Originally Posted by
mlau
Today, I biked to work.
I clocked myself at 16-18 minutes.
I rode along the beach, with the sun in my face.
By car, it's 30 min due to all the crazy soccer moms dropping off kids...stop and go...stupid SUVs
I plan to commute by bike a lot more.
Here's my question.
What do you recommend for a good saddle?
I've heard that Brooks are super comfy, but seem to be a magnet for thieves.
I'm in the SF bay area, and people seem to like to steal stuff here.
Someone stole my bikelight from the front of my office!
Oh, a few details:
I'm riding a Xootr swift with a thudbuster.
I'm 210 lb, have a big rear, and ride fairly upright.
I'll be having north road bars installed.
Any recommendations?
No offense meant to the majority of posters that opine about the individuality of saddle choice but, IMO, a lot of it comes down to bike fit, not saddle brand and/or model. IMO you should NOT need North Road bars on a Xootr Swift. I'm just saying. Get your bars 3" to 4" or more if you like, above your saddle height, and you are good to go on the stock bars. If you really need some backward bend consider the "Mary" bars by On One, or anything sold as a "riser bar" 2" of rise should be plenty, you don't need rise in the bars, there is plenty in the stem, you want the pullback, and most riser bars have 15* to 20* of pullback.
For your purposes you can eliminate 80% of saddles sold and concentrate on the wider models sold as "commuter", or "cruiser", or even (!!) "comfort" saddles. I've seen saddles that would serve you well sold in Fred Meyer (dept. store) made by Bell. Trust me on this. You don't need to spend $$$ on a Specialized Road Racing saddle. Terry sells a model called a Cite which is higher quality and more $$ and it gives the width and cush you want along with the higher quality and lighter weight of a more road oriented saddle. FWIW.