Hold your balls out front while grabbing your crotch.
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First you need to get ahold of your balls and hold them out front while crotch grabbing.
Here’s a picture for you to visualize what I mean.
The second picture may help you decide what to do with your balls when not grabbing your crotch.
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+1 for Chamois butt’r singles in my CamelBak
a nonstarter for the hills of Kentucky unless you are doing the flatter RiverWalk portion of our loop. I wear 137s but 150s feel so good I buy 165s;)
Spent a bundle on my Louis Garneau CORSA bibs. Love em!
That’s what I am having installed on my new KH36G. My only other saddle experience has been with the Nimbus Gel (pretty good set up IMHO) on my Shadow on my Impulse so I’ll let you know how it goes.
GizmoDuck,
Please enlighten me as this seems to be the core issue for me with regard to being able to ride any significant distance on a uni. I can easily rotate my hips back on a bke saddle as the saddle is not able to move fore and aft nor does shifting my weight affect the balance of the bke. I cannot seem to find a way to get a substantial portion of my weight on my ischial tuberosities when riding a unicycle. I can see how using a handle could accomplish this and that may be the solution. Is there any way to sit on the “sit bones” without putting weight on a handle?
I found this contraption provided the same comfortable ride as a b*ke as a result of having more of my weight in front of the wheel center. It wasn’t the ultimate answer though.
Thanks for any help.
Take care,
Brent
I just measured a 2010 Nimbus, 2011 Fusion Freeride and a 2011 Fusion Street saddle. All 3 are almost identical in width (3 inches) at the narrowest point. Looking at the three saddles, the only significant difference was that the street saddle was 1/2" narrower at the rear of the saddle. I do LOVE the new KH saddles while the nimbus saddle hurts after a while. I attribute it to the padding and nice channel in the new KH’s.
for riding along, the width of the saddle at the rear, directly beneath or behind your sit bones, aren’t going to make a bit of difference. The middle width of the saddle is exactly the same. I haven’t seen the new Slim KH saddle, but the pics make it appear to be significantly slimmer in the middle. 1/2’’ maybe? intriguing… I use racing saddles on all my b*kes. As long as they’re slim and have some sit room, i’m happy.
in response to chamois butt’r vs body glide: body glide is a bit stickier. I like it for running, as I’m less likely to sweat it out, but for riding I prefer the slipperiness (sp?) of the Chamois Butt’r. It works great for knee pad chafing as well! slather it on thick and forget about it!
also as mentioned: saddle angle I found to be a HUGE deal. Messing with the saddle angle on the same saddle throughout a ride, it went from painful/unrideable to comfy and everywhere in between. Personally, I push the saddle all the way forward so I’m sitting on the back of the saddle. take a wrench with you on a ride and mess with your current saddle angle every once in a while. It was enlightening for me.
Oh yeah, Padded shorts! If all my padded shorts are dirty, I’ll go unpadded and spandexy under my “outer” shorts, but I hate to. It’s a noticeable difference in comfort. I find that pricepoint.com and Jensonusa.com have some awesome deals if you catch 'em right. I got my favorite Muni/B*ke shorts for $35 a pair from pricepoint.
like the clipless set up 
good eyes! I was just looking at his balls.
wait… 
I would love to hear what pedals he is using i LOVE my cranksbros
The Freeride, Street, and Slim saddle foam are trimmed as close as possible to the edge of the frame, so width is similar.
The thickness of foam at the bottom of the cutaway is similar (is minimal) for all models; the cutaway is deeper in the models with thicker foam.
The thickness of foam at the very front is similar between all models (as close as I can get it) - all become very thin at the front where you don’t want bulk. At the very back, the 2011 Street and Slim are the same thickness and the Freeride is very slightly thicker.
Here are foam thicknesses in the middle:
Freeride: 45 mm
Street: 25 mm
Slim: 15 mm
If the difference between the Slim and Street doesn’t sound like much in absolute terms, note that the Street has 1.7 times as thick foam as the Slim, and the Freeride has 3 times as thick foam as the Slim.
In terms of curvature, the Fusion, Street, and Slim have the least to most curvature, in that order, due to the change in foam thickness in the middle. However, in practice the difference is minimal because you sink into the Freeride foam more, and because the bottom of the cutaway is the same on all models. The Nimbus gel has the most curvature. Although I know there have been some comments against high curvature here, it’s worth noting that many riders do find higher curvature comfortable and good for control when turning. It really does come down to personal preference.
I completely agree that saddle angle has a huge effect on comfort - super important to experiment to get that right.
At the heart of the saddle is the frame. The current KH saddle frame is 10 mm wider than the old KH frame at the position of the sit bones (the old version being the one that’s still used on Impact and Koxx-One saddles). I find this noticeably more supportive than the old saddle, where my sit bones seemed to overhang the edges.
Lastly, for what it’s worth, here is what I use:
Fusion Slim: on my KH20, for trials
Fusion Street: on my KH36 for distance, and on my KH24 for technical DH.
Fusion Freeride: on my KH26 for All Mountain and XC riding. I also prefer the Freeride on my KH36 if I’m distance riding offroad.
Hopefully that info is useful. It’s a real challenge to come up with a range that fits the huge diversity of riders and riding styles in the sport, and that can reasonably be produced for our small market. However, the Nimbus Gel and the 3 Fusion saddles together make up a wide range of options and I think we’re starting to get closer to this goal.
