcano-shaped, and if you sit slightly off-centre you’ll be sat on an edge of the volcano’s opening. This kills the perineum. Once you get better at riding dead-centre your sit bones will park on either side of the volcano, and your squishies will go in the channel inbetween, resulting in comfort and bliss.

You do have to remember it’s a very stiff, solid-feeling saddle too, more like a bike saddle, so it’ll take some getting used to if you usually use something with lots of padding. I use mine without bike shorts (most of the time) and suffer no discomfort.

Diagram attached talking about the off-centre sitting - the black is your behind, the blue is the saddle.

arsediagram.png

There is a new mad4one saddle with intergrated handle bar out soon looks interesting apparently very light , blanznee I have the qu-ax loopy bar which does the job and good for hanging stuff off.

I see what you mean Piece Maker, but I guess that I have bones larger than the saddle, so whatever I ajust my bottom on the saddle, I more in this config :
/—/
. //
I use to ride on road bikes on stiff saddle on about 150 miles or more, and doesn’t have any problem, but there s different size of saddle, unlike unicycle ones…

I’ll get a look on Mad4one integrated handlebar saddle, but I’m a bit scared of the lack of adjustement with.

That M4O saddle is quite cool looking as a concept! I always wondered about how feasible it would be to just remove the front bumper off a uni saddle and replace it with something about 3x the length (Probably with a stiffener plate under it). Hopefully the finished version doesn’t have that horrific duct taped look to the actual saddle part though :smiley:

where can we find that saddle ? I’ve searched a bit everywhere but found nothing similar in that brand.