seat height

General
1

hi everyone, im new here.
got my first unicycle 2 days ago, and learned to ride last night. how do you get the seat to the right height? is there a formula for proper height or do you just do what feels comfy?

peter

2

I always keep mine a lot lower than this but I’ve heard “belly button height” is the way to go for learners.

cheers
Pete

3

It’s very important to get it right. You don’t walk or run with your knees bent, or up on tip toe. same with cycling.

Start as for a bicycle: wear flat soled shoes. Sit on the seat. Put the pedals in the 12 and 6 position (i.e. cranks vertical) and put your feet comfortably on the pedals.

Now, with the foot that is on the bottom pedal, which is in the bottom dead centre psoition, move your foot so that the heel is on the pedal. The seat is at the right height for a bicycle when your heel is on the pedal, when the pedal is at bottom dead centre, when you are sitting comfortably on the seat, and your leg is comfortably straight, without stretching or locking the knee.

This is the ergonomically best position for pedalling a bicycle with cranks of around 170 mm.

But you’re on a uni. First, set the seat height as shown above. Now lower it a tiny bit - maybe 10 mm. That gives your legs just a little bit more bend which gives you more control at different points of the pedal stroke (on a bicycle, you only pedal forwards; on a unicycle, you apply pressure in both directions, depending on what you’re trying to achieve.)

This should have given you the best position for general riding.

For special skills or disciplines, such as freestyle, MUni, or trials, you will probably lower the seat a little bit further - not to improve pedalling efficiency, but to give you more freedom to stand up and get out of the seat when you need to.

Then one day, you’ll change the cranks for longer ones or shorter ones. You will need to adjust the height accordingly.

It is possible to ride a unicycle with the seat far too low, or a little bit too high. However, it makes an enormous difference to your comfort and coiontrol, so get it right using the above formula, and don’t change it until you feel the need to change it.