Cheers,
Kris
KH Street saddle for MUni?
I just finished ordering a 26" Oracle and I was a little surprised / disappointed to find they were offering the KH Fusion Street instead of the Freeride (like they always have on their non-disc-brake MUni) as a $15 upgrade to the Nimbus Gel saddle. I think it has something to do with the red theme but I would rather get a black Freeride and spring for an extra ($19) red cover.
Does anyone actually prefer the Street over the Freeride for MUni? I love the Slim on my 36er for distance where I don’t leave my seat often. But, for MUni where I am standing on the pedals more often, I really had my heart set on a Freeride for the bumpy roots.
On thing i have notised is that my K1 trials saddle is better than my old torker dx saddle but not as good as my freeride
No you wouldn’t, because bikes are totally different to unicycles.
By similar reasoning, as high level bike saddles are so good (for biking), then all top unicyclists would install thin bike saddles on their unicycles.
Pretty much everything on a bike is different to a unicycle (cadence, posture, proportion of weight on seat etc), so it’s unlikely that a saddle good for one, will bear much resemblance to a saddle good for the other.
I like the KH Freeride, but I find the new style stretch cover is “sticky”, soaks up sweat, and bunches up in my crotch. I recently swapped out covers on my new KH Freeride, installing the older vinyl KH Freeride cover. I find the older vinyle cover t is far more comfortable, doesn’t bunch up, less sticky, and the side seams no longer rub me raw.
I shape the foam on my Freerides, taking the upper edges off of the waist, down about half thickness to the center relief channel, so it’s narrower where you sit and when the foam compresses at the waist, it’s quite a bit less bulk. Like Kris said, the seat foam compresses so the various foams are not all that different when compressed. Naplam used some balsa wood to create a flat seat, so you could do teh same by using minicell foam and building up your seat base in one area while cutting it down in another.
I do not ride in padded bike shorts, the bulk makes it uncomfortable, the uni seat is already so much more padded than a bike seat, more padding is an overkill. A few years back I started riding with bike shorts that had the padding removed, these worked okay, but the unprotected seams would chafe and the jewels had no place to go 
Then one day I was wandering the Tri sport section at REI and I happened on the Sugoi Turbo Jammer short. These are spandex shorts, unpadded, designed for swimming and running, with a “jewel” hammock sewn into the front. The hammock is kinda like a mini jock, but less restrictive, so it keeps the jewels up and forward slightly. I ride in the Turbo with an outer mtb short to protect the lycra from snags, using Chamois Butter or Glide to cut the friction.
http://www.sugoi.com/usa/sale/men/training/turbo-jammer.html
Most of the top unicyclists I know prefer thin low profile saddles…and that’s not just long distance riders. It includes Muni, street and flatland as well.
My posture on the unicycle is not that all that different to a bike when I’m going at speed.
Cadence- with a higher cadence, a lower profile reduces the likelihood of your thighs rubbing against the saddle.
Weight on the seat- your anatomy doesn’t change when you put more weight on the saddle. Unless you have a pelvic fracture, the ischial tuberosities don’t suddenly get wider when you sit on a unicycle!
I was wondering…
Since for cycling efficiency/comfort, you want your knee/leg angle to be not only at a certain angle, but also at a certain position relative to the ground/gravity(…if that doesnt make sense
Bikes can adjust fore-aft to change this, until the plumb-drop from the knee passes through the pedal spindle.)
When unicycling, it is hard to change this because we need to keep ourselves balanced over the wheel…
By using long handlebars, you can put some bodyweight forward, and your butt goes back, so you pedal in a closer position as in a conventional road bike.
If this is the case, has anyone tried building a ballast to a unicycle, so that you can lean your butt/body back and can actually be behind the unicycle/axle substantially? (maybe versus that awesome-looking chained design, or this recumbent design, which both throw your pedals forward instead of letting you throw your butt back. http://unicycling.com/garage/recumben.htm )
edit*, post#23 contains the picture.
The only thing that directly translates between bike fit, and unicycle fit is the idea that the rider needs to be balanced. In fact the KOPS (knee over pedal spindle) system of seat position/crank length is questionable and has been debunked for years. The most comprehensive analysis was done by Keith Bontrager.
The one thing that seems to make the most difference in efficiency on bikes is comfort. That changes based on rider flexibility, style, and the type of bike. Interestingly, the conclusion is the same: the rider needs to be in balance between the handlebar and seat. What this means is that if you want your handlebars more forward you have to compensate by moving the seat back. This keeps your balance center over your feet and reduces back problems, and wrist problems that occur due to unbalanced position.
So, in the end the riding position on the unicycle is a self fulfilling solution for the problem that bikes face. In order to ride you have to be in balance. If you have an aggressive handlebar position the frame tilts back until the rider is in balance.
Crank length comes down to style, preference, physical limitations, terrain, and a variety of other things. On a uni the guiding principles behind choosing crank length actually seem a bit more reasonable than KOPS. Short arms for faster spinning, long arms for more leverage…
Of course if you want to fit your unicycle so that when you are riding you have the same position as an italian bike racer circa 1960, then by all means use KOPS.
