Originally Posted by
Kotts
The answer is, it depends on a lot of variables. Your post doesn't have enough info to be able to give you a good answer. Some questions to start with:
Male or Female?
What kind of riding do you do?
What/where was the discomfort you were feeling before?
When you get those large jolts, is the pressure on your ischia (two hard points in your pelvis, on in each cheek) or on the soft tissues in the middle?
The problem may be one of your riding technique, or of the fit of the bike. Possibly both, in combination with other factors. In general, you should be up off the seat for large bumps. However, if you're feeling the jolts in your butt, through your ischia, that's better than other places (like your wrists.) Your posterior is more built to take it
than your wrists and hands are.
This link may help:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html
When it was low my shoulders & neck were pretty sore from craning my neck up to look I guess. It was also uncomfortable on my lower back to be bent over like that. Then I read that getting the bars above the seat would be way more comfortable so I did that with a stem riser.
I feel the jolts from rough pavement, sewer grates, just about any bump mostly on the butt bones--the 2 hard points. I also can't get my saddle to stop pressing on the nerve/vessel line that runs to the important man parts.
I like riding pavement & gravel roads. I thought maybe one of those Brooks sprung saddles might be a good idea.