I just started unicycling last year and this summer I plan to go hard learning new tricks and trials stuff. However, my mom has cautioned me ever since I started riding that riding lots could harm the male reproductive parts. I know in regular cycling, tests have been done and now they have all these new formed saddles. My question is if any tests or research have been done to see if unicycling can cause any problems? Or if anyone knows anything on this subject.
Thanks for the input.
Nathaniel
–When is the Bedford Unicycles Site going to be up?–
Wow, that sucks about you being uniless until Bedford Unicyclescom opens up.
I had the same concern you did when I first started riding about
a year ago. I asked the guys at Unicycle.com if numb crotch was a problem and I got a good chuckle.
Consider how much you stay on the Uni. If your constantly practicing, are you more off the uni than on the uni. That effects everthing. Mom could worry, maybe, if you were riding hours at a time, but, at least from my experience when learning, I am always falling off so this isn’t a problem.
My guess, is that the more experienced riders will tell you just to get an air seat and don’t worry about it. I hear nothing but good
things about doing the airseat conversion, granted, I still haven’t forked over the cash for one, but it is on my wish list. Getting the airseat will definately make mom feel better, I am sure. Just have here read the responses to this thread.
In article <onewheel.39xua@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
onewheel <onewheel.39xua@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)hey everybody,
)
)I just started unicycling last year and this summer I plan to go hard
)learning new tricks and trials stuff. However, my mom has cautioned me
)ever since I started riding that riding lots could harm the male
)reproductive parts. I know in regular cycling, tests have been done and
)now they have all these new formed saddles.
There’s no real evidence that cycling causes permanent problems. The
main “test” in question was popularized by someone (Minkow) who had
a product to sell. Incredibly, a product that was supposed to solve
this exact problem! The split saddles are more comfortable for some
people–less numbness or pain while riding–but there’s no real
evidence that traditional bike saddles cause permanent damage.
(Minkow’s own study, when the data finally became available, showed
that cyclists actually had a lower incidence of erectile dysfunction
than the general population. The study hadn’t been peer-reviewed at the
time it was written up with great fanfare in “Bicycling”).
In any case, a unicycle saddle is a completely different beast, with
pressure in different places–I’m sure there’s been no study of ED
on unicycles, unless Bob Dole rides.
-Tom
doosh@inl.org writes:
>(Minkow’s own study, when the data finally became available, showed
>that cyclists actually had a lower incidence of erectile dysfunction
>than the general population. The study hadn’t been peer-reviewed at the
>time it was written up with great fanfare in “Bicycling”).
Probably as a result of the fact that fewer bikers than non-bikers SMOKE.
Biking does nothing to your gonads compared to smoking.
David (2 kids) Stone
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
> If I get an air seat, will I be able to do jump mounts?
An air seat will not increase your ability to do a successful jump mount.
You still have to land on the pedals for it to work.
But for those occasions when you miss the pedals (or chicken out at the last
second, like I did once in my early days), the air seat will sure make a
difference!
> (Minkow’s own study, when the data finally became available, showed
> that cyclists actually had a lower incidence of erectile dysfunction
> than the general population.
This omitted statistics about smoking, as previously mentioned, and also the
fact that cyclists are generally in much better physical condition than the
general population as well.
> In any case, a unicycle saddle is a completely different beast, with
> pressure in different places–I’m sure there’s been no study of ED
> on unicycles, unless Bob Dole rides.
Be nice. Bob Dole is a funny guy. If he rode a unicycle I’m sure that would
be funny too.
Unicycle seats do place the pressure on different parts of the crotch. The
problem in male impotency is caused by too much pressure down the centerline
of the crotch area, from bike seats that generally have rounded tops. Most
unicycle seats are flatter across the top, with a “corner area” on each side
that probably gets more pressure than the center. I think this is even true
for air seats, but I’m not sure. An air seat is nice because the pressure is
more evenly dispersed.
And of course no scientific studies have been done on the medical effects of
unicycle seats. From my years of involvement in the sport, I am aware of
many cases of numbness from long rides (starting with some of my early
rides), but zero cases of ED or reproductive problems. Plenty of the riders
I “grew up with” in this sport have kids now.
On Thu, Apr 18, 2002 at 10:14:10AM -0700, John Foss wrote:
> > (Minkow’s own study, when the data finally became available, showed
> > that cyclists actually had a lower incidence of erectile dysfunction
> > than the general population.
