Road Bike Saddle

[Jamie Marcinko]

Hi, I have just bought a road bike as I am going to ditch my car for a healthier lifestyle. I will be doing 12.6 miles total per day. (I am also male if this makes any difference)?

However, I am slighty overweight and when I sit on my saddle the pain is unberable. I bought one of those memory foam gel covers but it actually made it worse! I have been looking online at seats that have no nose and 2 sperate bottom seats next to each other for each bum cheek. I dont know if I am allowed to post a picture so I hope this explains what I am trying to say.

What I want to know is are these kind of seats suitable for a road/racing bike?

 

[vickster]

Padded shorts will help a lot. Get decent ones, dhb from wiggle or the better ones from decathlon, in time your bum will toughen up a bit

Whether a particular saddle is going to be comfy for you really is trial and error. Check the position is correct and initially that it is level

 

[Jamie Marcinko]

Thnk you for replying. I have bought padded shorts too although they were only about £10.00. The pain mostly comes from the inside of the leg where the groin area is. So I was wondering if I can actually replace the seat with something as I described? Do those kind of seats fit all bikes? And would it affect the speed that I ride etc.

At the moment I am using a stand which enables me to bike ride in my house. However, to stem the pain I am actually having to fold up my dressing gown and sit on that just so I am able to ride withouth wanting to get off after 5 seconds...

 

[MikeG]

Any saddle fits any bike.

I am afraid you are on the merry-go-round we've all been through. There isn't a cyclist here, I reckon, who hasn't tried at least half a dozen different saddles. The other thing to say, I'm afraid, is that you will need to go through the pain barrier for a week or two. You just have to toughen up that area.......so don't be in a huge rush to churn through saddles. I have recently bought a new bike, and tried 5 different saddles, some of which I rode for 200 miles, before finally settling on one I get on well with. Funnily enough, it was the cheapest, too.

Go to your local bike shop (not Halfords) and talk to them. They'll have a wall full of the things, can measure your bum properly, and point you in the right direction. Oh, and unless you have been very lucky, you'll probably need to pay at least £30 to get a reasonable pair of padded shorts.

 

[Jamie Marcinko]

Thats great thank you for your help. I had no idea they can measure you up for a saddle lol. I will invest in some better shorts I just saw them at the time and bought them on impulse.

Off to the local bike shop I go.

 

[Triban5riderGD]

Jamie as you have only just started cycling you really need to toughen up your rear end. The only way to do this is to spend more time in the saddle. You will harden up but it takes time. Padded cycle shorts will help, but don't be wasting shed loads of money changing saddles until you have put a few a few miles in out on the road. It will get better. Good Luck with your cycling and weight loss.

 

[HLaB]

Pity you hadn't came here before you wasted your money on a gel cover. Pain is caused by movement/chaffing a gel cover only facilitates more movement. Things to look at, you might just need to toughen up, padded shorts (don't wear underwear), your bike fit (are your hips rocking as you cycle and finally perhaps your saddle is too wide/ too narrow for your sit bones.

 

[youngoldbloke]

- and don't sit down on your saddle. Sounds odd but it is just one of the 5 contact points on a bike, not a seat. All 5 points are acting to support you, your legs and arms acting like suspension.

 

[IDMark2]

Just to clarify Jamie, when everyone is mentioning 'toughening up' they are talking really about the muscles you have just started to use rather than suddenly needing to grow extra skin layers in that area!
When I started off I set my saddle height from this guide:
http://www.ebicycles.com/bicycle-tools/saddle-height/road-bike

There will be other methods the more you look around. I don't know how often you are trying to cycle but if the pain is 'unbearable' then you may need to give it a miss for that day and come back after a bit of recovery time has let the pain settle down a bit to just 'bearable'. Don't give up!

 

[NormanD]

Did you have your sit bones measured?

 

[Cuchilo]

What road bike did you buy ?
I know giant allow people to use test saddles and I think specialized also do this . Saddles are not cheap so I think it's a good service they provide .
£10 shorts sound like they are from sports direct . I started there myself and they are rubbish . Padding around my best mate is not something I want to skimp on

 

[Cycleops]

Thats great thank you for your help. I had no idea they can measure you up for a saddle lol. I will invest in some better shorts I just saw them at the time and bought them on impulse.

I think it is something that Specialized dealers do with a dedicated device. You might get someone on who has used this service and can comment.

 

[Cuchilo]

I think it is something that Specialized dealers do with a dedicated device. You might get someone on who has used this service and can comment.

I bet they " cup " you

 

[vickster]

I think it is something that Specialized dealers do with a dedicated device. You might get someone on who has used this service and can comment.

You sit on a pad in your cycling shorts, gives you a sit bone width so you can buy the correct width saddle, however it doesn't tell you which of the 15 saddles they sell in that size is the right one for your fleshier parts, that's again down to trial and error to some extent

 

[Lien Sdrawde]

After 3 years of trying for comfort - and finding none, I did a bit more research. As I have large genitals it stands to reason that other parts of that region may be 'oversized' as well......

and so it was that I came across the 'pubic tuberous' - two protrusions from the lower bits of your hip that sits either side of the midline, right between your goolies and your anus. And so it came to pass that I took a stanley knife and cut a large section from my Brooks saddle and........

BLISS

Keep it in mind if nothing else helps.