Recreational & Family - Is it the saddle or lack of shorts

I need some help with finding a comfy saddle. I traded in my stock saddle on my mb for one of those gel saddles with the cut out in the middle--that hurt worse than the first one. Then a bought a wider gell saddle with springs and webbing, which is more comfy but bounces me all over the place. Is there a happy medium? Or is this whole problem due to my refusal to wear bike shorts? I am a weekend rider who spends 2-4 hours at a time on my bike. Thanks for helping a newbie out.

what kind of hurt? Chaffing, numbness, pain?

a little bit of each--the chaffing i can handle,---But after a half and hour my rear goes numb and I am in total pain in the underarea by the end of the ride. The third is what bothers me the most.

Are the shorts really worth it---i hate to spend 60 bucks on something that makes my already large posterior even more noticeable.

Bueller......Bueller.........???????????????

2-4 hours in the saddle??
A too soft saddle will become VERY uncomfortable after 30 minutes or less. What saddles (brand, model) have you tried?
Cycling shorts will definitely help make long rides more enjoyable. Don't worry about appearance, just enjoy riding.
If you don't want to spend a lot on shorts, take a look at STP (http://www.sierratradingpost.com/). They sell tons of discounted cycling stuff.

And try a harder saddle. I love my Titec Ithys Amore. Reasonably cheap, but look around.

Getting a saddle that fits well is almost like trying on clothing. You need to experiment. There is some overlap as to what could be the solution. It could be the saddle, shorts may help, and you may be riding too infrequently. Most likely the saddle is the biggest factor.

If you find a saddle that is OK you can toughen the tissue that you sit on by riding more. But not all at once. A little at a time. Most good bike shops will let you experiment with a saddle or two if you have purchased a new bike from them. In very general terms, a soft saddle feels better when you first sit down and worse on a long ride. The opposite can be true of a harder saddle if it fits reasonably well.

Try different saddles. NOT super soft. NOT super hard.

Try to fit in a shorter ride or two during the week. Don't just stay off for a week and go for two hours if you can help it. Unless you are really hurting, then stay off until you feel better.

Thanks-- i will continue my search for the elusive goldilocks saddle and may even try on a pair of shorts. I have 3 saddles now----they each cost like $20----so i hope i dont have to go through many more to find a comfortable one. I thought the gell one would be nice b/c of the center cut out, but instead of supporting me and offering a soft ride, the gell squished out of the way and the plastic and metal from the saddle was digging right into me---almost like sitting on a pillow on a coffee table

Search this forum for Brooks.

Thanks-- i will continue my search for the elusive goldilocks saddle and may even try on a pair of shorts. I have 3 saddles now----they each cost like $20----so i hope i dont have to go through many more to find a comfortable one. I thought the gell one would be nice b/c of the center cut out, but instead of supporting me and offering a soft ride, the gell squished out of the way and the plastic and metal from the saddle was digging right into me---almost like sitting on a pillow on a coffee table

I like the "goldilocks" description !! Not too hard. Not too soft. just right. :)

I have a big steamer trunk full of saddles that don't work for me., I do a lot of long distance riding. It took me a long time to find out what a 12 hour saddle is for me. It turns out to be a "Liquicell".(sp) liquid filled chamois (pad) shorts and a harder saddle that gives a little on a bump. And of course is just the right shape. Good luck, be patient, try to find a shop that has a lot of saddles.

I need some help with finding a comfy saddle. I traded in my stock saddle on my mb for one of those gel saddles with the cut out in the middle--that hurt worse than the first one. Then a bought a wider gell saddle with springs and webbing, which is more comfy but bounces me all over the place. Is there a happy medium? Or is this whole problem due to my refusal to wear bike shorts? I am a weekend rider who spends 2-4 hours at a time on my bike. Thanks for helping a newbie out.


okay my husband has two of these for both of his bikes

http://www.ergotheseat.com/

won;t you slide off if you are in an agressive position?

won;t you slide off if you are in an agressive position?
nope, I haven't seen him slide off.

I should add my husband is very tall and slim, he doesn't have much padding on the rear, and he likes
these seats very much because like you, he sometimes rides without padded shorts. just regular
street clothes if he's going on a quick errand. my seat is a Terry with the cutout and I like it fine.

I'm assuming skanking is a woman, forgive me if I'm wrong. Specialized Body Geometry womans comfort plus is the best saddle I had on either my mtb or my sportcomfort. Its gel with a split, and wider than most in the rear.http://www.specialized.com/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=10115&JServSessionIdroot=sghocumqyi.j27010
Have you tried moving you saddle up or back on the rails, to move the split where you need it.
On my road bike, I have a Terry Liberator because I'm in a more aggressive position. On my cruiser I have a Terry Molto saddle which I love.
Terry also have wrap around skirts to go over our lovely riding shorts.
http://terrybicycles.com/

skanking biker,

I've gone thru some stuff too. Anything that works, I keep, the stuff that doesn't, well, that's what ebay is for! You can get at least some of your money back that way.

