The other day I found myself wondering if hopping seat in had any real advantages.
I searched the forum and found that seat in has greater stability, but if one got very good at seat out would the stability not be the same? And if that’s the case, why bother learning seat in at all? Why not just get good at seat out?
I think seat in will always give me more stability. I, unlike most trials riders, only use seat out for my highest hops.
Andrew
seat in is not only more stable, but lots easier to do. i suck at seat out hopping, but seat in i can do quite a bit of stuff. still working on seat out, but for now seat in works pretty well. I think its a necessary step in learning seat out hopping.
i started with seat in. and found it much easier. i reccomend that everyone starts with seat in. the only time i would ever use seat out is when i have already tried to hop up it with seat in. me i think you should hop as high as you possibly can with seat in first (trust me you can hop pretty high) also well your doing that maybe practice the seat out technique. i still cant hop higher with seat out then in the stability is way harder 
Seat in can lead to more awkward falls than seat out. If you do a big jump or gap seat in and miss, the fall can be awkward because the unicycle and seat are still stuck between your legs. If you try a big jump or gap seat out, you’re not as likely to get hung up on the seat during the bail or crash.
a big thing is that you wont see people riding skinnies seat out. therefore an advantage of seat in is that you dont have to transition in the middle of the line, although hopping height is definitely limited when seat in (sidehops). seat in is only noticeably more stable if you arent that good at seat out (there are exceptions).
andrew, you said, “i, unlike most trials riders, only use seat out for my highest hops.”
do you mean seat in? without a doubt most trials riders use seat out for high hops.
I meant that I only do seat out for my higher hops and the rest of my hopping is done seat in. I am considering experimenting with seat out as well as opposite pedal orientation hopping though.
Andrew
We’ve just started fiddling with trying to run rocky MUni descents–with a lot of connected rolling forward drops–seat out, but it’s too early (for us, anyway) to know if this is a viable technique. It’s certainly more strneuous and more wobbly, but I think it’s possible to overcome this with fitness and practice.
The advantage is you can bail a lot easier, and can absorb drops better, but it still feels squirley because you are loose compared to when you’re pulling up on the saddle. Tere’s also a definate lessening of pedal torque without the counterpressure of sitting on the seat and yanking up on the handle. It feels sort of like bull riding (I imagine), but again, we’re just starting to fiddle with this technique. Difficult rolling over rocks is possible, but much harder seat out. I practiced on some low angled stairs till I could ride them seat out, so I know it’s possible. Time will render the verdict if this is viable or just another crazy idea.
Either way, it’s fun to try new things . . .
JL