Alright, so I went out for my first bike excursion today, thanks to the excuse of needing some AAA batteries for two of my bike lights. I stopped at my boyfriend's Boston Market for a drink and a break before heading home. About twenty minutes total of riding. Near the end, I started to stand a lot to relieve my butt of all the pressure. ((I'm an Athena.)) Not sure if I'm cool with doing that for my couple mile ride to work.

Now, three or four hours after getting home, I'm still feeling the soreness in my seat bones. It's seriously painful.

Any saddles y'all could recommend on a budget? I'm thinking twenty dollars or less if possible, I'm going to ask my SO for one for my birthday I think. Because the one that came on my birthday-gift WalBike HURTS. I'd be more comfortable sitting on the top tube if it weren't a women's bike.

My favorite is the Charge Spoon. $26. It probably wouldn't be your favorite, though.

Haha, probably not, seems I have a very wide butt. It's around the same shape and size as the WalCreature's current saddle. I might go with a cushy Bell saddle just because it seems so many saddles are just so thin!

I would go Terry, but they're all much pricier. I put a lowend Terry on a bike for my ex BITD, got on sale for $30 and that was an awesome saddle.

It can take several rides for the body to adjust to bicycling, especially in the posterior saddle region. It's almost a foregone conclusion that there to be some soreness in the sit-bones after the first several rides when coming back to the bike. IMO, you should wait a while so your body can adjust before choosing a new saddle since what hurts now might feel great in the near future and what feels great now will become miserable.

Just to play devil's advocate on your budget. Try to equate your saddle to a new pair of shoes. You'd spend a reasonable amount for good shoes, right? Well why not your saddle? Especially when your saddle will last 10 years while your shoes will last only 1.

This is how I talked myself in to a Brooks and I'm glad I did!

I probably tried at least 10 different saddles before I found one that fit me great. I've since installed the same brand/model of saddle on all of my bikes. I have bought most of mine on eBay for very reasonable prices, ranging from $10-30, for a saddle that retails for $100 or more (Fizik Vitesse). A lot of people buy bikes and find the stock saddles are uncomfortable, so they sell them on eBay or Craigslist. If you watch auctions, you can often pick up almost new or lightly used saddles for bargain prices.

Okay, tarwheel's advice might not work for the OP, because...

She has tried only one...

That one may or may not be a correct fit. Too early to tell...

She has one bike.

Beginning with on-line purchases isn't the way to go for her. She must try the saddle before buying, else she'll end up with a bin full of rejected saddles.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION:

Keep riding your current saddle and see how your rear feels in two weeks. The initial soreness will likely have faded. But there may be other problems that make this saddle unworkable for you. Time will tell. Good luck.

+1 on the "wait and see" advice. Give your rear a chance to get used to riding.

Often, a new rider is tempted to get a huge padded saddle. When experience and miles start adding up, they tend to regret it. They are fine for a little ride around the block, or doing a leisurely jaunt down the bike path, but they usually aren't very comfortable after that. As counter-intuitive as it seems, a firmer saddle is better in the long run. Also, don't mistake the width of your "sit bones" with the width of your posterior.

Brooks is a crowd favorite, but realistically one is not in your immediate future. I have a Bell Dart that I bought from Walmart as a cheapy saddle for a beater bike, and ended up liking it quite a bit. Also, I've had the occasional good luck at Dick's Sporting Goods when they clearance out the Avenir saddles. I like the mountain bike series on my more upright/casual bikes.

Also, check your LBS to see if they have any clearance/used saddles. Oftentimes you will be shocked with how nice of a saddle you can end up with for a pretty reasonable price. It will be hit-or-miss, though.



Finally: Take any saddle advice with a grain of salt. Everybody has a different rump. If cycling is something that grows on you, you will likely end up with surplus saddles (or a list of saddles that you've sold on CL or Ebay).




