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

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Female-specific saddles are standard and sensible options. A useful bike-shop should be able to help.

It's also possible that some small (fore-aft/up-down) adjustment will sort it.

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Lots of useful information about saddles.

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

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Trial and error is pretty much the way to do it. If the unmentionable place is your bum rather than genitals, it's probably just the angle. If the opposite is true, you need a saddle with a dip in the middle, which are sold as "ladies' saddles" and will make your life greatly better.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

Some saddles are designed to be used in conjunction with a chamois and some are not. If you're only doing short rides, you want the sort that's not. They're usually wider and more padded.

The more padded a saddle is, the more often it will need replacing. It might just be that yours is at the end of its useful life.

A lot of people swear by Brooks, but I've never used one.

If the saddle is OK, you could try a suspended seatpost for less impact. Or even moving your handlebars down a bit (so you put more weight on your arms and less on your saddle).

But the short answer is to tinker around a bit and see what happens. Go for a ride around the park with a set of allen keys. :-

[venta.livejournal.com]

Aha. Thanks. Sounds like a ladies' saddle may be the way to go.

[pm215]

I have a Brooks, but I admit that this is in no small part because I like the retro effect of a leather saddle :-)

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

remove the saddle =;-)

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Sorry about your problems mate. I'm not a bike person so I can't comment. However if you are ever in the area and suffering from the problem then drop in and I'll be happy to rub some soothing ointment on the affected area.

[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.

[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

[pm215]

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

[venta.livejournal.com]

You are indeed a gentleman.

[venta.livejournal.com]

But the short answer is to tinker around a bit and see what happens. Go for a ride around the park with a set of allen keys.

But that's exactly what I was hoping to avoid! Yesterday I went from Donnington Bridge to Temple Cowley and back - hardly any great distance - and all seemed OK. This morning, however, bits of me are quite sore.

Any adjust-and-test cycle is going to be quite long and uncomfortable.

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

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

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm afraid that's the way of the world. I think that Specialized dealers will measure your pelvis and fit you for a saddle of the appropriate width, but there are no shortcuts.

Or you could buy some padded shorts.

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

My old saddle came off so I recently bought a new one. It's one of those fancy gel ones with holes others have told you to avoid, but it's working fine for me.The woman in Cycloanalysts didn't seem to think a ladies' cycle was particularly necessary or useful, and mine is a unisex one.

It took me a week or two to get used to sitting in a different posture to my previous one (slightly further forward), but it's actually better in that I now get pressure on the pedals all round the cycle. Also, as with any saddle, my bum got sore until it was used to it. I'm still not sure if the fancy gel had much of a point to it, but it's at least as comfortable as the old one which came with the bike, and also makes riding easier.

Brookes

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

I never got on very well with a Brookes saddle, but experiences differ. I use a Planet X superlight team saddle on both bikes and it's comfortable from the start. They do (or used to do) a shorter nose one which would probably fit the female anatomy better, but both models are narrow race-type ones.

Often the problem with chafing saddles is too much padding rather than not enough.

You're welcome to have a go with my old Brookes saddle to see if it works for you. It's a narrow style, which may be a problem... but worth a try.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Well, I always use my elbows. So I suppose I am.

Re: Brookes

[venta.livejournal.com]

This isn't a chafing problem - it's what the lovely Mr Sheldon Brown describes as "soft tissue" getting squodged between the saddle and some bones. He talks a lot about "sit bones", but if I've understood correctly where such things are, they're not the bones that are giving me trouble.

From reading his other comments, maybe I just need to get more used to mine (again) and adjust the height. If that doesn't solve the problem, I might take you up on the offer of a borrow, thanks.