Saddle heat - need new saddle

dru

Hi people,

Did a bike ride today, the longest so far at 150km (normally rides are 60-100km) without issue.

I had a problem regarding heat on the saddle and with my contact points. Basically the ride I did today was in the small chain ring and at riding over 20mph for the main part of it I was pedalling at 100-110rpm quite comfortably.

MY problem is normally I ride at a much lower cadence (av 80-85) and I think the speed at which I was pedalling caused too much heat build up on the saddle and then hence transfering to me.

I currently ride with a bog standard concept saddle from a focus cayo and up until now it's been comfortable but this shift in cadences means I might need a new saddle if I'm aiming to keep the cadence up.

Can anyone offer advice on what I should be looking for?

Is it material differences that I need to look at or is it those seats with the slots/cut outs (is that what there for?)

Any advise would be great.

Cheers,

Dru.

softlad

I thought I'd seen everything.......just goes to show how wrong you can be....

LazyLoki

The cut outs on some saddles are to prevent shortage of blood flow to your boys. There is a bit of argument over wether you actually need them or not though - Fizik for example don't use them.

As to your question on heat build up due to friction from higher cadence, I'd give chamois cream a go. Assos is a popular option.

dru

I use chamios butter cream or words to that effect already and added about the same as normal.

It was really weird, like I say, had nothing like this before and with the change to a lower cadence in the bigger ring it seemd to go away.

Also it was the first time after the ride I've got a heat ras everywhere!

Using the same saddle, shorts, chamious cream as previous without issue. It wasn't a particularly hot or sweat day either...

All in all a bit of a mystery!

Gazzaputt

See my post on Castelli Free shorts. Chamois has a temperature control.

amaferanga

If you're not used to such a high cadence you were probably bobbing around in the saddle causing the marks on your nether regions. I find it hard to believe that you got some huge build up of heat.

Heckler1974

Perhaps you accidently donned hot-pants?

FransJacques

This has less to do with your saddle and more to do with your position and riding style. No saddle is 100% comforble for 100% of the time but many tricks can help:

- you cant stay seated all the time, stand up a lot of the time to ease pressure points
- sore bums are mainly a complaint of leisure cyclists with upright bars. upright bars don't support much body weight meaning a greater proportion is on your bum. this burns over time
- easy riding puts more pressure on your bum since the act of pedaling hard transfers weight from saddle to feet. Try taking your best road bike on a leisurely shopping trip complete with backpack, lock, and riding really slowly. your bum will burn in no time on a racing saddle. soft pedalling leaves your soft tissue bearing more weight.
- some simple saddle tilt adjustment could transfer more weight to your sit bones. this is why Specilaized saddle are hard - they want the sit bones to support your weight - think of the spikes on the bottom of high quality hi-fi speakers as a parallel - point loading on bone, not soft tissue.
- also, look at your shorts? try the Santini Twist get short - they are the sh!t for longer distances.

Aggieboy

Try these......................................

thiscocks

Take a fire extiguisher on your rides incase the cadence really generates alot of heat