advice for a comfortable seat

james_uk

hi, i have recently bought a bike, gt avalanche 1.0 (2011), the seat is very thin and not that comfortable.

i have also recently had surgery on my lower back and would like to replace the seat with something thats comfortable.

i have been looking on sites and have looked at loads, there seem to be a good few around the £25 - £40 price range that are gel as well as have suspension systems, are these good?

and would a thick / big seat look silly on my bike or fine depending on the brand / style?

can anyone help?

james

benpinnick

Saddle comfort isn normally down to padding, but shape. I'd avoid padded or sprung saddles and try a firm one in a different shape. Personally I like the chart spoon.

rob0070

Bioflex Carbon seat is quite outstanding. Light and extremely comfortable, and only £32, much better than my fizik saddle.
Avoid saddles with gimmicky slots and grooves, they just present additional edges that rub. Good luck !!

El zilcho

Basically what they've said. Over any kind of distance a firm saddle will be much more comfortable. Basically your weight should be on your sit-bones; soft saddle bunch up and compress your barse. Also bear in mind that on a mountain bike a big saddle will get in the way when you try to shift your weight around. As someone who has the hips of a latina dancer I find WTB to be very comfortable.

cooldad

benpinnick wrote:

Saddle comfort isn normally down to padding, but shape. I'd avoid padded or sprung saddles and try a firm one in a different shape. Personally I like the chart spoon.

That would be Charge but seconded.

sparky.2002

Charge spoon thirded. Had it on my bike for about 300 miles now out of the 2000 done. Don't even realise it's there, best purchase I have ever made by far.

angry_bird

One that fits you ideally. Charge spoon is popular and well priced, personally I like SDG bel airs, have them on all my bikes now. Fizik Gobi is meant to be quite comfortable but will be towards the higher end if not out of price range.

stubs

I would reccomend the longer saddle for comfort. When you get cracker pain you can scooch forwards or backwards to find a different position to let the blood flow. On-One Big nose or On-One Retard are good value at the moment £19.99 each.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/saddles

monkey_man_1

another vote for the spoon. picked mine up for £15 delivered brand new and it is very comfy

phil_pompey

And another for the Charge Spoon.

I used to swear by the old selle italia X0. But not anymore. Even with my lard arse and heavy weight the Charge is the best £20 i've ever spent on a bike.

101_North

+another for the Charge Spoon. Previously had an SDG Bel Air which I loved but it was getting pretty knackered so I picked up a Spoon. Fantastic value and very, very comfortable. Certainly on a par with the Bel Air for much less cash.

101

handful

Bearing in mind the advice above, I have a Charge Spoon and SDG Bel Air that both just don't seem to fit my @rse well, particularly the SDG. If you want to swap for either of these I would gladly do so (assuming you have a WTB Speed V) because I used to have an Avalanche and really liked that saddle. PM me if interested, both of mine are in good nick.

GTADz

I've just bought a couple of Charge Spoons. Only had my Kraken bike a week and the seats horrid so replacing with one of these, bought one for my brothers bike too!

mountaingoatimnot

Guess what ? - another vote for the Charge Spoon, although i got the Madison Flux equivalent. It replaced a Carrera saddle that was more like a razor, and as an occassional rider it made a huge difference to ride comfort. At £15.01 delivered it was a bargain..

http://s383075164.e-shop.info/shop/arti ... 886.001%26

hard-rider

I tried a Charge spoon because of all the good reports it get but I didn't get on with it very well. It's strange because some rides I don't notice the seat at all but other times it kills me to the point I just can't sit on it any more. Yesterday I went to the lbs who has Specialized test saddles so got myself measured and picked up a Specialized Phenom test saddle to try out and will see how that goes. My measurement came up that I require a 130mm width saddle so perhaps that is why the spoon isn't fitting so well as I believe it's quite a bit wider.

Saddles will fit different people differently so you really need to try rather to be sure it works for you. Recommendations can only guide you with where to start really.

YeehaaMcgee

Kind of pointless asking others what saddle to buy. It would be like buying clothes because they fit another person.
Unless you get a specialized body geometry saddle measured to you, it's a bit of a minefield, ultimately.

stubs

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Kind of pointless asking others what saddle to buy. It would be like buying clothes because they fit another person.
Unless you get a specialized body geometry saddle measured to you, it's a bit of a minefield, ultimately.

This with knobs on