Seat Angle Adjustment- why is it even needed???

[Nurse Ben]

At a standstill on flat ground, your body will balance on the unicycle best in a neutral position, which is when the frame is perpendicular to the ground, so adjusting the seat angle relative to the frame will help you achieve your individual neutral position based on where you seat on the seat, how your posture/body type weights the seat, and the terrain your ride.

I have adjustable seat posts on all my unis, and through trial and error I have adjusted my seat angles to positions that are most comfortable, ie minimal taint pressure, comfortable jewels, moderate pressure on my sit bones, and ease of movement on the saddle.

Now if you want to say it doesn't matter, that's all fine and good, and maybe the lot of us are princess and the pea types, but I can tell a big difference when I'm setting up a new seat.

My XC unis tend used to be set up flatter than my DH unis, which makes sence based on terrain choice, but over time that difference has become less and less, so now all of my unis are set up so that the butt pad portion of the seat is perpendicular to the frame.

I think Mike's pics tell the story, good posture and good balance go hand in hand, so adjusting the seat helps the rider individualize the uni for better balance.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by ImFalling

Yes. But given that seats are all curved, moving the seat forward/backwards means changing the angle between the nose and the pressure point. Its just semantics.

That is something that I try to change in my modifications or custom seats. They should be flat.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

I think Mike's pics tell the story, good posture and good balance go hand in hand, so adjusting the seat helps the rider individualize the uni for better balance.

In my #14 post, I see what Mike and Harper are getting at, but the effect you get from tilting the seat is the same as adjusting the seat forward and backward (horizontally).

If you got rid of the curvature of the seat, and any hardware related to angle adjustment, you save weight and reduce redundant seat height (important for short people).

Having forward/backward seat adjustment is less complex than angle adjustment.

[jbtilley]

Interesting read. I look forward to the Various Crank Arm Lengths - why are they needed??? thread.

[Nurse Ben]

Having forward/backward seat adjustment is less complex than angle adjustment.

Yes, that would be a nice option, just like a bike. You have some fore/aft positioning on the fixed posts, but still not enough.

If you got rid of the curvature of the seat, and any hardware related to angle adjustment, you save weight and reduce redundant seat height (important for short people).

I have a stack of minicell foam cut ups where I mocked some seat designs, but after a bunch of tries I could not get close to the comfort of the KH Freeride. I think the movement of the pelvis on a unicycle seat is significantly different than on a bicycle seat, so flat might not be all that great.

I'd like to have a seat with a narrower waist.

[Klaas Bil]

I agree with ImFalling. Given that a typical uni seat is curved, what you do when tilting the seat up and down is moving your sitting location back and forth. And since - again - a typical uni seat is narrower in the middle, a bit wider in the front and a bit more wider in the back, you can find a spot where you sit most comfortably. I found for myself that I sit most comfortably on a location a bit back from the middle (more 'flesh' to support my weight), while my thighs move around the narrowest part of the seat, where there is minimum rubbing and chafing. On a standard non-adjustable seat the narrowest part is approximately the lowest, and hence where you sit. That means that I tilt my seats a little bit nose-up compared to non-adjustable seats, but not nearly as much as some other riders.

One can argue that Ken's original questions could really be asked for a 'hypothetical' seat (curved or not) that has the same width everywhere. For real-life uni seats, I think there sure is an effect of tilting (beyond just tilting the frame in compensation).

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by Klaas Bil

I agree with ImFalling. Given that a typical uni seat is curved, what you do when tilting the seat up and down is moving your sitting location back and forth. And since - again - a typical uni seat is narrower in the middle, a bit wider in the front and a bit more wider in the back, you can find a spot where you sit most comfortably. I found for myself that I sit most comfortably on a location a bit back from the middle (more 'flesh' to support my weight), while my thighs move around the narrowest part of the seat, where there is minimum rubbing and chafing. On a standard non-adjustable seat the narrowest part is approximately the lowest, and hence where you sit. That means that I tilt my seats a little bit nose-up compared to non-adjustable seats, but not nearly as much as some other riders.

One can argue that Ken's original questions could really be asked for a 'hypothetical' seat (curved or not) that has the same width everywhere. For real-life uni seats, I think there sure is an effect of tilting (beyond just tilting the frame in compensation).

Yes, that is the other issue. Seat angle adjustment doesn't necessarily translate to seat angle adjustment; it translates to which part of the saddle you end up sitting on, because of saddle curvature.

The whole point of a seat that widens out at the back is because that is where the weight should be supported (ie the 'sit bones' or ischial tuberosities of the pelvis).

How many people actually plant their weight on the widest part of the saddle? What is intended to happen isn't what happens in reality.

[knoxuni]

I have mine set up now were my weight or butt bones are on the widest part of the seat.

[Zzagg]

Originally Posted by tholub

Did you do anything to test this hypothesis, like tilting your seat all the way up and all the way down to see if it feels any different?

It does.

This statement is true and therefor should have made a point.
When asking about the effects of a change in whatever setting, it's always usefull to try and imagine the extremes of the range of this setting.
I couldn't ride a unicycle while seating on a full up tilted seat, same goes for a full down tilted seat.