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Old 02-09-10 | 06:11 PM
  #4  
raybo
Bike touring webrarian
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,086
Likes: 112
From: San Francisco, CA

Bikes: I tour on a Waterford Adventurecycle. It is a fabulous touring bike.

What kind of pain are your experiencing?

Is it from sores? That is, does it hurt because your skin is inflamed? Cream may help if this is the problem. I carry Zinc Oxide (Diaper Rash Cream) to help with sores and use a Chamois cream (Butt Butter) when I ride if I am having these kinds of problems.

Is it from pressure? That is, does it hurt when you sit on something hard even if you aren't on your bike? This is likely a saddle problem. Did you do much training on your current saddle before you started this trip? Was there a problem then?

When I had a non-leather saddle, I had a pressure problem with my seat. The problem I had involved the design of the seat. It was a piece of metal covered with padding and then the saddle's outer piece. There were two problems. First, the saddle was getting old and the padding was probably fully compressed, which meant I was, essentially, sitting on metal. Second, since you can't break in metal, there was nothing to do but get a better saddle at my first chance. In my case, it was when I got back.

Most serious bike tourists use an all leather saddle, like a Brooks B-17, because a) there is no metal and b) the leather eventually forms to your rear-end and gets very comfortable.

Note that until you "break in" the Brooks, you may find that it, too, is very uncomfortable. It took me a couple of weeks to get my Brooks to feel anything close to good.

I hope this helps.

Ray
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