>
> This omitted statistics about smoking, as previously mentioned, and also the
> fact that cyclists are generally in much better physical condition than the
> general population as well.
The Minkow study compared two groups of athletes: bicyclists and
swimmers. It found that the bicyclists had a higher rate of ED than
the swimmers, but among other errors, it didn’t correct for age
differences–the bicyclists were 10 years older on average than the
swimmers.
I think it’s safe to assert that taking up bicycling or unicycling,
thereby improving your health while possibly giving yourself a
lifelong source of joy, is much more likely to improve your sexual
performance than hinder it.
-Tom
> I think it’s safe to assert that taking up bicycling or unicycling,
> thereby improving your health while possibly giving yourself a
> lifelong source of joy, is much more likely to improve your sexual
> performance than hinder it.
Yes. And I’ll add, for you long-distance riders out there, that based on
what I read, the problems reported were usually associated with roadies that
put long hours in the saddle, over many years. Tens of thousands of miles.
If you are more of a normal rider, this should not even be an issue.
onewheel asked:
> My question is if any tests
> or research have been done to see if unicycling can cause any problems?
> Or if anyone knows anything on this subject.
I’ve been riding for 8 years. At BJC last month, Roger pointed out my then
7-week-old daughter to a customer as living proof that unicyclists can
father children.
John Foss wrote:
> Most unicycle seats are flatter across the top, with a “corner
> area” on each side that probably gets more pressure than the > center. I think this is even true for air seats, but I’m not sure.
Although I really like my c/f base airseat (compared to the Viscount seat I used in the past), I am not entirely happy with the seat’s front portion. What bothers me is that this section bulges as soon as air gets displaced when I sit on the rearward portion. I glued a “hood” of nylon cloth over the front third of the seat (on top of the airpillow; the seat cover goes on top) to limit the expansion of the tube/airpillow in this area. Roger Davies recommended to use a couple of rubber bands instead.
I also intend to try leaving the front section of the seat empty (inner tube + airpillow only in the posterior half which is in contact with the seatbone).
This was a bit hard to explain; I hope I managed to describe the issue well enough for you to understand. Before someone chimes in “pictures, please”, I promise to take and post pictures when I attempt the next seat modification.
What I am wondering is:
(1) Does anybody have a similar issue with the airseat?
(2) If so: What kind of solutions did you come up with? What would your “ideal” seat look like?
(2) Why are most unicycle seats concave (as seen from the top)? (I’d rather not have the seat’s front higher than the back, although this seems to be what many unicyclists prefer).
I welcome any suggestions.
not to my knowledge, im still in one piece (relatively speaking) and ive done huge amounts of riding, it hurts for a while then you just forget it (its called the uni ball theory) I just ordered a uni form darren. You can email him to find out all you could ever want to know
>This was a bit hard to explain
Then you did a good job because it was easy to understand.
>(2) Why are most unicycle seats concave (as seen from the top)? (I’d
>rather not have the seat’s front higher than the back, although this
>seems to be what many unicyclists prefer).
I think you are mentioning two issues here, i.e.
(i) Why are seats narrower in the middle than at the ends?
(ii) You don’t like to tilt your seat backward.
My throw at an answer:
Ad (i): The middle should be narrow because your legs need room to
move. The broader ends help keep you in place.
Ad (ii) Mine is “horizontal” but I want to try out the backward tilt
to see what it’s worth. Have you tried it?
However I would like to add a third question:
(iii) Why are unicycle seats curved as much as they generally are (as
seen from the side)?
The male discomfort issue would probably be less if the front curves
up less, also it should make bringing seat out and back in easier. Of
course some curvature is needed again to keep you in place and also to
distribute the support over a larger area. But has anyone ever tended
to fall off either end of the seat because of it being too flat?
Klaas Bil
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“rapid reaction, HRT, SWAT”
I promised pics. I made them and posted them here:
I (sheepishly) admit that two out of my three mods turned out to be failures (see steel ball example). I am now back to:
(1) standard air seat setup with c/f base + air pillow + Gemcrest cover, but I inflate the (air pillow) inner tube a bit more than I used to,
(2) a small stack of washers (as spacers) between seat base and the rear section of the seatpost bracket (see pics).
I would still like to try a seat base that is less curved than the c/f base.
