…so has anyone ever tried one of these? http://www.hobsonseats.com
They have no nose, which would reduce the blood-flow issues for long rides, but I wonder if this seat would end up being too difficult to control the cycle from.
Personally, I think it would be hillarious to get the sheepkskin covers for the seat as well.
So any thoughts? I was looking at trying to make my own seat design specifically for long-distance riding, maybe basing it off one of these guys.
might work with a long handle, I can’t see those being comfortable unless you have the seat way down on a cruiser bike.
check out this thread
no nose means very little ability to steer without using your hands
actually, those seats are made specifically for sitting upright in, not leaning forward. They are made by an orthopedic company. I just wonder if it were to add in a slight curve to the seat whetehr it would work. I plan on trying to make a new design, you see…
I was also thinking about cupping the thing up the sides of the butt. Like a butt cup…
Variations on that seat type have been around forever. I even have a picture of an antique bike on display in a museum setting with a split seat kind of like that. The thing is, I never see these seats “out in the field.” Why is that?
Mostly I think they are geared toward casual riders, contrary to the marketing on the site. They’re good for people who don’t ride enough for their crotch and seat to “form an understanding” if you know what I mean. And, as mentioned above, are intended for an upright riding position.
Devil’s advocate:
I also almost never see unicycles “out in the field” unless I’ve arranged to meet them. I think a seat like that might work if you have a full handlebar setup, where you’re always holding onto some part of the bars. I know it wouldn’t be the right shape to work for me, but seat comfort is a very personal thing, and it may work for someone else. If you try one, let us know how it’s working out!
Seems to me that the fusion freeride is the most comfy setup, primarily due to the fact that there is less curvature in the middle. I think there needs to be at least some curve in the middle, and the shape is necessary for turning and so on. Maybe the next generation uni saddles with have even less curvature depth, and also have an improvement on foam type, density and different layers of foam to improve comfort even more.
I completely agree, from being an long time roadie the hard seats that most people think are uncomfortable are the best for long rides. I know that most stardard seats aren’t comfortable but nicer uni seats do the job. I sometimes think its better not to re-invent the wheel so to speak, however, I’d be at least willing to try it out.
Since I ride mostly MUni, and I’m up off the saddle quite a lot-and even more so for street and trials-there isn’t really an issue with saddle comfort. Seems the only type of riding where it would/could really have comfort issues, would be 36er or other long distance riding where you’d be in the saddle the majority of the time.
I also agree, I’ve ridden both giant heavily cushioned and small hard seats and I have to say hard ones are much more comfortable.
TWSS! 
Definitely the #1 place where saddle comfort is a concern is on any long ride. Doesn’t matter what the cycle type, it’s more about the # of hours riding. Even long MUni rides can be crotch killers, but usually less-so than a road ride for an equal amount of time.
But many road unicycles have handlebar setups that change the basic body position (pelvic angle) compared to other unicycle types, so seats that are good for road might not be as good for other unicycles.
– For long rides. For shorter, more casual rides the cushy saddle can be the better one, but then again, the ride isn’t so long so it’s not such a big deal.
But this is why the “mainstream” unicycle saddles on the market are usually middle-of-the-road types, or even too soft. Most riders don’t do the hardcore riding that a lot of us do.
I’ve thought about it too for a while. While doing the Round the Mountain Cycle challenge I get to talk to a lot of local cyclists (the ones that can be bothered riding slow). One guy told me about those seats and asked if it would work on a unicycle. He said he had prostate problems or something, and a normal bike seat was too painful for him to sit on, and he got a seat that is basicly a bar to sit on with the sit bones, similar to those seats but without the split perhaps. Definitely would be hard to control with no hands on the bars, but would be interesting to try for long rides. I’m yet to try out the bike seat T7 thing for any decent distance cos the bike seat I’ve got is about the worst ever design.
Yeah, I was just trying to think of a way to sit without butt issues. I understand completely the steering problems and I am pretty sure I actually found a way to fix them. As in, I am sure that if curvature were added to specific spots along the edge of the seat, it sould still allow for the full array of UPDs, but would still allow it to be turned. It might also be the case that to get the center of gravity on the center that the seat post might need to be bent such that there is perhaps a 120 degree angle formed by the post and the frame so that if you sit on your sit bones, you are not off balance–you would be offset just enough to have the balance not be an issue, but you could still ride in the standard unicycle position, sitting up straight.