New Boardman SLR 8.9, saddle issues.

[Phil4000]

Hello all,

First time here, and getting back into cycling after a long pause. I previously had a KHS Flite 500 made around 2004, an excellent bike sadly lost.

On impulse, I picked up a Boardman SLR 8.9 on sale in Halfords. Display model, £750. Few very small scratches, apart from that pretty much new.

The problem is that after a very short ride, I have had extreme discomfort to the perinium. As in, had to take a painkiller last night.

Have 14 days for a full refund, but would like to make this bike work as it's an awesome ride at a great price.

Its a Large, and I'm in between sizes. My height is 178cm, inside leg 85.75cm.
https://www.halfords.com/bikes/road...-road-bike-2021---s-m-l-xl-frames-365462.html

So my height is a bit short for a Large, but leg length too long for a medium.

The bike does put me in quite an aggressive position, but feels very manoeuvrable and controllable. It doesn't feel like I need to stretch forward in anyway, but could do with it being less aggressive. Leg space/room while pedalling is good.

So maybe I just need to experiment with saddle and handle bar position, so as to get the weight to the sit bones, and off of the perenium? Worth considering another saddle?

I'll also see if Halfords have a Medium I could check out.

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Paulus]

Sounds like a saddle height and position problem.
Maybe the saddle needs to go forward a bit, and also lower the seatpost.
Is the saddle level, or pointing up slightly?
With the saddle height, a rough guide is to sit on said saddle and with the heel of your foot on the pedal at the six o'clock position your leg should be more or less straight then with the ball of the foot on the pedal your leg should be bent at the knee.
The fore and after position again as a rough guide, put your elbow on the nose of the saddle and your hand on the stem, your other hand at 90⁰ to that hand and your middle finger should be somewhere near to being in alignment with the handlebar.
This is only a rough starting guide and many more tweaks maybe needed.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

You're a very similar height to me, but with longer legs (~82cm inseam), large geometry looks reasonable for you and I. Medium is only 3mm shorter frame reach, but stack reduces from 588mm to 567mm, which is quite racey (my Cube is an aero brick 610mm stack and my GT gravel is 577mm). Medium stem is 100mm, large 110mm.

Another rough saddle height guide besides heel on pedal at 6 o'clock without tilting hips, is take ~10cm off your inseam, so ~75.75cm bottom bracket to saddle top.

Saddle comfort is so unique to each of us. I've tried so many styles in the last nine years and for me, the "beaky" Selle SMP Extra works well, but I'm very sensitive to the drop between the rear and front peaks... So typical tyre pressue drops in my latex tyres over ~24 hours can easily affect my comfort levels!

To make bars less aggressive, flip the stem so it points up a fraction.
The bike has a carbon steerer, so tweaking the stem position among spacers isn't so safe, but having 30mm of spacers unde the stem will reduce the reach by ~10mm.

 

[Jameshow]

Hello all,

First time here, and getting back into cycling after a long pause. I previously had a KHS Flite 500 made around 2004, an excellent bike sadly lost.

On impulse, I picked up a Boardman SLR 8.9 on sale in Halfords. Display model, £750. Few very small scratches, apart from that pretty much new.

The problem is that after a very short ride, I have had extreme discomfort to the perinium. As in, had to take a painkiller last night.

Have 14 days for a full refund, but would like to make this bike work as it's an awesome ride at a great price.

Its a Large, and I'm in between sizes. My height is 178cm, inside leg 85.75cm.
https://www.halfords.com/bikes/road...-road-bike-2021---s-m-l-xl-frames-365462.html

So my height is a bit short for a Large, but leg length too long for a medium.

The bike does put me in quite an aggressive position, but feels very manoeuvrable and controllable. It doesn't feel like I need to stretch forward in anyway, but could do with it being less aggressive. Leg space/room while pedalling is good.

So maybe I just need to experiment with saddle and handle bar position, so as to get the weight to the sit bones, and off of the perenium? Worth considering another saddle?

I'll also see if Halfords have a Medium I could check out.

Any advice much appreciated.

Try swapping your saddles over that way you know it's the saddle or the bike!

 

[Sharky]

Tilting the saddle down can be a solution, but too much and causes you to slip forward and you are forever pushing yourself to the back of the saddle as you ride.

If you are getting back after a long time, it takes five or six rides for the contact points to strengthen and become comfortable again, so don't make too many adjustments until you've ridden yourself in.

 

[fossyant]

If you haven ridden regular you will get pain. Saddles are very individual andcthe one fitted may not fit. Try some shorter but more regular rides at first.

 

[wafter]

Sounds like the saddle's too high or too far back.

Do you know the reach and stack of the bike? I'm a similar height and have long legs (but not that bloody long!) - I usually end up going for the "height-correct" frame size, running the saddle at it's rear-most position to give enough leg space and fitting a shorter stem to reduce reach.

IIRC on my old medium Boardman Team Carbon (which likely has similar geo) the saddle was as far back as it would go and I had a 90mm stem fitted. On a medium with your longer legs you may have needed more rearward saddle displacement than was available so the large makes sense, although as your saddle issue potentially suggests you may have paid for this with excessive reach which will pull you down lower with associated forward pelvic tilt.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

A lot of good advice about saddle position etc. On a different take on matters. When in the past I had saddle issues and trying different ones and trying to get comfortable. I tried not wearing underwear, just padded shorts. That did`nt do it for me either. Too much friction. Wearing normal underwear gave me problems with seams with contact points. When I tried boxer shorts, perhaps they are nylon, those issues went away. Now I have movement and no friction. One size does not fit all for everybody ( no pun intended). Good luck and persevere so you can enjoy your new bike.