Hail, mighty monocyclist’s,
I just got my first unicycle, a Nimbus II 20 (blue) with a Nimbus gel saddle. After setting it up, I rode it for about an hour and got some serious saddle soreness. The saddle was set nose up as far as it would go. I learned to ride on a friends unicycle which had a saddle made by Jorg… something. It was much more comfortable, but kind of thin in the foam, and I didn’t look to see how it was set up. I was wondering how the community has dealt with this issue.
To improve comfort:
Is it set up? Shift the saddle front to back.
Is it the saddle? Should I be looking for a different saddle.
Is it time? Break in my butt.
give it time. I rode on a nimbus gel saddle for the first year and it was pretty decent for distance riding until more recently when I started putting KH freeride saddles on my newer unicycles. After about a week or two of regular riding the saddle soreness will be the worst you’ll feel and then it will become more tolerable.
random/odd tip: if you have hairy legs, shave the part of the inner thigh that contacts the side of the seat and then wear longer shorts if they dont cover that part of your leg. That will prevent a lot of pain pretty easily but you’ll still have some discomfort as you get used to riding a lot.
Saddle comfort can also depend on the clothing you wear. Jeans and similar trousers have a very thick seam at the crotch. A big knot of fabric. You end up sitting right on the seam and knot of fabric while unicycling. Look for trousers and shorts that don’t have a thick seam there.
Wearing cycling shorts (spandex style) or just spandex compression shorts under your trousers or shorts can also help.
When I looked at adjusting the saddle, I saw that the ability to change the pitch, front to back, was limited to about an inch. Are all saddle adjustments the same?
OR: (It is only painful in the beginning) if you ride often enough you will wear off all that hair on your inner thighs where your leg brushes the seat. And as long as you ride often enough that hair will not grow back.
i found that fairly soon after i started to ride my inner thigh is completely hairless, seems like after a while the hairs have all been pulled out and it becomes more comfortable. had i thought about it at the time, shaving them off may have been a quicker way of getting there.
It could be a difference in saddle shape. Both the width of the saddle and how abruptly the edge of the foam rounds off can affect saddle comfort for the hip bones.
Try sitting farther back on the saddle where the saddle is wider. That may better support your hip bones. Tilting the nose of the saddle up makes it easier to sit farther back on the saddle where it is wider. That’s one reason why tilting the nose up makes a saddle more comfortable.
It could also be the shape of the edges of the saddle. Too sharp of a radius can bite into your leg more and hit nerves or restrict blood flow. If that’s the case then give the KH Fusion Freeride saddle a try. It’s more rounded and softer around the edges there.
I have a question about saddles. I am planning on getting a Nimbus ISIS Trials and I’m upgrading the cranks to KH Moments. I was wondering if I should get a saddle upgrade also? So if anyone thinks that it would be worth it to upgrade to a different saddle please tell.
Pretty much. I generally bend the plates (very carefully) on my standard uni seatposts to allow the nose to be pointed up higher. I don’t think there is enough adjustment unless you do this. This allows me to sit on the wider part of the saddle without sliding forward too much.
A new rail type seatpost and saddle rail adapter would make it fully adjustable, but will cost you some.