Hey gang!
I need to know what is the proper saddle height for street riding verus muni.
The stock Coker I have has 3 seat size: short(4inches), medium(8inches), and long(12inches). From the beginning I used the short cause of the shear size of the Coker. But today I switched to the medium length and noticed few things:
-It is now heck ALOT difficult to static mount(had to use wall to mount)
-My cadence/spin was MUCH smoother, resulting in faster rpm and speed(think I can actually do 15mph now!)
-When my foot is on the 6-oclock position, my leg is almost straight. Is this a good thing?
I usually mount on aspalt/concrete road but today for the first time tried static mount on gravel/sandy horse-trail. To my dismay, I could not static mount AT ALL!
When I jump to mount the uni, it would be moving away from me. The wheel kept moving forward or sideways! Grrrrrr!! 
I practice daily so I can muni someday, and this was quite a setback knowing I cannot static mount while muni on some trail. I would have to look for the nearest tree or ask a hiker so I can mount my Coker(strange picture there 
Should I SHORTEN my saddle height when muni and LENGTHEN it when I ride on the streets?
Thanks!
Genreally, yes. For max speed i think you want your legs almost straight at the 6 oclock position. For Muni you need to be able to stand off the saddle, either just slightly (to negotiate rough ground) or alot if you’re going to actually hop over stuff on it. Obviously your speed will suffer slightly frm this lower saddle position, but that’s the deal.
Dave
For long road rides you want the saddle up higher. It’s much easier on the knees. Doing a lot of long road rides with the saddle too low could cause you some knee ligament pain or tendinitis pain.
For road rides I put the saddle up so that my legs are almost straight at the low 6 o’clock position. Put your heels on the pedals. Hang on to a wall for support. Pedal a full revolution. Your legs should be almost straight at the 6 o’clock position without you needing to rock your hips. If your hips are rocking then the seat is too high. Then when you pedal normally the ball of your foot will be over the pedal and your legs will have the proper slight bend in them. That’s basically the same way you determine the proper seat height for a bicycle.
For muni you lower it a little bit so you don’t get bounced off the saddle and so you can levitate over the saddle when it gets bumpy. But mind the knees. Lowering the saddle is harder on the knees.
You’ll get the hang of mounting with the seat in the higher position. You just have to jump a little higher. Learning the rolling mount (where you take a couple of steps before jumping up to the pedals) will help. Doing a jump mount is also an option.
yes, but make sure the saddle is not too high on the jump mount. otherwise you’ll land groin on to the saddle while your feet can’t reach the pedals. ouch.
Great advice from John Childs (as usual). I will add a bit of experience from my years of big-wheeling. Before I had a Coker I had a hard-tire, 45" wheel. I could ride it with the seat up pretty high, which was great for long distance. But since the tire has no “give” in it, even little bumps (like running over a 3/4" diameter rock you didn’t notice) will bounce you upward if you’re not ready. I’ve been taken down by a 3/4" rock if I hit it with my feet at the 6 & 12 o’clock positions. Ouch. So I always kept my big wheel’s seat a tad lower than I would on another uni.
On my Coker, because the tire will absorb that 3/4" rock much better, I don’t have the same need to lower the seat. But I still keep it a tad lower than I would on a smaller wheel. This is because of the higher height, and higher speed, of that cycle.
My Coker commute to work includes several stretches of dirt. I take it easy on those, as my seat is relatively high for those sections. Mostly what I notice is my cranks being too short for the dirt. But yes, optimally your seat should be at least an inch or so lower for riding on dirt.
Then just practice. If you’re mounting with your pedals anywhere other than vertical, you should have plenty of leg extension to make the mount. Even a suicide mount!
great ideas
Thanks for those ideas.
I have tried the rolling mount before but favor the static mount because it was more ‘controlled.’ The problem I am having with static mount now is; I don’t have enough momentum to get past the ‘peak’ on my Coker. So guess I will have to try rolling mount again.
One other side note; I have trouble mounting after riding few miles and/or after UPD. It takes me about 5-7times to mount again, so I tried yelling to myself “Come on! Do it! Let’s go! LET’S GO!!” And this worked!
I had psyched/pumped myself.
Is this what some unicyclist mean by “just go for it”?
Thanks for all the great advices!
If you want another workable alternative to the rolling mount on to a coker with the seat set high a suggest the use of a “helping hand”.
It IS possible to static mount a coker by grabbing the wheel with your hand forward of the frame and then using both your legs and the hand to help you mount. Your hand is there mainly to prevent the wheel from rotating while you step up into position. It means you can apply more force with your legs without having to worry about the extra force rotating the wheel back into a dead position.
I hope that explanation makes sense.