Saddle sores.

horatio1965

For the past few months, I've been suffering badly from saddle sores and it's really restricted my time on my bike as well as being incredibly painful and sore. I've had a bike fit, saddle fit, bought quality (Castelli) shorts, use chamois cream, had time off my bike, been given anti-biotic tablets and also anti-biotic cream, shower as soon as I can after a ride but they keep happening and I'm at a loss as to what to do next to stop them re-occurring. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

seanoconn

What saddle are you using?

seanoconn

Your size, weight? What tyre width are you using? Sit bone width if known? What tyre pressure are you running? Do you have a set back seatpost? What kind of riding are you doing? Where abouts is it sore?

emanresu

Is this the first time you've suffered with saddle sores?

MattFalle

are they in the same place each time?

Ben6899

What kind of bike fit did you have? Any talk of leg length discrepancies (actual or mobility)? Any remedial action around that?

First.Aspect

I wonder if this could be a too much bum hair problem.

horatio1965

Hello again and many thanks for your comments. The sores don't happen in the same place, sometimes they are but I've also had them in new places. I've had/got them on my perineum area and also in the crease at the top of my leg. It's the first time they've been this severe and repetitive, hence a new saddle from a saddle fit. I'm 56, 6' 1'' and weigh about 80kgs, road riding only and run on 25mm tires at 90psi. Standard seat post. During my bike fit, leg length was taken as was the bend in my leg to make sure my saddle was the correct height and also the distance from bars to seat as was the tilt on the saddle. I was advised to have a Prologo Kappa Dea2 saddle with PAS. Many thanks.

webboo

Can you describe what form the saddle sores take.
Are they zit like, chaffing or blisters.

womack

Could be Chalfonts.

prcody

When you had the bike fit did they do a saddle pressure check? I just had a bike fit done and on both bikes there was way too much pressure on my perineum.
Both saddles were moved down and forward and I really notice it when Im on the trainer. I still have one or 2 small zit like saddle sores but that could be down to the 3-4 different brand shorts/tights I could wear in a week between the shed and out on the road.

First.Aspect

Bike fits aren't a panacea.

Also, I'm wondering with this thread, as with others about persistent injury, if the OP is letting himself heal before looking for solutions. If he's get a saddle sore and then rides around it, he is going to make the saddle sore persist, or generate another one because he's sitting funny.

That's speculation obs., and OP sorry if its wrong, but the urge to get back on the bike asap is strong for many people.

rick_chasey

Not that this will be the solution but a few things to consider, in no particular order

1) are the shorts tight enough, and is the pad being held in place sufficiently snugly? It's probably teaching you to suck eggs, but one of the main points of the straps on bib shorts is to make sure the pad is held in position securely.

2) is the saddle sufficiently hard? FWIW, I find with soft spongy saddles I struggle to avoid sores

3) Are the shorts clean, and are you making sure you don't hang around in sweaty shorts unnecessarily after the ride? Are they clean every ride?

4) are you giving the area sufficient time to heal? It should heal more strongly than before, which is why real veteran riders tend to get less problems (though by no means none)

First.Aspect

Wire brush and detol.

That's what I think.

pblakeney

First.Aspect said:

Wire brush and detol.

That's what I think.

First in the queue though.

MattFalle

First.Aspect said:

Wire brush and detol.

That's what I think.

Dettol?

Ridiculous, stupid, daft, suggestion. Something that clueless bloke who doesn't know how to use a space blanket would say.

Paraffin is what you want. Good honest paraffin.

Dettol. Tchaaa.

First.Aspect

MattFalle said:

First.Aspect said:

Wire brush and detol.

That's what I think.

Dettol?

Ridiculous, stupid, daft, suggestion. Something that clueless bloke who doesn't know how to use a space blanket would say.

Paraffin is what you want. Good honest paraffin.

Dettol. Tchaaa.

Doesn't matter. If it stings it is working. Diesel is quite good as well.

ugo.santalucia

womack said:

Could be Chalfonts.

St. Peter or St. Giles?

Ben6899

ugo.santalucia said:

womack said:

Could be Chalfonts.

St. Peter or St. Giles?

Johnny?

MattFalle

First.Aspect said:

MattFalle said:

First.Aspect said:

Wire brush and detol.

That's what I think.

Dettol?

Ridiculous, stupid, daft, suggestion. Something that clueless bloke who doesn't know how to use a space blanket would say.

Paraffin is what you want. Good honest paraffin.

Dettol. Tchaaa.

Doesn't matter. If it stings it is working. Diesel is quite good as well.

Jizer or Gunk work well as well I understand...

pinkbikini

I've only suffered from a bout of saddle sores once, many years ago. Pretty sure it was due to an office move which meant only flannel washes after the morning commute and nowhere to hang kit before the commute home, so probably general bacterial buildup!

Solution that worked for me was moving jobs to better facilities!

The other thing that helped me (since you seem to have tried just about everything else) was replacing bibshorts as soon as the pad started to feel spongy rather that springy. Quite an expensive fix but I felt it helped to speed up the recovery.

thegreatdivide

A f@cking bike fit or a saddle shape won’t cure a bacterial infection FFS. No doubt some belter will suggest ‘a pair of hand built Borgs by Malcolm’ next.

Ben6899

thegreatdivide said:

A f@cking bike fit or a saddle shape won’t cure a bacterial infection FFS. No doubt some belter will suggest ‘a pair of hand built Borgs by Malcolm’ next.

A poor fit could be the cause, in all fairness. A saddle set too high could easily cause chafing and then a sore.

Not sure what rattled your cage, to be honest.