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Old 06-23-17 | 01:43 PM
  #29  
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79pmooney
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: Portland, OR

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

Joker, I am a believer in finding a (relatively) traditional seat that works for you. Do you have a good bike shop nearby? Many shops in the larger cyciong centers offer trial periods for seats wit full refunds or credit to store merchandise if it doesn't work. (One shop here in Portland has a "library" of 25 seats on shelves. But a $25 library card and you can take out any seat for up to a week, just like a book, as many different seats as you want. Find "the one" and your $25 goes to that seat, new and boxed.

Many shops are figuring out that getting the seat right is a key piece to happy, satisfied customers. If your local shop doesn't do this, talk to them about it. (They could look at Bike Gallery with its standard for Portland policy or Gladys Bikes with its library for ideas.) You could even arrange a vacation to NE Portland, buy a library card and spend your vacation "reading"!)

I stress this actually riding the seats because that is so important. Our butts vary as much as our faces do. (No, I have not done the actual research! Just observed what long time riders find comfortable. I remember well doing an epic ride with a racing clubmate, each of us riding our favorite seats with no issues at all, each of us riding seats that would have been literal a**hachets for the other. That ride was well over 100 miles. He started us out way too fast and died with 50 miles to go to get back to his car. I dragged him over all the remaining hills. The town of Harvard, MA, top of a hill, around Lake Quinsigamond and back up to Harvard. Not flat! Our bodies were hurting all over but our seat were still comfortable.)

When you find the firm-ish seat that supports your sit bones properly and allows you to move to all the positions you like to ride, you wll be very glad you did this work. (I'll bet that seat will not be the final solution. We change and our riding changes over time and we learn more as we go, but having a seat that narrows down the next search a lot.

Good luck and good riding!

Ben
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