I have always had a HUGE problem with bike seats, the average thin ones just make my arse hurt within half a mile and anything more than a few miles and I have to start riding side saddle. The only ones that have seemed suitable where the wide padded gel seats.

I am incredibly thin with very thin pelvic bone. So any seat without much padding will crush all nerves and feeling.

I have a new bike and I am looking into getting a new seat for it. I have done a bit of reading up on the subject and apparently the wider padded seats (Seemingly 99% of which are for 'women' which doesn't help my masculinity) are worse for cycling. So I was wondering if there was a compromise? As I have no 'natural' padding of my own.

How often do you ride? I felt the same way when I started

I ride every week or so, it would be a lot more but I literally cannot sit down or ride again for quite a few days. I have heard that this clears up when you ride a lot, but I cannot if I have no feeling from below the waist.

What is worse (and embarrassing) whilst having no spots or blemishes anywhere on my body, except in my crack, it makes the situation worse. I really need help trying to find a decent seat...

It's a good idea to make sure the saddle is in the right position before you start buying them. Do a little reading and try moving it (probably) down a bit. Experiment, most of these problems are due to position/fit rather than the saddle itself.

Failing that, go back to the shop that sold you the bike and describe the problem, they should be able to get you into the ballpark anyways, give you a starting point for your own experimentation.

It's counterintuitive, but padding is not usually the recommended solution for your problem. If you can put pressure directly on your sit bones without the padding pushing back against your soft tissue that contains nerves and can restrict your circulation, you'll be better off. Brooks, Selle Italia, Velo Orange and a few others make stiff leather saddles that, when broken in, conform to your butt shape. Also, the design is more like a hammock, that - while apparently stiff - actually has more give than a standard plastic-frame gel seat. The Brooks B17 is the most common of this style...it's what I have and I was skeptical at first, but am definitely now fully converted to the cult of leather.

If you do want to go with a wide padded seat, you need to use a bike that's designed to be ridden from a more seated position. A Dutch-style upright bike. They are slower and less efficient, and thus less common here (because our car-centric cities make most commutes fairly long), but generally regarded to be more comfortable.

Stop reading Internet experts whose advice, based on their racing/touring expectations and their bottom, is not relevant or helpful for you.

If a wider padded seat works for you, use it.

I had this problem, too. Before I knew any better, I went with the gel padded saddles. They were comfy for short rides, but anything more than 30 minutes quickly became uncomfortable. I tried a lightly padded ergonomic saddle (Serfas RX) that a friend gave me, and it was great at first - until I started riding longer rides - 3 to 5 hours in the saddle. Last year I picked up a Brooks B17 leather saddle. I'll never go back to padded again. It took a couple weeks to really get used to it, though.

Ride on a hammock.

Brooks saddles consist of a piece of leather strung between the frame at the rear and the nose piece in the front. In between, it's just leather. It feels very hard, but it is compliant enough to find your sit bones and conform to them without putting excessive pressure on the other bits. Once you get used to a Brooks, you won't want to ride anything else.


EDIT: The universality of the answers here should be telling you something.

I believe I have tried every position available except backwards on many standard sorts of saddles and they are all uncomfortable at any angle. It was the first thing my brother suggested is that it is in the wrong position, but I must express how thin I am and that my bones then nerves rest on the saddle and I lose feeling very quickly, I have very little fat of any sorts, especially my bum!

padded shorts?

I ride a recumbent.

work the pedals harder, that takes weight off your bottom .. and why racer's saddles
are so hard thin and light.

Lighten up Everyone offers advice based on their experience - the person asking for advice has to process all inputs and then decide what is best. Whether it is an internet forum or a physically present group doesn't matter. Maybe I have been frequenting the forum less, but just lately, you really have been posting more critical/negative comments than usual.

You message sounds like:
Stop asking for advice/opinions.

No point in asking questions? Really?

If you've tried moving the thing around, then by all means start buying saddles. See if you can find a shop nearby that will take back those that did not work for you, or perhaps one with a rental program.

+1

Not if all the newbie gets is group think canned "answers" from self styled dialed-in "commuting experts" that doesn't address the question or the newbie's situation.

Or not if all the questioner wants is "approval" from the Kool Kids for buying something, anything as long as it doesn't come from a big box store.

I've read more than one post where someone's only problem is that he has read disparaging or discouraging words about something about his technique or equipment that he previously was satisfied with but is now trying to get "right" with the BF group think approved stuff or technique.

I thought this was the commuter list.

What bike(s) do you ride? Sounds like you ride more than a couple miles, but just how far are you trying to go? How fast?

though I agree with u that this is the commuter section.

I think fietsbob (which I assume is Dutch since fiets=bike) has a point. I used to have really bad arse pain, and after a couple months decided to lower my seat one tad so my legs would be a little more bent, and that actually had more wait on the pedals and less on the saddle.

Its something worth trying..

And I agree with you. Lots of things may be worth trying but the Racer's Edge rationale does not add much weight to the other poster's answer to the OP's question.

Specialized has a seat measuring system in which they measure the width of your sit bones and then recommend a seat that would fit. What type of bike(s) do you ride and for how long? I would HIGHLY recommend a pro bike fit. Start there.

I ride around 12-15 miles to my destination and would need to cycle back sometimes on the same day.

Leebo, I also like your term 'sit bones' :-). Made me laugh.

Edit: I ride a hybrid bike (Carrera Subway).

A pro fit is going to be like $200. The OP just wants to ride to work and back, it's not necessary. A bit of experimenting and he'll be all set.

There is a guy that I have seen a few times with a backwards saddle. So I asked him about it and he said he wanted a nose-less saddle and tried it and liked it enough he never changed it back. So to the advice above to keep trying until it works is pretty good. I ride more upright and I ride a cheap fat saddle with padding. What I found works for me is a very firm padded saddle, the real spongy ones make too much contact and feel great for a bit but the bigger the contact the more you are stuck to the saddle.

It does depend on your riding position. On a racing bike, more of your weight is on your arms, and you're generally pedalling harder, both of which reduce the weight supported by the saddle. Conversely, on an upright city bike, you tend more towards sitting back on the saddle, and on a touring bike, you won't be pedalling hard for long periods of time, so you would want a more supportive saddle. On my commuter bike, I use a fairly hard, sprung saddle. The lack of padding on the saddle allows your 'sit bones' to take your weight more directly, and the springs take up some of the road shocks that would otherwise be damped out by padding. 'Back in the day', a lot of bike saddles had some form of springing.