Longer rides convinced me that the saddle must move forward to prevent numbness. Your advice on how to achieve this is welcome.

Sliding the saddle forward on the rails was not enough. The photo shows that I turned the seatpost 180 degrees. This gained about two inches. However, soft tissues need the front of the saddle to point down. Options:

I can replace the saddle by trial-and-error. My LBS ha extremely limited stocks. I don't want to spend a lot of money shipping saddles back and forth to online vendors.

I can ask a muffler shop if their tube benders can gently bend the seat post 3-5 degrees. This would ruin the seat post for anyone else because it already faces backward (see photo: clamp facing forward, not rearward).

Any ideas? Thank you in advance!

Could this bike be way too big for you?

Don in Austin

+1, how tall are you???

ps: The guy has the fitting wrong or the bike is too big, just to start, that's why i asked how big the guy was.

Seems you may be going about this wrong. Or at least that your assumptions are incorrect. I'd be careful about correlating your numbness to fore/aft saddle position as it is most likely NOT the problem. Saddle position should be set not for your groin/butt but for your leg/pedal/crank dynamic with an eye to keeping the saddle level to prevent a "nose-up-leading-to-numb" scenario. Then, your reach and rise can be adjusted with your stem (length and rise) to correctly position your upper body. The positioning of your upper body impacts the rotation (fore/aft) of your hips which of course affects you weight distribution in the saddle. A longer reach and lower drop result in your hips rotating forward so you "sit" more pressure on your perineum leading to numbness. Shorten and/or increase the stem rise and your hips rotate back and place more of your weight on the sit bones rather than the tender, vascular perineum. Balance is key but almost guaranteed your saddle position is not the real problem. That said, if you have really wide sit bones then your saddle may be the problem as well. In that case a wider saddle that allows contact with your sit bones rather than having them "hang" over the sides will more evenly distribute your weight/pressure and reduce numbing.

In short, saddle position is not the cause of your numbness but the actual saddle and/or other geometry of you bike probably is. My best guess not seeing you or the bike is that your stem may be too long and/or angled too low.

FTR, As you shorten your reach with your method your upper torso rises relieving perineum pressure, but at the same time you're throwing the lower body fit out of whack as Hokutoa wrote.

First have the saddle position correct. Look up KOPS for a guidline. Once that's set adjust the reach with either shorter reach/drop handle bars and or a shorter stem. A guidline for this is when seated on the bike and your hands on the hoods, the handle bar tops should obscure the front axle.

After all of the adjustments are completed turn your attention to saddle tilt, or possibly another saddle. Another cause of excessive perineum pressure can be your cycling shorts. Shorts with too much padding can aggrevate the problem.

Brad

from the setup of the bike; as othere say, it looks to be way to big for you. the seatpost if far to low to what would be expected; combined with that, the stem for a road bike is on the short side.

for the saddle pointing down, most riders will have there saddle flat, pointing down is an indication of wrong / bad setup.

What do you mean by longer rides? 10-20 miles or 60+?

Are you using padded shorts / if so, are they fitting you correctly, some brands will fit people better than others.

I am 5'05". The bike is 52 cm.

I asked numerous LBS to perform a fit before I bought. None were willing. I was advised to buy from them or off Craigslist, then fit. It seemed backward, but I couldn't talk them into doing a fit measurement first.

I bought the F65 pictured and it seemed to fit pretty well; it was my first serious bike. During my first 20-mile ride, numbness set it because I had to keep scooting back to get my pelvis on the saddle supports. I adjusted the saddle as far forward as possible. During my 30-mile ride, there was no numbness yet soft tissue crush became quite uncomfortable during the first 10-15 miles.

I have the saddle set high enough to keep just a little bend in my knees at the bottom of the stroke. I'm not sure the stem / bars can be raised or move back.

Your input is appreciated!

I'm newly buying my way into cycling; I have thin gym shorts -- no padding at all. At times I have really wished for some padding.

Going by Felt's own sizing https://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/Sing...ke-Sizing.aspx that bike is way too big for you, you should be looking for 48cm bike.

As for the LBS's, suggest you need to find a decent one, if they expect to take money off you for a bike, they should offer a basic fitting service, to make sure you have the right one (size); although you can get the basic info from the manufactures site, as as to what size they recomend for your height from their sizing guide.

That's a big factor in your discomfort right there.

You seriously need to find a new LBS. What is the worst advice I have EVER heard

FTR, as mentioned fit the saddle position to suit your legs and put power to the pedals. THEN if you want a more compact or upright position bring the bars back and/or up.

And finally some of us, me included, just seem to have skinny butts or are built slightly different. In my case I found that there was no way to avoid the soft tissue pressure without setting the saddle up with a few degrees of nose down angle. You may want to try the same after you move the saddle back a little on the rails. But for now leave the post turned around.

A decent enough rule of thumb is that you want the saddle placed so that when the pedals are at 3 and 9 oclock that the front of your knee is pretty much lined up directly above the pedal axis. Some small variation is possible from there but I'd start with that. If you find that pedalling the bike is pushing you back or you seem to be lifting and moving forward alter the saddle position SLIGHTLY to compensate. Forward if you seem to be getting pushed back and slightly to the rear if you seem to be pushing "back" with your feet and feel like you're falling forward.

