Can someone recommend a decent saddle

[markharry66]

I know that saddles are personal my recent one and ones I have had in the past seem in adequate I either slip off feel discomfort or they make different parts of my body numb. I am not the worlds fastest cyclist but would like to feel comfortable over distance. I have tried gel saddles, gel covered saddles padded shorts moving the saddle nothing seems to work for me. Help

 

[slowmotion]

If you have friends who also cycle, just borrow their saddle for an hour or so. It isn't hard to swap them.

 

[al-fresco]

I recently bought a Madison Flux. Great saddle for £25. Good for 80+ miles in un-padded shorts.

 

[gallego1968]

When i was at my local cycle shop they had a new selection of saddles which the top one was £200 which i couldn't believe, yes it was very light as it was carbon fibre but £200 was still OTT for a saddle.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I recently bought a Madison Flux. Great saddle for £25. Good for 80+ miles in un-padded shorts.

Allegedly this a copy of the Charge Spoon which is highly recommended by many. Gel saddles make matters worse. I use a Velo Pro, which is an SLR lookalike.

 

[cyberknight]

I would check your saddle set up as well , if you are slipping off then it could be that your saddle is not level or your reach to the handlebars could even be to far so you are pulling yourself forward.
This is a start ..
http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html
I use this ..
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO

I went through a stage where i tried loads of saddles and i was still sore, LBS told me i needed to toughen up a bit and when i had dialed my position in i found that most saddles were ok.
I use a charge spoon on my commuter and find that comfortable , but i did a 100 k on a stock carrera saddle with no problems.

 

[Manonabike]

If you have friends who also cycle, just borrow their saddle for an hour or so. It isn't hard to swap them.

Some people go through a lot of trouble finding the right positioning of their saddle..... I know where I'd send a friend asking to borrow my saddle

 

[PaulSecteur]

I found the specialized rival saddle kept pushing me forward. After looking at it the rear of it rises up and no amount of adjusting would get it comfortable. I l9pledged do a flatter saddle and hat the spesh toupe, much better!

 

[JonnyBlade]

I found the specialized rival saddle kept pushing me forward. After looking at it the rear of it rises up and no amount of adjusting would get it comfortable. I l9pledged do a flatter saddle and hat the spesh toupe, much better!

Mine came off an old Claude Butler hybrid. It's showing signs of age but haven't found one to rival it yet so it's still the one for me

 

[aberal]

Saddles comfort is an individual thing and I dare say people here will be offering you all sorts of remedies based on their own experiences. So, from my own experience

, if all else has failed - try a Brooks. The fundamental difference between a Brooks and all others is that it isn't relying on cushioning for comfort - there is none. Knock on a Brooks saddle and it's like knocking on a door. It's rock hard. Put all your weight on a Brooks saddle though and it will flex. The comfort is in the flex and for that flex to work you need thick leather and a quality leather, and that comes at a price. But if it works for you, you need never buy another saddle again. Looked after properly it will last literally decades. If it doesn't work for you then sell it - you will always, always get a decent resale price for it.

Some people swear by the B17 which is their cheapest, though I think it looks a tad old fashioned. Better looking and more modern are the Professional and the Swift. I have a Swift on my Cannondale road bike which has been there for only a few months and I have had the bike 10 years. The old saddles - and there were 4 of them, would be ok for around 25-30 miles. After that - agony.! Once I put the Brooks on, my first run was 60 miles in instant and supreme comfort. And I haven't looked back. A friend of mine has just done the same and put one on his Cube carbon bike. They will fit on anything, look the part and weigh around the weight of a couple of tomatoes more than the one you take off.

Decent website here by the way, for the range.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

It looks like a Singel Lens Reflex camera??? How painful

which is an SLR lookalike.

 

[al-fresco]

Allegedly this a copy of the Charge Spoon which is highly recommended by many. Gel saddles make matters worse. I use a Velo Pro, which is an SLR lookalike.

Allegedly it's made in the same factory by the same workers on the same lasts...

 

[pepecat]

How about saddles for women? Mine is the one i got with the bike, and it's ok for a while and then my butt goes numb. I don't have loads of money to spend - so brooks are probably out of the question - but would like something more comfy. Gel?

 

[Davidc]

Keep trying until you find one that's comfy. It may take some time. Good and well known saddles however can fetch nearly their new price on ebay so it shouldn't cost too much.

The advice to work on saddle position is IME right. Small changes in any of the adjustables - height, fore-aft, and angle - can change a perfect seat into a red hot poker in a painful place!

I now have a Charge Spoon on my utility bike (recommended in a thread on here and the first non-Brooks saddle I can ride for more than 30 minutes). I've used Brooks B17s for over 40 years and found them excellent, but that's no real guide because I find some types which other people swear by to be satanic instruments of torture, and others say that about Brooks saddles.

 

[jayonabike]

I have 3 different classic San Marco saddles ( they're classics for a reason

) the Concor, the Regal & the Rolls. All three are very comfortable and I can quite happily sit on one for 60+ miles.