Uncomfortable and sore after 17 months without problems?

[Globalti]

Do NOT go and buy a squidgy saddle, they are a bad idea because your sit bones will sink into the saddle allowing contact with soft tissue. The gel will make your nether regions hot and sweaty, which will exacerbate any chafing and rubbing.

If you have been slipping forward it's because your saddle was too low at the nose; it should be flat or even tilted up by a degree or two at the nose so that your pelvic bones are "cupped" by the saddle and the weight is shared evenly by both ends of the rails. Set it right and you'll find less weight on your hands as well. If you need to set the saddle way back or way forwards on the rails, the bike is the wrong size for you. If that's you in your avatar I can tell you straight away that your bike is too small for you; you shouldn't be able to place one foot flat on the ground like that. This would explain your lack of space on the bike and need to set the saddle back. How tall are you and what is the frame size? Alternatively, what is your inside leg measurement and what is the distance in cms between the BB axle centre and the top surface of the saddle?

Your bottom pain is Nature's warning that you are doing something wrong. Bear in mind my story about my wife's pelvic pain and get your position checked out by a bike shop - a professional LBS owner (not a kid in a bike supermarket) will be able to tell you what's wrong by looking at you on the bike as you circle the car park.

 

[mjr]

Gel saddles have a habit of re - distributing their gel oddly over time. A gel saddle which was once comfy, can develop a different and odd 'lumpy' profile, over time.

That's only possible if the gel foam has started to decompose. Saddle gel isn't gel like energy gels that can squish itself about into other shapes. Read more at https://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#gel

 

[Racing roadkill]

That's only possible if the gel foam has started to decompose. Saddle gel isn't gel like energy gels that can squish itself about into other shapes. Read more at https://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#gel

My experience says different . It doesn't "squish about" but it does 'go off', and form unintended profiles over time.

 

[mjr]

My experience says different . It doesn't "squish about" but it does 'go off', and form unintended profiles over time.

The foam could be decomposing and the saddle reaching the end of its life. It might have been made with cheap materials that seemed good at first but don't last. It may be reupholsterable, but many fashion saddles (including some pretty expensive ones) with proprietary patterns of multi-density gel are non-trivial to do. A simple uniform layer of gel foam is easier. There's nothing wrong with gel as such, but because of the BS written against it, it's now often called other things in marketing materials like "closed-cell pressure padding" or "multi-density elastomer".

 

[night cycler]

Globalti: That is me in the avatar on my old MTB that I used to ride a lot some years ago. I ride a road bike now - since Oct 2015.

 

[Globalti]

Okay, sorry! You had me worried, I must admit. Can we see a sideways-on pic of you on the roadie? An experienced eye can see a lot in a photo and somebody might be able to give you some pointers.

 

[night cycler]

It's fine Globalti, I think most people would naturally assume the same. I should really change the avatar.

I'd like to provide a sideways on' pic of me on the bike but at the moment I don't have one. I live alone and no longer cycle with the group, so it is a bit more difficult to arrange.

 

[Globalti]

Neighbour? Postman? Milkman?

 

[cyberknight]

I am getting the same, it might be as mentioned down to the fact my shorts are not new and it feels like the seat pad edge is rubbing , i have done an OCD saddle straightness test so lets see if that makes any difference

 

[night cycler]

I've took a selfie this evening of the painful area. There appears to be a small 'cut' , which is no doubt the result of an area of the skin becoming dry and splitting (the same as happens with the lips). This is where the pain from chafing is felt.

You will understand Globalti that I could not ask the postman in to take the photo as the area is just to the right of the Crown jewels. (Not that I'm suggesting he's a thief or anything).

 

[cyberknight]

Well mine is sorted, looks like my old shorts were the problem,new ones today and 60 miles with no issues

 

[Globalti]

As I wrote above. Get the right shape saddle not a gel saddle. Look at a Charge Spoon - the shape suits a lot of people.

 

[mjr]

As I wrote above. Get the right shape saddle not a gel saddle. Look at a Charge Spoon - the shape suits a lot of people.

Is that satire or is the Charge Spoon with its sculpted padding somehow not using a type of gel foam?

 

[Globalti]

No. There's a difference between a saddle like the Spoon, with a stiff shell covered in a thin layer of moulded-on foam and a saddle with big fat pads of some kind of shock absorbing gel on it.

 

[mjr]

Yeah, Spoon doesn't have the hated word "gel" in its marketing and plenty of users in denial that they're riding on a foam saddle