Instead of pimp I need to comfort my ride

PostieJohn

Well Wifey's actually.
The on going saga of her Cannondale R1000 Optimo being to painful/hard a ride is well documented.
Naturally now that she has exhausted all other opinions, namely spending £1500 on a lesser specced bike or £600 for a carbon frame, to swap over, we are left with what I originally said.

So can you good people recommend:-
A saddle - She currently has a fairly standard Fizik (I think) ladies saddle.

Comfortable bar tape.

Stem - Although this could be difficult as that is already carbon.

cougie

Saddle - everyone is different - but I know some girls like the adamo saddles.

Bar tape - can't see that doing much.

Stem - again can't see that one design would be comfier than another.

I'd have thought that position and tyre width and tyre pressure would be much more important than your last 2 points ?

justresting

re the tape I think decent gloves make more difference.

sam_m

I'd be tempted to try the fizik gel pads with their dual tape. I just put the gel inserts and regular tape on my bars as I have a lot of wrist trouble and so wanted to see if it'd cushion the ride a bit.

The pads aren't as comfy as I expected, so the thicker tape might help too. I use gloves as well, but they're fairly well worn.

dennisn

cougie wrote:

Saddle - everyone is different - but I know some girls like the adamo saddles.

Bar tape - can't see that doing much.

Stem - again can't see that one design would be comfier than another.

I'd have thought that position and tyre width and tyre pressure would be much more important than your last 2 points ?

+1..... I'm with "cougie"

Get her a well padded womens saddle - looks be damned - maybe one with a cuttout.
Wider tires - 700x25 maybe - less pressure
Bar tape - cork is good but like cougie says - "can't see it helping that much"

PostieJohn

I mentioned tape, because isn't there an 'underlay' (for want of a better term) to comfort the grip.

I'll reduce her tyre pressure, to what though?, I keep our bikes around 100psi, and her next set of tyres will be 25's instead of 23's.

It's just she has a great bike but isn't enjoying it as she should.
In fairness we went out in the week, and side by side she was shaking like Ric Waller in a pie shop.

thel33ter

A decent carbon seatpost can also make a huge amount of difference. Even my cheapy £16 one made the ride a lot smoother on my Trek.

gkerr4

for hard ride then forget about stem / bar tape etc - change the tyres!

25s or even 28s if they will fit - make a massive difference - I can't even put into words what a difference it makes!