Pain while riding.

alamb200

Hi,

Bit of a dodgy question to ask but I thought what the heck.

I ride a vintage Falcon racer to work and back, a distance of around 11 miles each way, and despite wearing padded shorts my family jewels and associated area ache and so i find myself constantly trying to get comforatable while biking.

I have tried 4 different seats without success and with my current one find myself pushing myself back onto the wider bit at the back to make it more comfortable.

Can any one offer any advice on type of seat, position of seat or even the old Sumo trick of sucking them back in?

Thanks for your help.

alamb200

ReesA

perhaps the frame size/saddle position is incorrect I would look at that next.

also simply riding more helps ... i was talking about this exact issue with a guy who did paris-brest-paris and he said simply riding a lot more made all the difference with his comfort level using exactly the same saddle/shorts combination.

Monty Dog

You may have already inflamed or 'bruised' your soft tissues and simply aren't leaving enough time for it to recover? You may need to adjust your saddle angle / position to ensure that the majority of weight is taken on the back of the saddle. If the bike is too big, then you may be 'pulling' yourself onto the nose of the saddle making the condition worse. Contrary to popular convention, 'soft' saddles are worse for causing inflammation because you sink into the saddle and therefore it is continually pressing on inflamed tissue - rely on the saddle shape to offer the right support and the padding in the shorts to do the rest.

racingcondor

It would be useful to know a couple more details -

1) Size of your current bike (frame size, stem length)
2) Your height and weight
3) Which saddles you have tried so far

As said, it could be the saddles but it is also possible that you have too much reach on your frame meaning you are either on the nose of the saddle the whole time or leaning forward a lot and putting pressure on soft tissue rather than your sit bones.

alamb200

I am 5' 10" and weigh 11 stone when wet. The seats I have tried all pretty much non branded ones (I am so tight when buying things) just different designs.

How do I measure my frame?

Monty Dog

Scroll down to 3.1 on the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_frame

alamb200

Got the tape measure out last night and from the center of the crank to where the seat post goes in is 58cm's and from the back of the seat post to the center of the steering post is 57 cm's

I also have my seat raised by around 15 cm;s.

alamb200

racingcondor wrote:

It would be useful to know a couple more details -
too much reach on your frame meaning you are either on the nose of the saddle the whole time or leaning forward a lot and putting pressure on soft tissue rather than your sit bones.

If I do have to much reach what can I do about it? Do I lower my seat height?

nwmlarge

is your stem inverted? you could turn it over and gain some height that might give you some relief

alamb200

nwmlarge wrote:

is your stem inverted?

Are you asking about the seat pole? If so it is straight.

nwmlarge

no i mean the bit that holds your handlebars on

bails87

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/fix/bikepart.htm might help.

Set the seat height for your leg length. Then start worrying about reach (saddle to handlbars).

alamb200

Sorry about the stem bit.

In this case my stem is the old fashioned one piece L shaped type.

Lowering the seat has helped but makes cyscling harder.

nwmlarge

try raising the stem.
pull it all the way out and then see what the minimum mark is and put that much back in