General Cycling Discussion - help me get comfortable

Hi all,

My road bike is comfortable but I find that there is too much weight on my hands on my hybrid bike. I had this problem with flat bars and changed the hybrid to drop bars and I still have the problem that I keep slipping forward on the saddle. If you look at the picture (the yellow is the road bike) the hybrid saddle looks as though it has a slope in the way it is designed compared to the road bike saddle.

Does this mean I can't get comfortable on it? I don't mind as I was thinking about swapping the saddle for a brooks, but I am curious if it is possible to get comfy in the meantime.

I have moved the saddle as far back as possible to counterweight using my bum! But if I change the angle so that the saddle is "flat" then it is pointing up too much.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Daven

Could be the geometry of the bicycle. I honestly cant stand riding my hybrid for more then a hour or two.

Perhaps :( Although this happens on 30 minute rides. The bars and seat are at the same height as on my road bike (i.e. put next to each other the drop is the same) so I figured they should feel roughly the same!

How often do you use the shovels?
They may be making your hands hurt.

LOL wondered for a while what you were referring to!! I never use them although I am sure my mother would like me to tend the garden once in a while!

Saddle is too far back,that will put more body weight to the front,that may be why your hands keep slipping.bike fit 101 is your next step.

Saddle is too far back,that will put more body weight to the front,that may be why your hands keep slipping.bike fit 101 is your next step.

Actually the opposite is true. Moving back will generally take weight off the hands and wrists. Unless there's some other unknown factors in this case. The OP's hand aren't slipping, the butt is sliding forward on the saddle. That said, I agree, a bike fitting may be needed.
That saddle looks uncomfortable, but saddle comfort is entirely an individual issue. If you can't tilt the nose up a bit without discomfort then maybe a new saddle is in order. If you end up with a Brooks, you will likely need it tilted up in front as they can be slippery at first.
All this begs the question, does the hybrid fit you? I.E. is it the right size? One of the problems of riding a bike that's too small is your weight ends up nearly centered over top of the BB and the "remedy" is often sliding the saddle back to the extreme and/or a long stem length to keep from being scrunched up which results in the hands and wrist supporting most of the upper body weight.

well it is the "correct" size for me, however my road bike is one size bigger and I had to slide the seat forward and get a shorter stem, perhaps I am better off with a slightly bigger bike due to my anatomy.

The saddle is pretty uncomfortable, however I don't feel scrunched up when riding it. I had a suspension seatpost before but changed this out as it was pretty poor - the saddle moved a little from side to side which was very annoying when riding.

I guess I shall have a look for some slightly flatter saddles not necessarily a brooks though.

thanks

Daven

But if I change the angle so that the saddle is "flat" then it is pointing up too much.

A micro adjust seatpost, like a Thompson with 2 saddle adjusting bolts, will let you fine tune the saddle angle more precisely. Thompsons are a little pricy but there are less expensive brands with a similar design. Kalloy Guizzo has a similar clamp design for about half the price of a Thompson.

Ok here are some side shots of me on both the hybrid and the road bike.

I just got a new seat post and find the angle adjuster much better than my previous one that had 2 screws.

Thanks

Daven

p.s: sorry Longfemur for being a bit abrupt, not having a good day but shouldn't bring that to BF.

You might look at stem length. I was having some of the same issue with my Caad9. Seat height was too high, stem too long. Moved my seat down, got a shorter stem, got ride of the setback seat post and everything came together.

I used to have my seat lower but it felt too low when cycling :(

you look very cramped in the first photo, almost like you are hunched over, not streamlined if that makes sense. If your seat is all the way back and you still fell like you are leaning, your saddle may still be too high. Your leg looks fairly straight as well. If you put your heal on the pedal, I bet your knee would be locked in place.

It's a little hard to tell, but it does look like you're sitting a bit forward, particularly on the dark bike. Might just be fooled by the angle of the shot, though. If so, that would account for too much weight on your hands, and it would aggravate the tendency to slide forward. As you move rearward, just the act of pedaling tends to keep you in place because the pedals are more ahead of you.

You might try experimenting with your saddle a little further back (and correspondingly a little lower). As for the saddles themselves, they are a bit racy for the more upright position I see in the pictures. Generally, that kind of riding position calls for a saddle with a bit more width at the back, because it's going to have to support more weight. A bit wider helps distribute it better.

I'm going to be signing off the internet for a while, maybe permanently, so I'm going to leave by saying there's no substitute for experimenting and seeing what works. But you have to be riding the bike, and that means taking the allen keys with you. Even small changes can make a big difference, and you can even feel it immediately as you ride.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, I think I am going to play with the height a bit but after that leave it until I start cycling to work (I am almost finishing uni now) and then get a proper fit to sort it out.

I find I sit more forward on that saddle due to the shape of it - the road saddle is more flat so allows me to sit further back without constantly sliding forward.

Thanks

Daven

I think I may have found a contributing factor to the problem. I measured my sit bones and the specialized chart suggests:
If your sitbones are between 70 & 100mm, you should ride a 130mm saddle, unless you ride in an upright, comfort position. Then you should ride a 143.

The saddle on my bike is 150mm, and the road bike has a 130mm saddle so perhaps this causes me to slip forward a bit as my sit bones aren't being supported as much as necessary. I think I will get a cheap 130mm saddle and see if it helps.