Miyata Carbon Fiber Airseat Conversion

Strengths

The carbon fiber seat base is rigid so it doesn't flex like the original plastic one. This means you don't loose any lift when you pull up on the front bumper while hopping and jumping. It also means the seat is much stronger and the chances of it breaking are very very slim.

The expanded cover allows for much more padding making the seat extremely comfotable.

Weaknesses

The cost of building such a seat is fairly astronomical. It's well worth it though!

Overall

If you ride for any length of time you'll know that unicycle seats are, quite literally, a pain in the arse. The replacement Miyata style seat cover allows you plenty room to fill up the seat with your choice of padding. I went for a 12" inner tube followed by the original layer of foam from a Miyata seat then a slab of gel from a bicycle gel seat cover. An alternative is to use a 20" inner tube stuffed inside an air pillow availible from Unicycle Source US.

The rigidity of the seat base granted by the carbon fiber is great. I only really noticed the difference it made when I had to stick a standard Miyata seat on my MUni but, lets just say, the difference was very noticeable.

If you want the details of how to convert a standard Miyata seat in to an air seat see Rick Bissell's excellent Miyata Air Seat for Dummies page (note this only applies to the old style Miyata seats and not the new cheapo versions that started appearing in 2002).