V2k seat pad question/Ventisit/Ventilation

[RobertM]

A three (or maybe four) part question.

One. Can someone tell me if the seat pad in the attached photos is a Ventisit? I picked up a used V2k, and the previous owner said he had replaced the seat pad with one from Cruzbike, but it wasn't clear if it was a stock pad or a Ventisit.

Two. If it's not a Ventisit:
A. Do Ventisits work for ventilation? I'm enjoying this bike, but my back is soaked after every ride.
B. Assuming Ventisits do work, does the Ventisit pad in the Cruzbike on-line store fit the V2k seat?

Three. Does anyone have any experience with perforating the seatback on the V2k seat to improve ventilation?

Thanks, safe riding,
RobertM

 

[cpml123]

A three (or maybe four) part question.

One. Can someone tell me if the seat pad in the attached photos is a Ventisit? I picked up a used V2k, and the previous owner said he had replaced the seat pad with one from Cruzbike, but it wasn't clear if it was a stock pad or a Ventisit.

Two. If it's not a Ventisit:
A. Do Ventisits work for ventilation? I'm enjoying this bike, but my back is soaked after every ride.
B. Assuming Ventisits do work, does the Ventisit pad in the Cruzbike on-line store fit the V2k seat?

Three. Does anyone have any experience with perforating the seatback on the V2k seat to improve ventilation?

Thanks, safe riding,
RobertM

That's the stock pad. It doesn't vent well. :-(

 

[benphyr]

Hello @RobertM and welcome!

As @cpml123 mentioned that is the stock pad. It works reasonably but the ventisit pad is an improvement. I don't have one from Cruzbike so I don't know how many layers they stock but either thickness will be an improvement. If you purchase from Cruzbike the Ventisit S40 Q45 and T50 model is the one you want for the Y2K.


If you want to purchase it directly from Ventisit in NL then https://www.ventisit.nl/en/store/81x26-18-22-cm-Cruzbike-p104728368 is the exact same one with choice of thickness.


Nothing will be perfect because you are putting a significantly larger area of your back and bum on the back/seat rest than you would on a diamond frame bike on just a small portion of your bum. To my knowledge there is only one person who has perforated the seat on a Cruzbike and that was a carbon seat on a V20! It is not advised though the thought is good. With the standard seat pad it would be useless to perforate the seat pan because the pad is made up of two layers, ventilated open cell top layer and closed cell foam firm bottom layer that does not breath (is not meant to - its purpose is spreading forces).

It is relatively easy to crack the two piece aluminum seats at the bend near where the seat back meets the seat pan especially with a little abuse (trying to cold bend aluminum is not smart - ask me how I know though it took a couple years to crack after that). Your Y2K may be old enough that it is the slightly heavier gauge seat and therefore more resilient. But I would hesitate unless I had a spare seat available in which case I would go for it if I had any knowledge of structural strength to choose where to place holes with least concern. And it depends on how large of holes you are thinking - there are small holes for water bottle cages and such already.

Hope this helps,

Ben.

 

[RobertM]

Thanks for the extensive response, I appreciate it.

Current plan is start out with a Ventisit and see how it goes.
Assuming I can make decent estimates of the loads I'm pretty comfortable with structural analysis, so ventilating doesn't scare me over-much. Or, I might try and pull a mold off the existing seat this winter and make some fiberglass parts to experiment with regarding added ventilation. If I do, I'll report back.

Bob

 

[Gregory Carlsen]

To answer A - My personal experience is that the ventisit ventilates very well. I ride mostly in Southern California and wear a cycling jersey. In that climate, I do not notice my back being any more sweaty than the rest of me during or after a ride. I was told that the ventisits CruzBike sells are 3 cm thick. I'm sure you can confirm with an email to support@cruzbike.com

Greg

 

[ratz]

Ditto in Texas 102F and the Ventisit is just fine, meanwhile, I can soak the stock pad in 80F.

I prefer the thin pads from Ventisit directly over the thick ones myself.

 

[Bill Wightman]

I have had the same Ventisit pad on a V20 since 2018 in hot humid Houston weather and never sat up with a sweaty back. The pad is holding up fine with no apparent breakdown. I did add some very soft foam between the carbon seat and pad over the back area to attenuate rough road vibration. That works real well also. I think it is a thin pad.