Saddle and Padded pants

monty270311

Hi,

I'm looking to increase my daily mileage for fitness and in order to do a charity event later in the year. At the moment, I can't do more than 45 - 60 min on the bike before it gets to uncomfortable to continue. I had the bike setup for me buy Cyclesurgery when I bought it, but have been told that a new saddle and padded pants is the way to go if I want to increase comfort.

So the question is: do I spend more on the saddle or on the padded pants? Seeing that some of the Specialized gel saddles cost around £50 and a pair of Assos bib shorts £120. Also, I know that Specialized provide a Body Geometry fit service, is this something worth looking into?

Any ideas or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

cmh15

I paid £45 for a pair of gore padded bib shorts. No need to pay assos prices IMO. No experience of geo fit.

apreading

The trouble with this is that it is different for everyone. Unless you get a proper specialized saddle fitting (which costs money) then getting a new saddle is a very random process and for many people involves alot of trial and error. But I think even with the specialized fitting, you wont necessarily get it right first time - merely increase your chances. You may also find that they tell you the saddle you need costs even more than that!

When I bought my Giant bike, I found 20 miles was all I could do until the pain became unbearable.

I bought 2 or 3 saddles until I got a Charge Spoon for about £15 and found that I could then comfortably ride for 50-60 miles and thought I had found the perfect solution.

Then I bought a Boardman bike and the basic saddle that came on it is even better than the Charge Spoon, yet many people seem to throw them away immediately and go for something expensive.

If I were spending alot of money on a saddle, I think I would pay for a proper fitting. But I bought a few cheap (new & second hand) and in total spent arount £50 to get something that worked for me.

Dont spend too little on padding - I got some Endura (I think) padded underwear but the padding is only noticable for the first 20 minutes of riding (when you dont need it) then it is compressed so much that it isnt really there anymore, when you do need it.

You can get some very good & cheap padded shorts - I bought Some Altura Ergofit ones for £30 (reduced from something like £70) that are about 80% as good as my Castelli ones that cost over £100 (but are amazing). I also have some from Decathlon that were about £20 in the sale (down from around £50) which are pretty good too. DHB shorts on wiggle.com are very good value for money too.

Wacky Racer

Personally, I would address the padded shorts first, this is more likely to make the biggest difference. You definitely do not need to spend big on Assos, there are a number of manufacturers that make a great product for less money. Wiggle carry their own brand which gets good reviews. I wear Santini bib shorts which I find extremely comfortable and I always manage to get them in the sale. Shop around for some all day bib shorts, there are some very good buys to be had from last years ranges. Wiggle, Chain Reaction Cycles, Ribble, and many other sites have good discounts.

Once you have addressed the shorts you'll know whether the saddle you have works for you. Saddles are very personal things, one mans razorblade is another mans armchair. Many bike shops offer test saddles so you don't waste a whole heap of money trying to find the best for you.