the unicyclist's woe

Hey all,
I’m new here (also fairly new to unicycling.), and I was wondering, how do you deal with the discomfort of having all your weight on one very small area? I personally have an incredibly uncomfortable uni seat, and I find myself teribbly saddle sore at the end of the day. So, does anybody have any reccomendations for not-so-painful seats, or am I just doing it wrong?

Jess

A very well addressed subject topic. Check out this post, here. Gilby actualy posted some links out from that to a few others as well. This is deffinately a top 5 new rider question.

Good luck,

Christopher

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

Convert to an air-seat. See http://198.174.169.200/airseat/


David Weston
skylark2@sympatico.ca

From the pic on your site, it looks like you have lolipop bearings, which means bad unicycle (unless its a pashley). Bad unicycles have bad seats. Go to unicycle.com and order a Miyata, or at least a viscount! There is nothing that will make you stop riding your uni faster, than a junker of a saddle. My personal favorite is the old school semcycle seats, before they got cheap and started using the new type.
Welcome to the group! Hope to see more of your posts soon. By the way, we love progress reports. When you learn new skills, or pass any levels (officially or unofficially) let us know.
-David Kaplan

OOH, almost forgot- bike shorts!
I never ride without wearing gel-padded bike shorts. They are a life saver! Even the best saddle will bother you with out the shorts. For a relly good pair, they can take a nice chunk of cash, but they are worth every penny.
-David Kaplan

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

“unijess” <unijess.21y9y@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote
> Hey all,
> I find myself teribbly saddle sore at the end of the day. So, does
> anybody have any reccomendations for not-so-painful seats, or am I
just
> doing it wrong?

Someone mentioned making an air seat, something I have really got to try
some day. There are different types and qualities of unicycle saddles.
I had one on my first unicycle that was literally steel covered by a
1/4" piece of foam and topped with rubber. It was not quite your
average La-Z-Boy.

I removed the rubber (fairly easy, there were some clips on the bottom I
bent back, but yours may be different) and added a whole lot more foam.
This helped.

I notice you’re in Sidney, BC. Do you ever get out to Vancouver? A
bunch of us were planning to get together sometime in the spring and go
for a ride on the Sea Wall or something. Send me an e-mail if you’re
interested.

> why have a clock that says ‘tick-tock’ when you can have one that
> screams non-stop in arabic?

Hm. Really couldn’t say. My clock is so boring - it doesn’t even go
‘tick-tock’. It goes ‘tick’ every 20 seconds. Do you have one of them
Arabic clocks?

Cheers
Graham W. Boyes

I do have a pretty crappy unicycle, I got it for a gift so I didn’t have any say in what kind I wanted or anything. It was a surprise type thing, and my mom didn’t know what she was getting when she bought it. But as soon as I can afford it, I’m going to try to get a Miyata from unicycle.com. What kind do you recommend? 24 or 20 or 16 inch? Is there a huge difference? Thanks for the info.

Jess

PS - Graham, I haven’t been to Vancouver in a very long time, but if I’m planing on being in the area, I’ll definitely drop you a line, as far as unicycling goes the more the merrier! As for the clock, I only wish I had one of them things :wink:

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

Hey there,
What really worked for me was taking a gel seat from my unused bike and
ripping out the seam in the front of it with a thread ripper thingy and then
putting it on my unicycle seat with the front poking through, it’s worked
really well for me and I like it alot, very much alot I like.
Dustin
Zupancic

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

unijess <unijess.2242b@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in
news:unijess.2242b@timelimit.unicyclist.com:

>
>
> I do have a pretty crappy unicycle, I got it for a gift so I didn’t have
> any say in what kind I wanted or anything. It was a surprise type thing,
> and my mom didn’t know what she was getting when she bought it. But as
> soon as I can afford it, I’m going to try to get a Miyata from
> unicycle.com. What kind do you recommend? 24 or 20 or 16 inch? Is
> there a huge difference? Thanks for the info.
>

Jess,

David meant Miyata seat, which will be a HUGE improvement over what you
have. If you get a Miyata air seat, that will be an improvement over the
stock seat.

If you want a new unicycle, Miyata does make good ones. Once you know how
to ride, a 24 probably would be good. You can cover distance more easily
with a bigger wheel. There is definitely a noticeable difference between
a 20" and a 24". You’ll find yourself going quite a bit faster on the 24.

What your mom got you is fine for something to learn on. You can keep it
to teach others how to ride, if the occasion arises.

