Stadium vs freeride

Unicycles and Equipment
#1

Ok. I’ve been reading a bit about saddles lately. It seems there’s lot’s of saddles that people like but the KH freeride seems to stick out the most for being people’s favorite saddle. I’ve been interested in the Nimbus stadium as it seems similar to the freeride but a bit cheaper.

I can’t find much direct comparisons in the search so does anyone have experience with both? Is it worth the extra $$$ for the freeride or is the stadium just as good?

For reference:
It’d be going on a 26” muni. I’m mostly on dirt roads and working my skills up for single track and longer muni rides. I need to replace the curved qu-ax seat that is killing me up front.

Thanks.

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#2

Everyone is different but I have a Freeride, Stadium and a UDC Club. The Freeride is on my 24", the Club is on my 36" and the Stadium is on a shelf in my shop.
The Freeride is fine but have not rode it more then about an hour at one time. The Stadium came on my new 36er and I’ve ride it about 1/4 mile before I took it off. I have did a 100 mile day on the Club with no padded shorts and with absolutely no problem.

I’d sell the Stadium for $50 plus shipping. The Club is available at UDC for $40.

#3

@JimT
Interesting. Did you not like the stadium? Or did you just know you liked the club already?

Where are you located?

#4

Also just looked at the club. It looks fairly flat with a gentle curve. I’m kinda looking for flat and padded. The hard thing about shopping for saddles is I can’t look at any in person.

Can you tell me what you like a out the club?

#5

The Club is flatter then some saddles, but not a flat as others. For me it fits fine.

I found the Stadium to hard and “boxy”. It is not as rounded as either the Freeride or Club.

I’m located in Washington State, USA

#6

Freeride and stadium are complete different for me. I used the newer freeride for distance and it is good for me. I had a stadium an it was to hard and angular, so i gave it away after using it a few hundred km.
I dont know the club.
More than freeride I like only the old nimbus gel or selfmade saddles.

#7

I have both the stadium and the quax saddles and don’t really like either one. The quax is nice, except it does tend to crush your junk. The stadium doesn’t do that, but it’s not a comfortable saddle to ride on for any length of time. After riding 30 minutes on it my crotch is both sore and numb. Between the two I much prefer the quax. When you sit on the quax right it doesn’t crush your balls, but there doesn’t seem to be any right way to sit on the stadium. Unfortunately however I find I don’t always sit on the quax right, so that’s going to end up getting replaced as well.

#8

Well shucks. I had high hopes for the stadium. Theres a bike shop in town that sells clubs. I guess I’ll go look at those seats. Otherwise it’s kind of luck of the draw to find a good one since there isn’t really anywhere to go try them out 1st. May have to bite the bullet and get a free ride. Mostly because they seem to have the most consistent reviews.

#9

Just because others don’t like it doesn’t mean that you won’t. Everybody is shaped differently.

#10

But it really seems like a lot of people don’t like the stadium.

#11

That’s what I’ve been reading too. I’m not looking to spend a lot just to try it out. I’m hoping to have a little more then that to go on and so far there hasn’t been any upvotes to the stadium.

#12

I think i’ve used the stadium, it came on a friend’s Nimbus and I really didn’t like it at all. The freeride saddle is great.

Also I hated the standard club saddle that my club came with.

#13

I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews of the Nimbus air saddle, mad4one handle saddle and the KH fusion saddle. None of those are cheap, but as they say, buy once, cry once.

#14

When reading other people’s reviews don’t forget that a lot of saddles go through different revisions, and it’s not always apparent which is which. For example, I believe there are three generations of the Stadium, each one with a different foam shape and density.

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#15

Interesting, the club is on your long distance uni… I always figured the club as a low end learning model. I figured I might want to upgrade to the freeride later once I get more skilled and spend more time in the saddle, but maybe not… I will say that comfort has not been a problem for my longer rides on the club saddle though. … distances up to 400m :stuck_out_tongue:

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#16

Stadium is a love-or-hate-me saddle, with a lot of people in the hate dept. It’s narrow and a bit angular - though they improved this a lot after a couple of versions. But I think the weirdest thing about it, is that it was designed for riding with at least one hand on the handle - and it’s great if you do so, as the handle is further away than any other saddle and act more as mini handle bar than just a bumper. Now if you love riding no hands, then it’s a very unpleasant experience with the Stadium.

#17

The club shares the same base and handle as other Nimbus saddles, so it’s pretty good even if it is considered the low end model. The only difference really is the cover and the foam.

I would be interested to try the Club, the Nimbus Freestyle, and the Naomi. They all look similar, but there are probably subtle differences that you can’t see in the pictures. I have an old Naomi on my trials uni and always thought that it was pretty comfortable. But I tend to like harder seats with thinner padding.

To me the Freeride is like sitting on a couch. You sink into it. It feels good on shorter rides, but for longer distances, all that extra squish means more contact between you and the seat, which means more chafing.

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#18

"To me the Freeride is like sitting on a couch. "

Like riding on the Maxell couch with Flight of the Valkyries playing. :sunglasses:

#19

Ha!

#20

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