Recommendations For A Decent Comfort Saddle

[slowmotion]

If you are new to cycling, its highly likely that your bum is going to feel pretty battered for a few weeks. It gets better. Padded shorts or undershorts help. I have Charge Spoons on both my bikes, but after sixty miles or more, my bum still feels a bit smashed up. You just get used to it.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

thats rubbish - ive just done 4000km on a saddle out of the box without getting sore or a bad bum - I couldnt tell you what make and model it is - I just picked it by eye in the shop - it is a matter of knowing what suits you - no good taking other peoples opinions

You are of course right. I should have phrased it better. Let me try again: When you are new to biking or have laid off biking for a while, all saddles will bruise you at first. You have to harden up a bit first before choosing saddles. It is unlikely that you will be comfortable on a bike from day 1. That I asked the OP to report back after 500kms sort of hints what I meant.

 

[simon.r]

Not wearing padded shorts
General cheek area
Standard Giant saddle on an Escape 2
Adjusted properly

I guess I didn't really expect to get an arse ache from a saddle but then I guess that shows my naivety towards it really. I'll give it a while and if I'm still having issue I'll have a good look at the Spoon. Cheers for your help.

GOAB.

I bought an Escape 2 a few weeks ago and have been pleasantly surprised by the saddle. As others have said, everyone's different, but the standard Giant saddle seems a reasonable compromise between a hard "racing" saddle and a soft, squishy one. The longest ride I've done in it so far is about 20 miles, in jeans with no padded shorts.

As said above, stick at it and your backside will get used to it I suspect.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have the Charge Spoon but I also have the Charge Pan, which is a little wider.

I prefer the Charge Pan, but they can be quite hard to find.

Both the Spoon and the Pan are in your price range and I have found they are great right out of the box.

 

[psmiffy]

Im afraid im of the opinion that things are are not supposed to hurt - Im a leisure cyclist - im never going to have a cyclists bum - and by that i mean the sheer muscle mass that allows you to sit on some narrow hard perch - if i buy a new bike and after 20miles my bum hurts it it going to hurt after 400miles - the first thing i do is replace the saddle with something i know is comfortable - when i was a kid you expected to get a sore bum because saddles were made that way - with the proliferation of mountain bikes in the 80s suddenly there were many more choices of synthetic saddles at a reasonable cost to choose from - some of which suited me - over time there has been a lot more thought going into designing saddles for the leisure cyclist and there is now an amazing number of different design to choose from - the million dollar question of course is what suits you - for me it is something - not too narrow - not too wide - not too soft - not too hard - not too long - for quite a while that was the specialized sonoma - until they modified it with too much padding - discontinued now i think

My recent tour I went from doing almost no cycling to riding for on average 5hours a day, nearly every day for 78days - No sit bone pain and no friction pain - I had a quick look it is a Selle Man gel flow

 

[tobykenobi]

Think I've posted this before, but I had the problem with a Cannondale saddle. Agony after an hour. Went into Evans and sat on a bit of wood with a padded bit for your arse to make an impression on. They recommended this Specialized Toupe Sport Saddle in the wider of the two sizes. Have done over 5 hours with not much problem.

 

[greekonabike]

I never thought they'd be such a mixed range of answers. I'm going to keep the standard saddle for a while and see how it goes. If it gets too painful I'll pop down the LBS and have a look at what they've got as I'm sure I saw a charge saddle in their yesterday. Thanks for all your advice.

GOAB.

 

[russ.will]

Get your butt used to riding. Advice as above.
Buy padded shorts/bibs anyway.
Then measure your butt.
Buy a saddle that suits it's width. I have two Spesh saddles of the same width. One cost me £25 (on the Planet-X) and the other £100 on the KTM.
Both are immeasurably more comfortable than a Charge Spoon or a £130 Selle Italia that I have, because they fit.
Remember the word 'fit'.

Russell

 

[dim]

I have a few bikes and am happy with all the saddles:

On my S-Works, I have the Fizik Airone Wingflex ... super comfy and I don't even think about the saddle when I ride .... it was fitted to the bike when I bought it, and left it on, as it matches the bike's paintwork (red, white and black) :

On my Giant TCR, I have the Brooks Cambium C17 Carved .... excellent saddle and designed for touring/long distance .... I bought this to replace the saddle that was factory fitted:

On my daily winter bike, I have a Gilles Berthoud Aravis .... firm, and very comfy, only drawback is that it's leather and needs to be covered during the rain .... expensive (I paid £165 for mine):

so bottom line ... get a decent saddle, it may be uncomfortable at first, but the more that you ride, the more comfy it becomes