I have found that the limiter for my distance unicycling is the amount of time I can sit in the seat. I wear out in the seat long before my legs are tired. My concern is that I get numb from sitting on the nerves down there. I do use padded shorts and occasionally stand up but I am looking for a more reliable solution. Has anybody produced a seat option that protects you from numbness? Currently I ride on a KH Freeride seat which has ridges that help but I am looking for any ideas that are proven that would let you ride for multiple hours without worry.
One thing I have considered is to cut out the center of a seat and ring the edge with an air option…ever been tried by anyone? The area on which we sit is so small there aren’t really many options. Any ideas?
Do you use a handlebar? I found that I could immediately go farther and longer when I put a bar on my nightrider. I realized that I push down on it just a little, and it helps to relieve the pressure from my seat. Unlike standing you can maintain the position for miles without tiring.
Is your Fusion Freeride the newest version or the old one? I had one on my distance uni, but switched back to my old Fusion because it was more comfortable. I did grind a groove down the middle of the foam on my old KH seat to make it more like the freeride, but it still has quite a bit more curve. The new saddles are supposed to be much better, but I have yet to try one.
I trimmed the pad in half laterally with a bread knife like it was a layer cake, and added an air cushion on top. it’s nice, and I have some support and a bottom out bumper! I used the bottom of the cushion which wrapped around the edges of the seat, but the air cushion bulges out a little to cush there also. (I added a ring of duct tape around the middle so it would stay the shape of the saddle.) I’ll use the top of the cushion on top of the air saddle when I do the Muni to see which is the better application.
I have seen others do a nice job slicing a valley down the center to take the pressure off the perineum, and use a jersey and spray adhesive to form a cover.
My FFR (New one) is my limiting factor on distance as well. This week I took my first very tentative steps to learn to stand up while pedaling. Even 10 seconds out of the seat helps.
I also sliced my FFR like a cake and installed some confor foam: http://www.aviationsupplyonline.com/custom.em?pid=548924 I also reshaped it a little bit to suit my tastes. Mostly I trimmed it back where it was irritating the back of my legs. That part of the mod worked great. Now my seat foam is 1/2 stock and 1/2 Confor foam.
After the new foam it was better but not as good an improvement as I hoped for. I think there are better choices in foam. I think the density needs to be higher than what I used and Confor is not sold in a higher density that what I used.
Minicel foam is popular with the kayak crowd. (you will also see it spelled MiniCell but MiniCel is how the Mfg spells it).
The foam in the FFR is actually pretty sophisticated. I think a person’s weight has a lot to do with how they feel about the FFR (and any) seat. I’m was running about 30lbs heavier than I should (but already down 10lbs from that) when I got the seat and that is a lot of extra weight pressing down on a seat.