I have a couple saddles that are slippery and my rear end
keeps wanting to slide back and forth on them. Any treatment I can use
to help this?

short answer: no idea.

longer answer: friction between shorts and the saddle is generally considered to be a bad thing, causing abrasion of one or both materials. The main reason for minimal friction is that the legs are moving relative to the saddle. If the legs of the shorts don't move freely relative to the saddle, then the legs of the shorts will move against the legs... and that leads to skin abrasion. This is not a good thing, obviously.

If the problem is that you are sliding forward on the saddle, that suggests a problem with the saddle position, or maybe your fit on the bike in general.

Steve in Peoria

^What he said. Find the place that you bum wants to slide to and move your saddle.

I must be different because this saddle has a tougher texture and is my most comfortable saddle

I suspect a fit issue, with prime suspect being the saddle location, both vertically and horizontally.

I have experienced this once or twice. In those instances, the saddle in question was a Brooks B17 Narrow, coupled with some Lycra or nylon bike shorts. I saw two options...

Don't use that saddle with those shorts. These days, I ride wearing my blue jeans, or what ever I happen to be wearing when the need/opportunity presents itself...

A lot of us here ride Brooks or other leather saddles, and they tend to allow the rider to easily slide to a slightly different position all throughout the ride.

+1

Just as one is well advised to move one's hands around the bars to rest different areas, moving around on the saddle keeps the soreness away. Or at least down to a dull roar.

It's a "humidity" issue, and for sure it makes the saddle uncomfortable since your rear and nethers find the hard edges of the saddle more often.

Solution I found was to start the ride by placing a piece of wet/damp cloth on the saddle, and sitting on it, which quickly puts some moisture into the friction surfaces.

Then, as you ride, sweat vapors should maintain the humidity level sufficiently.

Using salted water instead of plain water will better retain moisture on a dry-air day.


When a saddle was new and hard, I used a slightly different approach. I would place a wet floppy sponge (not quite dripping) on the saddle top, five minutes before riding. I had to keep the sponge from reaching to the hidden edges of the cantle plate and nose clip under the saddle, to prevent the edges of those structural pieces from showing their edges on the top side of the leather. But the leather took on the water, making the saddle grippier and softening the central ridge that needed breaking-in.
As the saddles aged, the need for preventing slipping seemed to go away, so these were temporary measures and did not cause the saddle top to sag.
I note that I am a lighter rider, and that under heavier riders in hot, humid conditions the saddle top may sag excessively even without dampening it manually.

If you ride a Brooks or other leather saddle and slip about, periodically clean the top with saddle soap and oil the underside with Neatsfoot oil. Don't oil to top, as the oil will forever rub off on your shorts, jeans or whatever. Applied to the underside, the oil softens the leather and makes it easier to break in the saddle. Once it is broken in, you'll stay in place better.