Womens saddles

[kfinlay]

My wife is thinking about getting back on two wheels for some weekend cycling. She finds the saddle on her bike very uncomfortable so I'm looking for any recomendations. It is to go on her Gary Fisher hardtail that I'm converting to more of a hybrid so she will have a relatively upright position.
TIA

 

[andrew_s]

What sort of discomfort?
Bruising on the bony bits is not being used to a hard saddle, and will go away.
If a saddle is too soft, the sit bones sink in to the padding and you end up supporting your weight on the soft bits, leading to blood supply and other problems.

A suggestion:
Brooks Flyer

 

[wafflycat]

Depends on exactly what the discomfort is... perhaps it's something as simple as changing saddle position? Saddles are a very personal thing and what is being cradled in clouds of comfort for one person is like sitting on barbed wire and knives for another. Saying that, a female-specific saddle is the only alteration I've felt I've had to make to any of my bikes for comfort. Now using Terry Liberator saddles, I can cycle all day with my nether regions supported, comfortable and no discomfort at all.

 

[kfinlay]

The saddle is a cheap one with probably too much padding. It has a large split up the centre but the nose does raise quite a lot so my wife's discomfort is at front. Tried different positions etc but think it really needs to be changed for a decent saddle as this really is a cheapo thing. I think something flatter would be better so her bum bones are properly supported. Guys generally get on well with a Charge spoon saddle so was wondering if there is a generally popular type for ladies???

 

[dub-no-bass]

I've fitted my bike with a Selle SMP ladies saddle - funny looking thing, the nose drops away at the front very dramatically. However, it has totally solved all my saddle-soreness problems, which were previously caused by just too much of the nose of the saddle sticking out at the front and straight into my bits and pieces.

I love it, and would highly recommend it to those unfortunate women who get very sore at the front with other saddles.

 

[kfinlay]

cheers dub_no_bass, I actually found a topic your raised a while back and read it thru. Checked out the recommendations on it and will see what we will try. The Charge Ladle (ladies version of the Charge Spoon is also a contender with it being cheap). Got other things to consider as changing her mtb into more of a hybrid so road tyres and seeing if I can cheaply lighten it a bit too muchos brownie points

 

[patheticshark]

The Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow is Amazing. It's a road saddle but if you're hybridifying it I assume it's not going off-road anyway and won't look that weird.

 

[kfinlay]

Thanks 'Sharky', don't think it will look weird as a lot of hybrids have mtb style frames anyway. Its an old skool cro-mo Gary Fisher Wahoo in a burnt orange colour so plan on fitting some baby blue where possible if she likes the Charge Spoon Ladle (in brown/baby blue) so it will look kinda funky. She saw a Scott Hybrid that had some colour coding and liked it so I thought I could do something similar on a budget!