Originally Posted by
egranlund
From personal experience, the current saddle on my new bike caused a ton of pain initially on my sit bones. (Bontrager Affinity 1) After a week or two of fiddling with adjustments I eventually just leveled the saddle and decided to suck it up for a couple of weeks. The pain has noticably decreased. Before I couldn't go a mile or so without it starting to hurt, now it's more like 20 miles before it starts bothering me. I expect it will continue to get better. This is three weeks and around 250 miles later.
From what I've read this is generally how it goes when you first start riding for the season.
As far as perineum pressure, the only time I've had that issue was with my Brooks B17N saddle and that's when it was pointed up to far. In this case it was pressure in that whenever I hit a bump it would knock me in the perineum rather than in my sit bones/spread out around the saddle a little more. Is this what you're experiencing?
Are you getting any...manhood numbness due to the pressure? Also have you talked to your LBS and see if they can help you out with maybe a fitting or at least some pointers?
You make a good point. I'm expecting too much too soon. Some of the first saddles I tried were miserable. I now have a Selle Royal Ellipse Athletic, which has a deep, wide channel to protect the perineum. I think I just need to make fine fitting adjustments and give myself time to toughen up. I have a habit of overthinking things. I have light pressure on the perineum, but no pain and no numbness. The LBS is geared more toward high speed, long distance riders and $200 saddles. I'm just not their kind of rider. They did fit me when I bought the bike, but you know how that is. They've helped some since then, but mostly I'm learning from other riders here, and through other online sources.