I notice that this is also a road bike. If you're trying to ride in the drops then it's pretty hard to lean forward in that manner and NOT get pressure on the tender parts if you're actually resting in the saddle. The more aggresive "in the drops" position is generally connected with aggresive power to the pedals. Or at least the rider should be taking a lot of his weight on the legs if coasting or cruising in that position. Save actually SITTING on the saddle for when you're up on the tops.

I rarely ride in the drops. My pants keep falling, so I know I'm losing weight, but until I lose more and get better conditioned I still feel a little cramped in the drops. So I usually ride on the hoods or on the top bar.

I agree that this 52 cm bike may be too large for me. I can't replace it now. I'll adjust the seat forward and consider whether I can raise the bars a bit. My arms are only so long, and my back can stretch for so long before I feel it the day after the ride.

As others have said, try adjusting the saddle according to KOPS, tibia tubercle directly over pedal spindle. I use a home made plumb line for this.

You need bike shorts with some padding. This can help a lot.

Sliding forward on the saddle is caused by the reach being too long, and/or the front of the saddle is tilted down too much.

Dude what you need to do is to get good clothing, big difference between 20 bucks and a 60 plus castelli bib for example.

5,05... thats 165, short trunk and long legs or short legs??? Either way IMO as some others, the frame looks like too big for you. You are around a 50 cm top tube frame, maybe less. The issue is that is hard to imagine how are you seated in the bike because there is no picture of you over it. Ok you are short but long legs? short legs??? Still cant figure it out why the seatpost was put backwards either. Know short guys that raced with me and none never used bikes in some extreme set ups, i'm clueless

Which saddle do you have in there?

A picture of you in the bike should help too, sincerely.

Meanwhile would you at least give us some measurements like your inseam for example just to have something to start?

In most cases, there is only 5-15mm difference in reach with the next smallest size. The frame is probably only one size larger than optimum, so it should be easy to change the stem to get the same reach as the next smaller size. If you have long legs and a short torso, then short reach bars may also be in order. Frame size has nothing to do with the relationship of the saddle to the crank. A smaller frame might have a steeper seat tube angle and permit the saddle to be placed a little further forward (a little over 1cm per degree), but it does not force a rider into a different postion. As a 5'-6" rider, with long legs (83cm cycling inseam and 73cm saddle height), most frames my size have a 74.5 degree STA. I use a seatpost with 32mm of setback, just so I can get the saddle back far enough.

There is no reason for the saddle to be positioned far forward, as shown. As others have noted, try the KOP method to start and if anything, move the saddle even further back to balance your body over the saddle. Getting some good cycling shorts is crucial, but so is some time in the saddle. Also, a comfortable saddle can be hard to find. Even after 25 seasons of riding, my crotch can't tolerate most of the saddles now on the market. I tried four different high-end saddles in one year and never found a real winner. Most are too flat. I need a saddle that's more round from side to side. The Fizik Gobi from several years ago (not the current model), is one of the best for me, but no longer made.

+1

From the Selle SMP instructions:

"Stage 2 – Fine adjustment
Once the saddle has been positioned as per the above instructions, carry out the classical fine adjustment with an Allen wrench on the clamp according to how you “feel” the saddle, finding the perfect balance and the right ‘tuning’ between the saddle and the ischial tuberosities. The saddle nose can be gradually lowered by even 10 - 15 – 20 mm, and the distance between the saddle tip and the handlebar can be reduced by even 5 – 10 - 15 mm"

Ref: https://www.italiatech.co.nz/media/pd...structions.pdf

The saddle should be positioned to fit the rider, not just to fit a carpenters tool.

can't say anyone I ride with on, or off road had a saddle which isn't visually flat, specialists users such as DH'ers will have it raised at the front.

Most guides will say level (horizontal), even seatpost have limited movement for the down angle, so they are saying something.

https://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

https://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK0PDGSQe5c

Also if you follow the rules, #48 says 'Keep your saddle level'

One other suggestion is to get a seatpost with a 2-bolt rocker style clamping mechanism. These allow very fine adjustments to the saddle angle. The single bolt styles that rely on coarse serrations for adjustment can often produce an angle that's either too high or to low.

Some saddles are curved from front to back, so figuring out what constitutes a "level" saddle is tricky. With the old Fizik Gobi, I placed a small level on the saddle and set the nose, so it was about 10mm lower than the tail. This produced a lowest spot somewhere near the middle. If the saddle had been set with the nose level with the tail, it would have given the rider an extreme nose-up feel and been very uncomfortable.

I also find my saddles are usually most comfortable about 10mm nose down.

certainly can be too long ... shorter stem is a cheap fit change,
a short and shallow bar bend will put the brake lever hoods closer to you.

if seat feels too far forward, by just flipping the post around, like you have done,
consider a zero set-back seatpost.

I hope to post a photo soon, showing my position on the bike. I appreciate the request others made for a photo, but wasn't able to take them this weekend. And I certainly appreciate this extended discussion!

Padded shorts, and a shorter / shallower bar - - these are next on my to-do list.