I use a Velo saddle, from wally-world. Those little skinny saddles for me are like sitting on top of a fence post. That part of you, like any other will need to build some endurance. If you are having numbness, then something is restricting circulation. Either the way your saddle fits, some piece of clothing, or you may even have your seat too high. If you can eliminate clothing as the culprit by wearing something different, then try lowering your saddle by and inch or so. If the seat it too high, you could be putting pressure on the arteries that run down the insides of your legs. This could also contribute to the pain you're feeling.

Just a thought.

Good luck goldilocks!

Bryan

Keep looking.

Its also a function of your ass getting used to the seat. A stiff seat is better in the long run.

I hear ya. You have received good advice. A few years ago in preparing to ride my bike down the coast. I started trying to get the right combo of seat and shorts. I tryed the gel, I tryed the super hard and everything in between. What ultimately has been the best saddle was the one that came with a specialized hardrock circa 1988. Crazy as it sounds that one works for me.

Bike shorts also make a big difference, although I also have figured out which regular shorts I can wear with what underwear. Like I can wear my board shorts with a supporter and that works. Its all about trying. My rule of thumb is if you are shaffing after 20 miles its not going to work.

MBD

My 2 cents worth. We have found the shape of the saddle to be more criticle than the pading. I tried about 7 seats before I found Goldilocks. One of the cheapests seats on the market, so I brought 5 of them. Your LBS should let you try them off the shelf and return them if not damaged or dirty.
We have found seat hieght to be very important. If your tail bones hurt when you sit down off the bike the following day your seat may be too low. 5mm makes a huge difference.
My wife had problems with sore behind. We found the most comfortable saddle for her, adjusted the seat to perfection, thudbuster seat post, cycle shorts, which she didn't want to wear. But it wasn't till we got her Groundeffect cycle shorts that no more sore behind. She can now site on the saddle for 4 or 5 hours on the back of the tandem no problem.
Hope this helps.
Brian & Sue

For me the magic combo is a Brooks B-17 and Kucharik chamois lined wool shorts.... And ride often. It takes your backside some break-in time, just as it takes some time to break-in the leather saddle. If it's adjusted properly to start with (bring a wrench along when you ride), the B-17 feels OK right from the start, and perfect after a few weeks. Plastic saddles can be hit or miss... Leather will shape itself to your anatomy, plastic won't.

If you're uncomfortable wearing tight fitting bike shorts, get an underliner short and wear it under a pair of normal shorts.

I absolutely LOVE my brooks B-17 but the Mrs. is partial to her Terry Liberator. I have tried to convince her to try the brooks but she won't have it... says the brooks looks nerdy and her seat is fine.....
For what that was worth,
D

Bueller......Bueller.........???????????????
You need to give it longer than 9 minutes sparky.

I think finding a sadlle that will agree with you is one of the hardest thing to find. After buying 5 saddles, I finally found my saddle from REI, it was the saddle that came on their brand bikes; customers were trading them in for something else. It's a saddle that is 7 inch wide in the rear, has a firm dense foam padding, and a leather cover. It is made by Viscount. It's not a fancy looking saddle but it is so comfortable that I bought 4 of them for my four bikes. I found it in their grab bag pile for $10 a saddle. It took me about five years before I found this saddle so who knows when you will and believe me I've pretty much tried almost every saddle that is out there. One saddle that I have found to be comfortable recently for my brother was a saddle that came on the lower end MTB bikes by Specialized, it had a good width and comfy supported feel to it. The guy at my lbs took it off the show room bike and sold it to me. So good luck, I hope you find one.

I absolutely LOVE my brooks B-17 but the Mrs. is partial to her Terry Liberator. I have tried to convince her to try the brooks but she won't have it... says the brooks looks nerdy and her seat is fine.....
For what that was worth,
D

Nerdy eh? That's funny. A friend who's just getting back into cycling after 15 years without, thinks the same thing. He's way overweight, and bought himself a new Serotta/Ultegra, with... a narrow little modern saddle. He hates the saddle, but won't change it 'cause "it wouldn't look right on this bike"... I tell him it would look fine. Meanwhile 15 miles, and his rear is finished. I can stay on my B-17 all day, and ride again the following day. No problems. In the case of functional leather saddles, "nerdy" is perfect! The saddle is the one area on a bike, where this kind of nerdy is very cool.

I actually did break down and bought a cheap pair of bike shorts. I went for my first ride of the season last night and they seemed to help a little. I am still going to experiment with some of the different saddles I have. My girlfriend just got a bikw and swapped out the stock saddle, so I will give yet another one a try. Thanks for all the advice.