As I was typing that, it occurs to me that it may be prudent to suggest that your saddle position (regardless of saddle model) is important, too. You want the seat post height such that when one of your legs (the shortest of the two, if they are different) has the peddle at the 6 o'clock position, the leg should be just slightly bent. If you have to "reach" to complete the rotation or, conversely, your leg is quite bent (think young boy sitting on a BMX) then that can create some saddle pains. You may need to fiddle with the saddle a bit to get it in the right spot for you.

not sure the saddle is where you want to save money

Actually, I've personally never spent over twenty dollars for shoes. Occasionally my mom will buy me a sixty dollar pair when she has some extra cash, but beyond that, I've found great shoes at walmart in the discount area.

I've actually heard on my particular WalBike even seasoned cyclists can't stand the saddle. BUT, if I end up hating a wider saddle, (not padded, I know that would be a mistake) I can always put the torture device back on.

If your bike is one that is originally meant for teenagers, you may find that the saddle is too small (it's not about the padding). You may need a wider saddle.
See the women's section in this: https://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html
though there are probably easier articles online.

It's not a teen bike, actually, the saddle just reportedly sucks. xD Yeah, I think the stock saddle is too narrow, cause it's the women's bike and many experienced women's cyclists have reported it being a torture device in saddle form. So wider it is! Will be popping down to Performance tomorrow to pick one up, cause I'm not commuting on the stock one.

The width you need depends on how wide your sit bones are and how upright you sit. A Specialized dealer will have a pressure sensing gizmo for you to sit on that will calculate the width you need, but they won't have a $20 saddle. Performance Bike, on the other hand, will probably let you keep exchanging saddles until you're happy. I've got a Forte Classic that I picked up on sale for about $20 years ago. That works for me, but it's only about 143mm wide.

It's no high end soulution, or even a real good one and most will probably scoff but, how about one of those gel covers from Wally World???

That might save you a few bucks 'til tax time.

My wife has one of these from performance bikes and it does the job for her. Her rides are always under 10 miles. She does like it a lot better than the stock Marin saddle.
https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...88_-1___400196
$20. I see they have a store in Plano

I agree. Don't forget, the saddle/bar height ratio can also impact comfort. The more upright you're seated could add more pressure to your sit bones, thereby increasing discomfort. After a couple weeks of breaking in your body, experiment by raising your saddle or lowering your bars so that you're not putting as much weight on your posterior. It's important to make only small adjustments at a time.

WTB Rocket V

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...s=wtb+rocket+v

Has (almost) eliminated my need for padded shorts.

The Bell cruiser seat is quite comfortable in my opinion, as long as you're not riding 10 miles or more at a time. For shorter trips it's great. I had one on a former bike, got it at Target. It's true that each person's butt is different though.

Your butt will go through a "break in" period when starting biking or resuming after a long hiatus - but you will get through it!

Hit the Bike shops.. saddles that come on the bikes from the factory get changed for another
all the time, if the buyer wants something else , and these 'take offs' sell for cheap.

Something I've noticed about saddles. Although I'm a huge fan of Brooks, I do use various models/makes on several of my fair weather rides. What works for me is a saddle with a highly flexible base regardelss of the amount/quality of padding. Even the one fitted to a fixie I own is an old Bontrager saddle that someone discarded. I removed the cover and padding, basically the saddle is just a couple of rails with a very thin and flexible plastic base mounted at three points and it's surprisingly comfortable. Aside from being plastic it acts much like my Brooks saddles... it's an a$$ hammock.

I'm actually going to run up to Performance tomorrow and see if they have the forte ladies soft tail in stock for me to try, and if there's any way they'd let me try it in the store somehow.

Try going to several LBS's and look for saddle take off's or knock off's, these are saddles that came with new bikes and the customer didn't like them and wanted to upgrade to a better saddle. Some of these takeoffs retailed by themselves for $75 and up, and the LBS will sell them for $25 to $45. I got two Fizik saddles that way.

Try a Selle Italia "Flow". I got one for $50. It's narrow between the legs so you won't chafe on the upper legs, but it has a cutout for your equipment. Also it's wider at the back.

Skip the cushy saddles; ride a hard saddle and develop a tougher/harder butt.