Saddle comfort

Padded cycling shorts may help.
Adjusting the angle of the saddle can help ( if possible. Depends on your saddle / seatpost)
The saddle itself - some have a void in the foam midline which really takes pressure off important bits

But the 2 things that will help most are

Time in the saddle. The more you ride the more you’ll tolerate it

And a bigger wheel. Will allow a more relaxed cruising action. Which I find saves my ‘bits’

Being a chap is worse, I wait for my body to ingest my bits before I get comfortable :stuck_out_tongue:

I had some initial problems but angled my seat up to force me onto my seat bones, also I then found when I mounted I had the saddle too low between my legs so when mounted I was too far forward. I now pull the seat up as l get ready to mount so I can feel the wide part of the saddle dig into the backs of my legs, then when I mount I am further back and on the wide bit of the saddle.

I am now ridding almost 5 miles and just starting to feel some chaffing but am getting used to that and trying slight position changes

Quote:
Being a chap is worse

I’m not sure anyone can say either way. Unless we have some post op transgender unicyclists

I think its fair to say boys and girls have some delicate bits down there. Bits that are not really designed for weight bearing and or chaffage

That’s interesting because I had originally thought that my seat was too high at the front but it makes sense that putting the front higher will force me to sit down more… I may have to experiment.

It’s a good point that the more I have ridden the quicker I have adjusted to the discomfort and settled into riding.

Hi CrazyJazy

I wear azore shorts from Halfrauds.
Funnny name really, you don’t get a ‘zore az’ if you’re wearing em.

:slight_smile:

I am aware of the delicate nature of a lady’s lower region ;):p:D:o but there is a certain stomach turning internal pain that sitting or crushing ones plums generates that is just so bazaar and crippling that no women will understand, the slightest knock can really floor you.

I appreciate the whole giving birth thing but strangely after 2 kids (one a monster baby and tough birth) my Mrs still thinks that after severe kidney pain childbirth comes in in second place in the pain stakes.

Back on topic what saddle is that? You may find it has too much padding causing you to sink in and rub? Saddles are very tricky things.

Does it help to ride standing up briefly to take the weight off and reposition yourself?

The world will beat a path to the door of a person who invents a comfortable, endurance seat for a unicycle. As we all know, the limiter on how long and how far we can ride is the comfort (or lack of it) of the unicycle seat.

That seat looks very high at the front. Might be worth taking it off and putting some washers under the rear bolts to tilt it down.

I appreciate the theory of tilting the front up to get more weight on the sitting bones, but, the worst saddle I ever encountered was a DM one which also had a saddle tilted up like yours seems to be, and i found that just too painful to ride.

First though, I’d recommend getting some cycle shorts- just the basic ones that are effectively underwear with padding at the crotch.

Having tried a wide variety of saddles, including an air seat, I’ve concluded that the single most important factor for my saddle comfort is to never ride without cycle shorts.

If you want a recommendation for a alternative saddle, I settled on the old KH one which I think is the ‘fusion’? Not sure if you can still get them though.

I’d move your seat back as that looks way far forward to me. I’ve got the same seat (nimbus gel) and it’s really not bad until you get into long rides.

For longer riding my KH was awesome until I stripped out one of my bolts. tightening it. :angry:

Seat angle can definitely make a difference. For me, tilting up in front is very uncomfortable, as it jams the seat against my parts. :astonished: I ride with my seat about horizontal.

Ok so from what people are saying (tilt it up/tilt it back/leave it alone…) I think I will just need to play with it and see what feels comfortable. My first instinct was to tilt it back towards horizontal so I might try that first.

Cycle shorts:

Cycle shorts are lifesavers for me on my bicycle so I have been thinking that I’ll need them on the uni but I currently only have padded bibs which I don’t really want to wear on the uni as I’ll just look weird??? I’m planning to buy some shorts to hide under normal ish clothes anyway so that should hopefully help also…

Fingers crossed! Thanks for all the help people are giving me :slight_smile:

That’s why they aren’t called “azoreas”. :smiley:

Yup. Saddle comfort is a personal thing; what works for someone else you might find torturous. For me, generally pushing the seat all the way forward in the slots is better, but I’m not built like you.

Cycling shorts first; they can make a big difference. Also, I’ve found that if you ride as fast as you possibly can, you won’t notice what your crotch feels like. :slight_smile:

My wife had/has a similar issue. She alleviated it somewhat with padded shorts and an inflatable seat - I’m not sure she ever made it comfortable for indefinite periods, but then indefinitely is a long time.

Some of the feedback in crotch protection for WOMEN!? might be helpful.

Have a look at Visual unicycle seat comparison - yours looks like and old-style KH Fusion, which has a lot of curve on it - something I’m not personally convinced is a good thing. Maybe a modern flatter saddle would help?

Personally I’m still in the middle of trying to work out what to get as a saddle to replace my Nimbus Gel which I’m not all that keen on - was thinking of an Impact Naomi, then thinking of the new Nimbus Flat saddle New Nimbus 'Flat' Saddle but now having seen those pictures, I’m wondering if a Fusion Freeride might be what I’m after.

I use the KH Freeride saddle. The Nimbus Gel was torture for me. The only way I can ride longer than 1/2 hour is to use some kind of anti-friction cream. I can ride about 3 hours before it gets too painful. I’m female with girlie bits and they suffer. I can’t pull my “junk” out of the way. The butt cream stuff keeps my old lady bits from screaming.

What a way with words you have. . . so many pictures in my head right now. The 12 year old in me thinks that this would make a great bumper sticker or at least uni community auto signature:
“The butt cream stuff keeps my old lady bits from screaming”

Brycer

Bit of an old post, but some of the females on the forum weighed in with advice.

Women and seats

Yeah, there are lot of differences between saddles and their users.

I know that that first seat on our first cheap muni was crap and we had to replace it very early, otherwise my girlfriend an di would have stopped learning to ride. Now i am very comfy with the standard Qu-Ax saddle (on the 20" and 24" Luxus) and the Qu-Ax Muni saddle (on the 26" Muni). Can’t say anything about the KH seats, but would definitely like to try them.
Moving the seat as far to the front as possible also did improve the comfort, the more you ride the more you get used to balance your weight so i doesn’t get uncomfortable, also being able to ride while standing up and reposition on the seat does help a lot.

From riding with motorcycles (rode through spain, france, italy, england, scottland, irland, austria) i know that the seats with the most padding, most comfortable at the beginning of the trip are the most uncomfortable at the end of the day.

Greetings

Byc

Doing some searching (and finding this thread, being a recent one), and adjusting to putting more weight on the saddle…does tilting the saddle forward (with the nose sticking up as high as possible) help with putting my weight on the saddle? This is a Schwinn saddle where it has a moderate curve and not like the one the OP posted.

With this said, how does saddle angle affect comfort anyway? As in will it help with legs and tiring out as well? Just thought I’d ask here.

+1!

That’s why I bought a fiber base in order to make a flatter saddle with firm foam(I’m heavy soft foam compress to much). Still not realized but it will come!