John

covering distance…
20" will be like you walking you there while getting sweatier (while learning)
24"/26" will be jogging speed/less sweat
36" Coker? Jeebus, that must be like a slow drive, isn’t it?

Hey Jess, My personal opinion is to get a semcycle. They are GREAT unis! I have 3 of those bad boys (2 20" xl and 1 24" XLW with the 2.6 gazz.) Anyway, my point is dont waste your $$$ on a Miyata. True, they are great unis ( and really great seats), but i think they are charge too much. Wheel size is up to you. Yours will probably last for a while, so here is what I reccomend:
Get a 24" semcycle (because you already have a 20")
Then, ride your 20" untill it starts to give you probs.
Once you feel you need a new 20" get a sem as well.
I hope you have a job, because unicycling becomes an expensive hobby (addiction). Last year about this time I had one semcycle XL 20" and my father’s 30 year old 24" POS, and now I am the proud Papa of 6 unicycles.
-David kaplan

Oh yea, I do think this unicycle (it’s a Norco, BTW) is good to learn on, but it’s super slow, and I have to pedal really hard to get somewhere. I would like to upgrade to a 24" Miyata or Semcycle, now I’m not sure which lol. I’m thinking I’ll go with a Semcycle, because it’s cheaper, and apparently good (thanks Dave)! I’m planning on using my current uni to teach my friends, and get a club started… wooo, wouldn’t that be great. Gawd, 6 unicycles, I’m really thinking I need to get a job soon, my allowance is definitely not going to cover this!

Jess

Yep, 6, but by far not the top owner of unis (see john foss’ garage page)
My father’s 24"Royce union- named grandpa
My 20" sem- The Taxi
My father’s 20" sem that he never used- The donor (I take parts from that when mine get busted)
My 36" coker- Bigfoot
My savage giraffe- Rob
My 24" sem XL Muni With gazz- Rambo
Not bad for a poor 17 year old who with the exception of 2 (the daddy ones) paid for them myself, not to mention my seemingly endless array of juggling props too. By the way, my 6 new Radical Fish should be here in a couple of days. Part-time job= Unicycles and juggling props :smiley:
-David Kaplan

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

“UniDak” <UniDak.23mxa@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:UniDak.23mxa@timelimit.unicyclist.com
> Not bad for a poor 17 year old who with the exception of 2 (the daddy
> ones) paid for them myself, not to mention my seemingly endless array of
> juggling props too. By the way, my 6 new Radical Fish should be here in
> a couple of days. Part-time job= Unicycles and juggling props :smiley:
> -David Kaplan

Just wait till you get a full time job, that’s when you can really get all
the toys.

mmmm new unicycle and more globalls (I finally learnt to juggle five so of
course I need them) are toys of the moment chez Joe.

Re: the unicyclist’s woe

“unijess” <unijess.2242b@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote
> What kind do you recommend? 24 or 20 or 16 inch?

Personally I like as large a wheel size as possible because I use a
unicycle primarily for transportation. 20 inch unicycles are great if
you’re doing tricks, want high manoeuvarouability (okay, I totally
spelled that wrong) and want something easy to control if you’re
juggling or whatever. (Of course, there’s nothing stopping me from
juggling on my Coker - just a little harder to keep hovering :slight_smile:

> PS - Graham, I haven’t been to Vancouver in a very long time, but if
I’m
> planing on being in the area, I’ll definitely drop you a line

Do :slight_smile: It would be SO cool to see like fifty folks on unicycles riding
down the Sea Wall. Not gonna happen, but maybe seven or eight guys
responded last time. (It was winter and we were rained out.) One of
the folks (can’t remember who) was thinking about getting media
coverage. THAT would have been even cooler…rotfl!

> As for the clock, I only wish I had one of them things :wink:

Let me know when you find one ;o)

Graham W. Boyes

Re: Re: the unicyclist’s woe

How bout this, I just bought 6 radical fish.
Still working on five. I can flash them about 90% of the time, but I have yet to qualify.
-David Kaplan

post

Well you could do what I did and make a air seat out of a 20" bike intertube, duct tape, and heavy cloth. I find that it works well and is good if your short on cash, I think I got the idea from Kris Holm, or somthing I saw on Unicycle.com, not sure. But you just need to get a inertube and fold it a few times, but not tight folds, and then place it on the seat, and cut out the thick cloth and start tapin at the front and back, and make sure to have the nozzle thingy in a position to get to it.