On a hillside desolate

[venta]

Advice wanted from the bicycle-aware, please...

Firstly, let's get one thing clear. I am not a cyclist. I do not cycle. I am a person who owns a bike who and sometimes uses it to get from A to B. Typically A and B are both within Oxford, and not terribly far away from each other.

My bike is a nice, sensible affair with six gears and straight handlebars. I mostly like it. However, I do have one serious issue with it.

The saddle. When I hop on my bike, it all seems fine. But after more than about ten minutes of riding the saddle has become quite uncomfortable. A few months ago, I cycled out to Nuneham Courtney[*] (about 5 miles) and back, and the net result was bruises in unmentionable places.

My saddle doesn't appear to be the sort that would have this effect - it's quite broad, and quite padded. I have no idea whether the problem is the saddle itself, or something more subtle like the angle at which I have it fixed.

I have no idea how to fix this probem. Adjust saddle, ride for 15 minutes, check for bruises, wait two days, repeat - it's not an appealing process. Similarly with buying a new saddle. How will I tell whether a saddle which a shop offers me will be comfortable not only in the shop, but several miles down the road ?

Presumably finding a comfortable saddle is a well-known problem, so hopefully there is a well-known solution.

[*] Which, I might add, is pretty much entirely uphill from my house. Which surprised me in the woefully flat county of Oxfordshire. My journey back was an order of magnitude quicker than my journey there.

Comments

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Lots of useful information about saddles.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

Sheldon Brown will have the best advice you can get.

Speaking as someone who just got through the door after cycling 205km round the Cotswolds, I'd recommend a Brooks Leather one (they have them in a specific ladies shape, though not all ladies use it). When you first take it out, you may find it rather hard, but to paraphrase htfb, eventually, your arse moulds itself to the shape of the saddle.

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

PS That's 205km on a Brompton with a Brooks, so probably more like your setup than a racing bike.

[pm215]

*applause* (how many gears on your Brompton?)

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Twelve gears, but only eight of them currently working. So not quite a normal Brompton :-)

[mr_magicfingers]

This young man speaks a great deal of sense, I second his recommendation. Don´t bother with fancy gel/moulded/sectioned/holes crap, buy a brookes, ride it and it will be the only saddle you ever need, pretty much for the rest of your life. It took me years to get to this stage, I talked to Sheldon about it before he passed away. This is all you ever need to know about saddles really, buy a brookes.

Hugs. x