Towards the end of last year I ordered a KH Velo saddle for
DW to give me for Christmas. I fitted it to the Coker when
we got home after Christmas, then I didn't ride it. Then I
didn't ride it a bit more.
The Coker usually only gets used for commuting once or twice
a week, if that. First a succession of colds meant I didn't
feel like the extra effort of yiking to work (added to which
I have to get up 20 minutes earlier to yike to work, which
is really hard to do in the winter). Later on, DW's advanced
state of pregnancy meant that I might have to get home
quickly, so I wanted the extra speed afforded by a second
wheel and a decent range of gears.
But now the baby's out, I'm feeling good, it was a lovely
morning, so I did it.
The first thing to become very obvious was how much deeper
the KH is than my old Viscount. I had about 3/4" less
seatpost showing than with the Viscount and it was only just
rideable. I stopped after 1/2 mile and lowered it by about
3mm, then it was perfect. (I wasn't wearing the same shoes
that I used with the Viscount, but if anything I think the
soles on the new shoes may be slightly thicker).
The next thing I noticed was the flex in the handle. It's
certainly more comfortable to hang onto than the front of
the Viscount, or the grab rail of my DM contoured, but a
little less flex would be nice.
When I dismounted, I discovered a problem that I may have to
do something about. The depth of the saddle makes it quite
uncomfortable to catch during a forward dismount. I think
I'll have to fit a handle. I stuck to rear dismounts after
that, but it's important to be able to grab the saddle
during a dismount either way.
Comfort was very impressive. I usually ride a recumbent
bike, but I bent it last week so I've been riding a wedgie
to work this week. My sit-bones are sore from what I used to
think of as quite a comfy saddle, but I'm no longer used to.
So I expected to feel sore sit-bones as soon as I mounted
the Coker. But instead, this was the first time that I've
yiked the 5.4 miles to work without feeling slightly sore by
the end (except perhaps for when I was using 5" cranks).
Unfortunately, the saddle also seemed to put pressure on
the urethra that I don't get with the Viscount. I had
the nose angled up as far as it would go, so I angled it
down slightly from there for the ride home. This
relieved the pressure on my urethra. There seemed then
to be more pressure on my sit-bones and inner thighs,
but that could well just have been because it was the
second ride of the day.
Finally, speed was better than I expected. I haven't ridden
a unicycle for 7 months (except for a bit of bouncing around
on the patio to entertain DD), so I expected a slow ride.
And my cadence *did* feel low. But I still managed a pretty
average speed for my Coker commute.
All in all, I'm quite happy with this seat.
--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my
reply address)
<url:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/> Why I like
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