Any ladies around here? The saddle!

[vickster]

All saddles are easy to fit. As I said upthread, all you need is a 5mm allen key.

Fiddly If you’re ham fisted like me Spirit level to check angle advised

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It's not always a male/female thing, as no saddle should pinch. It's usually not thought out on cheap bikes, but Charge saddles aren't expensive.

It's back to 'how to make your bike feel good' -all about contact points. Bars, saddle and tyres.

Indeed. Saddles don't know the difference in genitalia sitting on it, in fact there's a large overlap in widths between what would be considered mens and womens saddles based on avg sitbone width.

Put any saddle in the wrong place at the wrong fore/aft and/or height and it will cause issues, including when the handlebars are just too far away

 

[fossyant]

My Selle Itallia SLR nearly rubbed me raw last week over 19 miles - not ridden a road bike for 5 years on the road.... ouch. It's most likely not the saddle, just me getting comfy on a full suspension MTB ! My saddles on all my bikes were precision selected..... I'm now getting old, broken and soft.....

 

[Reynard]

It's not always a male/female thing, as no saddle should pinch. It's usually not thought out on cheap bikes, but Charge saddles aren't expensive.

It's back to 'how to make your bike feel good' -all about contact points. Bars, saddle and tyres.

Charge saddles have shot up nearly a tenner in price since I bought one last year... Still, £30 isn't the earth for a comfy seat.

I learnt pretty quickly that junior saddles are most definitely not compatible with my bottom. They are the wrong shape and far too narrow. Leading to the lady bits numbness that the OP mentions. The downside of riding tiddly bicycles...

 

[DCBassman]

Charge saddles have shot up nearly a tenner in price since I bought one last year... Still, £30 isn't the earth for a comfy seat.

Still only paid £19.99 for my Spoon, in June!

 

[okigen]

Merlin has despatched my saddle. Looking forward to testing my (non-existent) mechanical skills this weekend
My council provides free fix-your-bike classes which would have been really useful. Sadly due to Covid 19 they no longer have it (and I really doubt even post Covid they would have been able to due to lack of funding. It's funded by Tfl which is under severe stress at the moment).

 

[vickster]

Merlin has despatched my saddle. Looking forward to testing my (non-existent) mechanical skills this weekend

Generally ok, although some seat post clamps are more fiddly than others. You may find it easier to remove the seatpost and saddle and swap over off the bike (mark your saddle height on the seat post in advance). In terms of fore and aft, you have some degree of flexibility - there are markings on seat rails showing min and max (again, have a quick look at the existing / take a photo)

 

[Reynard]

Still only paid £19.99 for my Spoon, in June!

Eh, that rhymes...

 

[okigen]

Urgh Royal Mail said noone was at home so they couldn't deliver. There were THREE of us sitting in all day!!!

 

[vickster]

Ah...always best to nominate a safe place if you can!

 

[okigen]

Update: saddle arrived and installed! Cycling around Hyde Park now. Will let everyone know how it goes
@Sharky This is my stem. Are you able to tell from here whether it can be raised higher please? Thanks so much!

 

[keithmac]

That's already in the highest position looking at the angle of the stem.

 

[Sharky]

Update: saddle arrived and installed! Cycling around Hyde Park now. Will let everyone know how it goes
@Sharky This is my stem. Are you able to tell from here whether it can be raised higher please? Thanks so much!

View attachment 548010

View attachment 548007

I think you have it in the highest position, but that stem has a very small degree rise. You can get them up to as much as 45 degree rise or an adjustable stem, both would give a higher bar.
Good luck

 

[okigen]

Update: Definitely feels like an improvement over the old saddle. Although i'll have to wait a few days more to see if it causes any new pain.

In the meantime, I'm struggling to turn the nose down. It looks like the saddle can only slide forward and backward, but can't turn up or downwards. Am I missing something?

 

[Reynard]

Yes... Just loosen that bolt slightly (two or three turns maybe) and push the nose of the saddle down before re-tightening. The bottom half of the saddle clamp assembly is curved and that's what gives you the tilt.