Gel saddles?

[hoppym27]

Are they any good for long rides?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

No

 

[lazyfatgit]

Some like them. Some don't.

I tried one and hated it. You might find it great.

Try one and see.

 

[welsh dragon]

Hell no. i had one and it was truly dreadful and very painful. Go the other way. I did, and i havn't looked back. You might be able to find an LBS that will let you try various saddles out before you buy.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I often ride over 150 miles on a gel saddle. If you find one that works ( I find that having a saddle with a 'cut out' centre works well ) and is shaped to fit your sit bones, they are a god send. A lot of people who don't actually ride 'endurance' distances, may disagree. I do long distances, quite frequently, and find a decent gel saddle, indispensable. It's very much a case of 'horses for courses' though.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What distance do you mean by lomg?

 

[mcshroom]

It depends on what gel saddle you are talking about but in general I've found the ones I've had switch from comfortable to torture around 60-70 miles. However with just a few seasons of audaxing and multi week tours under my belt I obviously don't ride 'endurance' distances

 

[Alan O]

Which gel saddle? Without knowing, I don't think you can get a meaningful answer - and even then, you can only get an answer that's right for someone else.

I had a gel saddle and did lots of long day rides on it... and it really was quite often painful by the end of the day. I'm really not sure why it took me so long to replace it - it's possibly because I was in some sort of denial after having given away my old Brooks B17 with my previous bike.

But others clearly find different and are well suited to their gel saddles.

I don't think it's anything to do with the kind of saddle - after all, 'gel' is just a sort of foam, and people ride foam-padded saddles for very long distances.

It's surely just the individual saddle that counts, and you just have to find one that suits you - be it gel, leather, wood, cheese, whatever.

 

[mjr]

They're OK if they fit. Just don't call it gel. Call it something like multi density closed cell foam.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I use a Selle Italia Maxflite Gel Flow Saddle on the bike i do a lot of my distance riding on. Coupled with a decent pair of padded shorts tights or bib it could work extremely well. I used to have a charge spoon on bother bikes but doing 60-70 miles in one stretch left me extremely sore till i switched over. Now i worry about my pacing for the ride more than a sore arse 60 miles into a long ride

 

[hoppym27]

So my best option would be to work out a saddle that fits properly...would my local bike shop do that for me normally?

I've seen some places that do bike fitting but they charge around fifty quid for that..is that the same thing?

 

[Dirk]

No

 

[buzzy-beans]

Go for a good leather saddle like a Brooks, heaven knows how many 'gel' saddles I bought and chucked away as every single one of them gave me numb bum torture after only a very few limited miles!

 

[BrynCP]

It depends on what gel saddle you are talking about but in general I've found the ones I've had switch from comfortable to torture around 60-70 miles. However with just a few seasons of audaxing and multi week tours under my belt I obviously don't ride 'endurance' distances

This is my exact experience too, the first 50 miles it's fine, then it's just outright uncomfortable and I find myself having to get out the saddle every few minutes for relief. Never had that with non-gel saddles.

 

[Alan O]

My suspicion is that this isn't a function of what it's made of but whether it's a good fit.

Exactly.