Recreational & Family - Comfortable bike seats

Looking for a good bike seat any suggestions. Don't mind if it's the big spring seats either. I know there's a lot of them but they all don't work well. Does anyone have a nice comfy seat?

No one 14 views ???

A bike seat is a very personal choice. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. I had a big padded seat from Wal-mart but my newer bike came with a slim hard seat and it actually works better for me. If you have a LBS some will allow you to try out seats and exchange them until you find the one that works for you. Good luck.

I've got the same question, and I am pretty sure I am going to try a Brooks Imperial B17 saddle for myself, but I am trying to figure out if the Brooks would be right for my wife. We're going on vacation in a little over a week, Grand Canyon of PA, and there are some 35+ bike trails that would be perfect for our "comfort" bikes. Problem is that are "comfort" bikes aren't all that comfortable in the seat department.

Looking at the REI site all the Brooks saddles seem to be listed as "mens" so I'm not sure that it would be appropriate for my wife. Can anyone else weigh in on this one?

Sorry, but a generic "comfy seat" question doesn't give us anything to go on. What type of riding do you do? How far, how long? What is your position on the bike? What saddles have you used before that you like or don't like?
In general, however, bike seats are just so personal it's pretty impossible to recommend one, thus people get tired of responding to "What seat" posts. It's like posting "what shoes fit me?"
One piece of common wisdom - soft in the store is not necessarily comfy on the road. Case in point - Brooks B17. Horrible in the store, but the favorite saddle of the vast majority of long distance cyclists.

Brooks generally require a break-in period to be comfortable - not a good choice if you are going on a trip in a week! Find a Specialized dealer nearby and have them fit you for one of their "Body Geometry" saddles. Many people find these comfortable and their fitting process in one way you might reduce some of the trial-and-error that is usually required.

Well, if you really want a comfortable seat .....

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t144/yachtie/Latejuly005.jpg

:lol:

I've got the same question, and I am pretty sure I am going to try a Brooks Imperial B17 saddle for myself, but I am trying to figure out if the Brooks would be right for my wife. We're going on vacation in a little over a week, Grand Canyon of PA, and there are some 35+ bike trails that would be perfect for our "comfort" bikes. Problem is that are "comfort" bikes aren't all that comfortable in the seat department.

Looking at the REI site all the Brooks saddles seem to be listed as "mens" so I'm not sure that it would be appropriate for my wife. Can anyone else weigh in on this one?

I am female and I have a men's Brooks B17. I'm 5'7" and 160lbs. The men's saddle fits fine. I believe the women's Brooks saddles, depending on the model are a little shorter from front to back and then a little wider from side to side.

There is a women's cycling forum (I forget the name, but I came across it when I was contemplating a Brooks) and most of the women who were getting a B17, opted for the men's version b/c they felt like they were falling off the front of the ladies one b/c it was shorter.

Of course, this all depends on the individual rider's size/shape.

I have a plastic storage bin full of various bike seats at home. In the quest for true bike comfort I ended-up buying a recumbent bike (Sun EZ Sport AX) and a crank-forward cruiser (Electra Townie). The recumbent seat is pure heaven compared to a regular bike seat. For the Electra Townie I bought a Hobson Easy Seat 2 (version1). It's the only seat that is comfortable for me on anything other than a recumbent. Note: The Hobson Easy Seat 2 works great on a crank-forward bike like the Townie or Giant Suede. It will NOT work with a standard diamond frame bike, as the seat pads will end up hitting your thighs as you pedal. The difference being that with a crank-forward bike frame the bottom bracket/pedals are set 6 to 8 inches farther forward of the seat's down tube.

Like one poster said, bike seats are a very personal choice. I just got to the point where I got tired of searching for a bike seat, so I found that the bike frame geometry really plays a large part in comfort.

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As stated in an earlier reply to this thread, a bike seat is a very personal choice. Personally I have Brooks B17s on my bikes. Are they as comfortable as my Lazy-Boy recliner? No. Are they better than the typical plastic saddle? You betcha!

* Leather breathes, so you don't get as much perspiration held against your skin to soften and make it easier to chafe.

* Brooks saddles are hard, which very fact makes them more comfortable than a soft saddle, which I find feels great for the first mile but is agony for the rest. This is counter intuitive, but it's true.

Brooks generally require a break-in period to be comfortable - not a good choice if you are going on a trip in a week! Find a Specialized dealer nearby and have them fit you for one of their "Body Geometry" saddles. Many people find these comfortable and their fitting process in one way you might reduce some of the trial-and-error that is usually required.

This is good advice, but not infallible. I've had four new Brooks saddles, three B-17s and a Pro, and while they did get more comfortable in a few hundred miles, they were acceptable right out of the box, especially the B-17s. At least for me, tilt matters a lot--a millimeter or two up or down on the nose makes a big difference.
As somebody else has mentioned, saddle preference is a very individual thing. I tried an early Body Geometry and disliked it so much I gave it to a friend. He's still riding it on his commuter two years later.

I got one of these for myself before I graduated into something more sleek for my road bikes. but my kids love them and have used them on their last 3 bikes. they are both on adult sized bikes and still uses these saddles. the first I got on clearance at Sears, don't remember where I got the second one. This is what they look like. I thought it was called the Schwinn Ergonomic Bike Saddle.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schwinn-High-Density-Foam-Mountain-Saddle-Seat-Bike-Extra-Gel-Comfort-Lycra-NEW-/321125929234

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schwinn-Pillow-Top-Extra-Gel-Comfort-Saddle-Bike-Seat-/251248501660

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/BikesAccessories/SeatsSeatcovers/PRDOVR~0733023P/Schwinn+Adult+Ergonomic+Bike+Saddle.jsp?locale=en