Girlfriend saddle sore

Steelride

After building a bike up for the girfriend a few weeks ago she is complaining lots about soreness. We've put on a cheapish Selle Italia ladies seat and she's wearing Lusso padded shorts and has tried chamois cream. But, she's still uncomfortable and gets sore after an hour.

Any hints, tips or advice would be well appreciated. This is her first serious attempt at road cycling btw.

Steelride.

carl_p

Try dropping the saddle 1cm. Also check that the saddle is flat with a spirit level, whilst it might appear flat with the eye a small 5mm tilt can make a hell of a difference with regards to pressure on sensitive parts.

That's the advice would give a bloke, but not sure about the fairer sex. Worth a go.

Blonde

Right, here goes:

Firstly, please tell her to persevere with finding a good position and a saddle which does not give her pain rather than allowing herself to be put off cycling by it. She should not just put up with pain though. It has taken me five years to find the right saddle for me (don't tell her that though - it might put her off!). Exactly where the soreness is may matter. If she is sore right at the front it may be because she is reaching too far forwards or downwards to reach the handle bars which will put pressure on this front area. You could try raising the handlebars or shortening the stem if it seem this is the problem. This soreness at the very front can also be due to the saddle tilting too far downwards - you tend to slide down onto the front area if you have any saddle tilt at all - it really is best to have it completely level. If the soreness is directly underneath then I would strongly reccommend a saddle with a hole in the middle. Of course we are all differently shaped underneath but women basically have to sit on their genital area, whereas men's delicate bits are at the front not underneath so they are not actually in direct contact with the saddle. A holey saddle is definitely a good thing! She may also find that the cheap saddle is too soft - any kind of "gel" or heavily padded foam saddle will result in chafing and even trapping of soft tissue. It may be hard to persuade her that a harder saddle is in fact more comfortable for soft women's bits, but it is! I use an expensive leather "hammock" type saddle (no padding, no plastic shell, just a piece of leather with a hole in) called McWinn, selle-anatmica, and imported from the US. It's the only saddle that I have tried which doesn't make me bleed or remove my skin! However there are of course cheaper options that many other women do find good (I didn't though, and I tried many). The specialzed Jett is highly rated as are many of the Terry's women's saddles.

She should expect to have to try several saddles before she finds one that works, but some bike shops now do a loan service and you can always buy one then do exchange or sale on here if she doesn't get on with a particular saddle. If she is sore in the groin, (right at the top of thighs/knicker elastic area) then it may be because the saddle is too wide at that point (even if the sit bone area is the correct width).

I would reccommend she wears women's specific shorts. I'm afraid that I only wear assos women's shorts which are not not cheap. There are some other good makes that do women's specific shorts though - such as Giordana, Castelli and Scott. It really is worth buying a decent pair as she will be able to ride in comfort for longer and actually enjoy cycling! They should have good sweat wicking properties, (sweat rash and/or sensitive skin makes skin sore) and they should have a women specific pad which will be narrower, so more comfortable in the groin area (as it doesn't have to fit around male genitalia) and yet thicker at the front and directly underneath than a men's pad so it will better protect the most delicate bits.

Finally, tell her not to shave or use hair removing products on any area that actually contacts the saddle, as it could be making matters worse (skin sensitivity to soap, laundry detergent, sweat etc, as well as problems with ingrown hairs) and hair gives some protection from friction too!

crankycrank

Agree with the previous posts but also being a new roadie and riding for 1 hour before experiencing too much pain is better than expected IMO. It usually takes quite a bit of riding time to toughen up the bum.

Steelride

Thanks for the responses, extremely useful.

The girlfriend has been wearing long tights and knickers under the shorts which I don't think have helped. Was just thinking of the 3 layers rubbing against each other... would it be better to just wear the padded shorts on their own?

Thanks again.

andy_wrx

Yes indeed, that's how they're designed to be worn !
(mention VPL to your g/f, she's sure to understand )

If it's cold, she could either wear longs with a pad in them, or wear longs without a pad over the top of the shorts : two pads would be like wearing a nappy !

giant_man

Steelride wrote:

Thanks for the responses, extremely useful.

The girlfriend has been wearing long tights and knickers under the shorts which I don't think have helped. Was just thinking of the 3 layers rubbing against each other... would it be better to just wear the padded shorts on their own?

Thanks again.

Oh good grief no wonder the poor girl has been in pain, the insert is designed to take the place of underwear, chafing will occur if you try and wear anything else under the chamois.