Saddle positioning

nicensleazy
nicensleazy Posts: 2,310
edited January 2009 in The bottom bracket
I was talking to a guy today who builds road bikes and sets them up for customers etc. He mentioned about combating saddle numbness, tilt the front end down approximately 2mm which should help. Anyone heard the same?

Comments

  • synchronicity
    synchronicity Posts: 1,415
    That usually causes more numbness as your crotch ends up riding on the nose.
    vertebr.ae | precision braking & shifting
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    synchronicity wrote:
    That usually causes more numbness as your crotch ends up riding on the nose.

    +1 on that. The object of having a saddle on a bike is to be able to SIT on it and have it support the great majority of your body weight. If the saddle is tilted forward you will generally slide forward and end up supporting a whole lot of your weight with your arms,
    just to keep you on the seat. Very tiring as apposed to actually sitting on the saddle. Most
    riders that I know keep the seat nose tilted up a bit, as compared to the rear. This allows the body to SIT on the saddle instead of sliding off it. As for numbness, I feel that saddles with cut-outs and the so called "sit bone" ones do a fairly good job of easing numbness problems but are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Also saddles are a very personal thing and kind of a constant experiment as to what suits you best.

    Dennis Noward
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    depends on the saladle i think...


    Mine has a nose slightly larger than the bulk of the saddle, if i set it dead level it presses into my perinieum (sp) and causes a lot of numbness. So i set it ever so slightly down (0.5-1mm) it feels a lot better...
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Just get out of the saddle more :wink:
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,473
    You've got to experiment and find what works for you and for the saddle. Personally I sort of agree with the original advice, as long as the downward slant is ever, ever so slight. Also, if the saddle tilts up at the back as many do, what is flat? I have my toupe (which has a slight upward slant at the back) set so that the front part is dead level but the rear part is slightly sloping. It seems to me that it is designed to work that way, and set like this there is no tendency to slide forward (as there would be if it was really sloping down). The test is whether you are able to ride in an aero position on the hoods, i.e. with elbows bent and hands just resting gently on the hoods, without feeling like you are going to slip forwards. To my mind there is a perfect angle for the saddle that achieves this while also minimising any pressure from the front part of the saddle on the perineum.
  • alan_sherman
    alan_sherman Posts: 1,157
    I'd say it depends on the shape of your undercarriage too!

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