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Jun 11, 2024
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Innovative seat moves with the rider’s leg movement to relieve pressure from the rider’s sit bones and make riding more comfortable.
Bicycle seats have been compared to date repellant, Medieval torture devices and a cheap form of birth control. They get about as much affection as a traffic jam. That’s because a saddle needs to support your rear end while still allowing your legs to move, which is about as easy as trying to put a pair of jeans through the laundry—while you’re wearing them.
Ataraxy BSC is a new U.K.-based company with a fresh idea on how a bike seat can function and just how comfortable a seat can be. They call the Ataraxy a “virtual axis bicycle seat.” What that means is that the seat, which is split into two halves, actually moves with the rider. The two halves slide backward and forward on an arc meant to conform to the rider’s hip movement when pedaling. According to the product description, the seat’s movement transfers the rider’s weight from their hind quarters to their legs.
Ataraxy means tranquility of mind, and this seat is meant to set the rider at ease.
The saddle’s movement is not its only unusual feature. The Ataraxy can be adjusted both fore and aft to give the rider proper saddle position and can be rotated to make sure it’s orientation is correct for the rider. All of this is integrated into a special seatpost due to how the seat slides on its rails. There’s no word yet on just which seatpost diameters will be available.
The seat can also be adjusted width-wise in order to make sure that the seat is neither too wide nor too narrow (a seat this is too narrow is usually a bigger issue than being too wide)
Ataraxy BSC displayed the Ataraxy seat at the 2024 Eurobike show, but it is not yet in production and ready for sale. The company is looking for investors to help them bring it to market.
Our big question about the Ataraxy seat is what kind of stress the saddle will place on the rider’s legs. They say that it transfers the rider’s weight from their sit bones to their femur, which is the big bone in your upper leg. If your femur is supporting your body weight, then you’re not sitting. And if you’re not sitting, then will this make pedaling feel like ongoing deep-knee bends? Perhaps not. We’ve reached out to request a test sample once it is in production and we will let you know once we know more.
Bottom line: It’s great to see so much creativity being applied to rider comfort.
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