I think the Freeride is a pretty “safe” choice in the regard that if you have any of the “traditional” (a bit curved, and with a decent amount of cushion) saddles, you’ll probably find the Freeride equally or more comfortable.
I’d love to try the newest version of the stadium, the first version I really didn’t find comfortable - maybe part of it is setup, but I think if you change your riding position conciously you can simulate what it feels like at different tilts fairly well even in a short testride. I think if done right, and fitting your sitbones well, the slimmer and flatter saddles will outperform the “traditional” saddles in comfortability over long amounts of time.
(It’s something I really don’t like about UDC, they sometimes update their products but don’t really communicate it too well… )
The more I read about them, the stadium sounds the best. The description and reviews state that it’s skinny up front, mostly flat, and not crazy cushioned. That sound ideal. I just wish I could sit on it 1st. I may just bite the bullet and get it.
I only have experience with the club and stadium saddles, and I found that the stadium (I think the new version) let me go about twice as far without losing circulation. With the air saddle cover, that distance maybe doubled again.
I recently went 21 miles on my 36er with the Kris Holm T-bar, stadium saddle and air saddle cover. I think I’ve finally found the sweet spot where my weight is shifted back enough, because I had almost no pain at the end of that ride.
I don’t think I’ll ever ride on a club saddle for longer than I have to, because it was just so painful in my experience. Then again, I’ve never tried it with the handlebars, so who knows.
Well. I went the the lbs to try out a club because they carried those. I sat on one for a few minutes and it wasn’t very fun at all. However, amongst the few club things they had they had 1 Nimbus stadium. It almost seemed like a sign. It felt food enough so I grabbed it.
Now after riding it a few times I can say it’s a way better shape then the curved Qu-ax I had. No issues yet. It is a bit hard. So far no problem for me since I can’t actually ride long enough for it to be a problem but I can see what folks who ride for miles might not enjoy it after awhile. It seems adding the air saddle cover to it like @Spacenut mention could be a winning combo. Of course that would put the price above a freeride and possibly do the same thing.
All in al, I’ve solved the problem of squishing my sack and I’m happy with that.
Good choice. Since it’s on a muni, riding with one hand on the handle is probably not a problem, if not recommended. I like mine with the nose up, more than on your picture, and since I was too cheap to buy a new seatpost with longer adjustment holes, I just put 2 large washers between the seat post and the front of the saddle and it’s perfect.
The seat in my picture being compared to the stadium is the Qu-ax seat I was trying to replace. The club I tried at the bike shop was on a club unicycle. Visually it didn’t look much different. For some reason it hurt my perineum sitting on it for just a few minutes. It could’ve been the angle it was installed on. I’m usually fairly cheap and will put up with a lot to save a few bucks. I would’ve loved to spend only $40. But my introduction to the club seat just didn’t work for me for some reason. The stadium has the middle cut out length-wise and the cover just covers the hole. I wouldn’t think that’d feel much different but in this case, apparently it did…for my shape anyways.
Yes the angle of the saddle makes all the difference where the weight is going to be. If you look at the lowest point on the saddle when the uni is in the riding position, that is where the weight will be. The photo below shows about the position my uni is when riding. Note that the nose is quite high and the low point puts most of my weight on my sit bone on the wide part of the back of the saddle. That same saddle with the nose and back about the same height would be very bad.
