How to buy a saddle?

bongofish

Would like to upgrade my saddle on my bike. Always wear padded tights but after about 15 miles my arse starts to really hurt especially around the 'gooch' area.

But how do I go about buying one as I'm guessing you can't try them all at a shop and would probably end up buying online. I have quiet a small arse. I weigh 77kg and I'm 6 foot 2.

Any recommendations would be great

manglier

Any Spesh store will sort you out with one of their offerings. The first thing they will do is measure your tuberosities (sit bones) to make sure that you get the correct fit, then you will be asked a few questions on the type of riding you do then they will make recommendations. They have a 30 day buyback scheme so that in the event of the saddle not being right they will simply buy it back. I went through 5 different saddle iterations before ending up with the one I have now.

cougie

Everyone is different so pointless advising.

Is your position ok ?

Have you done enough to get used to cycling ?

Have you got your backpack on ?

A charge spoon seems pretty ok for a lot of people and it's only cheap.

A bit of HTFU also comes into it. There's only one saddle I couldn't get on with in my cycling career. The rest were/are fine.

pippi_langsamer-2

Also PRO do a good range of saddles, all with 30 day try or return as per Spesh.

After a decade and a half on Arione, I've recently fiddled about with alternative sales and settled in the PRO Stealth

navrig2

Check your position and consider paying for someone to help set your bike up properly. A decent quality saddle will cost almost as much as a set up.

Wayne Plunger

Have you considered fishing?

bongofish

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Have you considered fishing?

People like you make this forum sh!t

cooldad

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Have you considered fishing?

At least the fish would be safe.

sam_anon

I'm super puzzled at how this forum seems to bring out the worst in people, or perhaps they're unhelpful and condasending all the time!

To the OP, as some helpful people have mentioned, you can have your sit bones measured, and some stores will let you try saddles before you buy. Good luck!

cooldad

Ahem, that's condescending.

Wayne Plunger

sam anon wrote:

I'm super puzzled at how this forum seems to bring out the worst in people, or perhaps they're unhelpful and condasending all the time!

If you take this post in isolation I would agree with you. I won't mention that you have spelt condescending incorrectly.

philbar72

as Manglier said. measure the sit bones and get a saddle that suits in terms of width and your riding style. it works out for me that one bike suits a romin and one a romin evo. both are the same width, but do the same job slightly differently. we are all very different!

keef66

If you've not been riding very long, don't rush into trying to buy a saddle that's instantly comfortable. There's a lot to be said for gradually increasing time in the saddle and toughening up your @rse. That and ensuring your position on the bike is sorted.

Once you've done that, if you're still in discomfort, consider what kind.

If it's perineal pressure / numbness, consider trying saddles with a cutout. I bought a used Spesh Power and really like it. Too narrow a saddle can also mean you're sitting on soft tissue you shouldn't be; get a Spesh dealer to sit you on their @rse-measuring device.

If it's painful sit-bones, a thicker / denser chamois pad can help, as can saddles with gel inserts. Avoid the temptation to think a larger, squishier saddle is bound to be more comfortable, because the reverse is often true.

rafletcher

Prologo also do a fitting service and 30 day trial.

riceaway

Saddles are personal and almost everyone has a different saddle that is comfortable to them. The rules though are relatively simple:

1. The saddle should not rub on the inside of your thighs as you're pedaling
2. The saddle should be wide enough and without any more bow than necessary to fit your sit bones
3. The padding has to fit your tastes.

I use a Prologo Scratch Saddle but it doesn't work for my younger brother. He uses those no padding at all carbon fiber saddles and he has to replace them fairly often since the beak regularly. Others use a wide variety of manufacturers such as San Marino or Selle Italia or others. Do not make the mistake of thinking that more padding equals more comfort. And you may have to go through a large number of saddles to discover the one that fits you.

k3vinjam3s

Have you tried a good chamois cream?

Alejandrosdog

HTFU and get used to it.

glenncz

How much riding experience do you have? If you are new and have done only a few 15 mile rides, then being sore is not unexpected, you'll probably get used to it. Years ago when my season was short (warm only) i got sore every year for about a week until it passed.

i would make sure your bike is set up. Probably most people have seat too low rather than too high. Make sure it is right position, forward/backwards. Is it level? You have to tinker and move it a little each ride until it feels right.

Not that I know anything, but my saddle was worn out, from thousands of miles, and I researched and picked the WTB Volt Pro Saddle. It made riding much more comfortable.

carnageasada

I think this will only be a recap of a few comments, but I too am looking for "the saddle" and have quite narrow sit bones and substantial numbing issues as well.

The two narrow options I'm down to are Selle Italia SLR Superflow and Selle SMP Stratos, both ~130mm max width. I need narrower seats as a wider seat distributes all my upper weight (I'm hovering around 190lbs) down on the sit bones into the seat and not distributed at all on what would be the area surrounding the perineal region. For me, this as "marketing" is rubbish (some claim seats are just seats?) because as soon as I got on the SMP the pressure that usually leads to numbness vanished, it was just down to feeling where to position on the seat based on my current attack on the bike. This was a revelation as between 15-30min at 20mph on-board, the rollers just had me numb and shifting constantly in the saddle, I thought I was screwed. I only used the marketing word cause I've heard claim that a cut out might be a gimmick, perhaps for folks weighing 140lbs? Not me, having to walk off 30 min of riding to get my feeling back at the age of 40 gets very concerning... As for a narrow seat working better, it has to get kind of up in there but be supported by bone up in your hip area other than the perineal soft tissues, else all pressure is always on your sit bones, which can be made worse by any hip rotation putting power down, does this make sense?

The two models I'm testing, which I pray will work for me, have the most substantial cut-outs I've seen on racing saddles under 140mm wide, unless someone has other ideas...? Getting my sit bones accustom to any saddle now is going to require gritting and bearing it a bit as it's been a while since I've spent a lot of time in the saddle, but less the numbness, bring it on!

Hope this help as many have said, saddle are so subjective but soooooo important for obvious reasons, good luck!

Tim F

If it helps, companies like Selle Italia do some cheap saddles so you can play around with shapes.

I'm with the guys here, try the saddle for a while and adjust for tilt. I always use a spirit level to level the saddle. I had a WTB that was sloping forward a little, it felt like I was about to fall off each time and wasn't comfortable, with a few degrees change it was much better.

Another obvious point is padded cycling shorts can help a lot if you can't get comfortable.

You don't always have to go super cut out either, WTB silverado is very comfortable to me.

figbat

RiceAway wrote:

3. The padding has to fit your tastes.

I genuinely misread that as “testes”. Perhaps that is point number 4.

My LBS measured my sit bones and flexibility before recommending a saddle. The saddle suits me OK but was initially fitted a few mm too high by the LBS who said they had fitted it exactly as the previous saddle was - this induced tendinitis behind my knee; lowering the saddle about 5mm cured this, but not before I had to take a few weeks off the bike.