David713

To all tender bottom riders,
2017 Specialized Sirrus Carbon Expert X1
I just purchased the above mentioned bike. Rides great, however the seat feels like a rock under my ischiums. I am 50 and do not possess the muscle mass I once had to cushion my bones. Any recommendations on a better, softer saddle would be greatly appreciated. Not looking for the big cruiser Style do saddle. I am riding about 100 miles a week.
Thanks in advance for any help.

10 Wheels

What saddle does it now have?

Guessing you need to toughen up your butt.

Try some other saddles.

Took me 47,000 miles to find the perfect saddle.

You are still young and have the time to try some.

CliffordK

Often it takes some longer rides... say a few 50 mile rides to get used to a saddle. Don't be too quick to judge the saddle, but don't injure yourself either.

I find I can get used to just about anything, although I'm getting a bit picky about certain styles. I currently have been riding a Carbon Fiber saddle on my road bike which is like sitting on concrete (but not necessarily uncomfortable).

That bike is out of commission for a couple of days, so back to the old bike with the well worn Fizik saddle... fits like an old glove

RonH

I'm 71 and have a Selle Anatomica X series on both of my bikes.

hyegeek

Some saddles just don't work for some people. A few years ago, 9 miles into my 20 mile ride home on my new trek sawyer, the only thing I could think about was taking the bike back and having them put the saddle from my specialized onto my sawyer.

At 100 miles a week, if you are riding 5 or 6 days a week, you should not be running into trouble on a saddle that will work for you. It is unlikely that toughening up will help. If you are doing 40 miles a day and are uncomfortable, you might look into better shorts. Other than that, a visit to one of your LBS that has the proper equipment to test for pressure points etc. could be worth the investment.

At 52, I just got back from a 4 day bike trip where we did 60 and 70 mile days. With my specialized (riva?) saddle and good fitting shorts, I was comfortable enough until the end of the last day. That probably had more to do with heat and number of hours on the saddle than anything that was actually wrong.

Wildwood

Try a bunch - only your bottomside can speak authoritarily.
Measure the space between your sitbones and see how that fits with saddles you can hold at your LBS.


I ride a variety of saddles, suspended leather (Brooks, Ideal, Belt, others) + newer styles (Selle SMP, Flite, others). if riding 100mi/wk you should be honing in on a good fit pretty quickly. One sure solution (I always recommend) is to vary the style of your riding so that you spend less time fully seated (weighted) on that saddle. Makes the ride more varied and interesting, IMHO.

mike.b

Have your bike shop measure your butt. Your current saddle might not be wide enough. Specialized has a bunch of highly regarded saddles. I'm currently riding a Specialized Henge Comp. It's way better than the seat that came with my bike.

mike

berner

I've never quite found a saddle that fit really well right out of the box. Being a compulsive tinkerer, I customize my saddles. This can take a few weeks to get it right. Generally, saddles have too much padding and I end up removing some of it. The up side is I end up with a fair idea of what shape will work for me.

B. Carfree

The compression of the soft tissue between the skin and bone does cause damage and pain. Sometimes a different saddle will spread the load enough to make a difference, but a surer solution is to reduce the pressure by putting more power into the pedals. Don't sit like a sack of potatoes, ride harder. That may mean shorter rides while you normalize to less saddle weight, but that's the price you pay for comfort.

Carbonfiberboy 

Primer on butt pain:
When you sit on a saddle, the tissue between your bones and the saddle gets compressed. This reduces circulation and thus decreases available oxygen in that tissue, which causes pain. However we're adaptable! Over time, said tissue gets used to the lower oxygen levels and pain goes away.

The best way to adapt is to ride 1/2 hour every day for a couple of weeks. Then gradually increase the time spent in the saddle. Tissue adapts more quickly to a schedule like this because it's never low on oxygen long enough to cause damage, yet the deprivation is sufficient to cause adaptation.

Softer saddles are worse because you sink in further, thus a larger volume of tissue is involved and particularly a larger area of tissue. Thus blood has more trouble getting to where it's needed and adaptation takes longer or does not happen.

All that said, saddle width is very important. One will not adapt to a saddle which is the wrong width, especially if it is too narrow. Your LBS can measure your sitbone width and suggest a different saddle if necessary.

johnu

I've been playing musical seats, Firm foam is the key.

David713

I would like to thank everyone for their time. I believe all these answers hold good information. I will try the break-in period and advoid the thicker more cushioned saddles. Thank you again

Jim Luke

Just this week, I switched to a recumbent due to continued discomfort.

However, I am sure that you will soon adjust to the new saddle. I have several issues that forced the issue for me.

rydabent

I ride a recumbent. My butt does not hurt.

mapeiboy

I hate to say this but 100 mils a week is not a lot of milage to toughen up the butt . You need to ride 100 miles 3-4 times a week to get your butt used to the saddle .

memebag

That's odd. I'm 51 and my ass is growing muscle. My weight is down but my pants are getting tighter in the tuchus. I attribute it to my "summer of sur la plaque".

Can't help with seat recommendations. I have hard seats but no butt pain. When I first started riding I had a lot of pain, but riding toughened my ass.

rob214

i'm new so take this for what it is. only been riding for a few weeks, my bottom doesn't hurt until about 30 miles. i have two brand new pairs of shorts, i don't like the really thick chamois shorts. but my thought is don't forget to try different types of shorts and make sure their not worn out improper fitting shorts can hurt as well.

clifftaylor

It may be worth considering your position - dropping the bars by 1cm wil redistribute your weight from back to front; I was having saddle issues until I resolved the matter by doing just this.

David Bierbaum

Why did I suddenly think up a contraption to help with this? A belt mounted clockwork mechanism with two hammers to constantly pound one's ischial tuberosities and toughen 'em up. It would be called, of course, the Bumm Buffer!

On a more practical note, in addition to finding just the right saddle for your taste, and riding enough miles to acclimatize one's gluteal regions to the saddle, one should give one's posterior a break by riding out of the saddle for a while during longer rides, and riding "sort of seated" with most of your weight poised on the pedals...

John E

Yes, weight distribution makes a difference. In addition to handlebar height, David713 may want to experiment with saddle fore-aft position and tilt.

I sort of feel your pain, because I am breaking in a brand new Brooks Pro. The last time I did this was in 1973, and that saddle served me well for at least 50k miles. Time for another coat of Proofide on the underside of the saddle.

Kai Winters

What shorts/bibs are you using? How old are they? Do you have enough for a rotation or are you wearing the same shorts day after day?
Saddles are difficult to suggest as our butts are all different. Sometimes saddles that are advertised as super comfortable are just heavily padded and may feel great for awhile but once that padding is compressed it may not be so comfortable.

Rick@OCRR

I totally agree with RonH on this. My Selle Anatonica was very comfortable the first time I tried it and it continues to be comfortable 15,000+ miles later.

I've ridden dozens of double-centuries on this saddle and any day I can ride 200 miles in a day and not feel any butt/perineum pain is a good day indeed!

Rick / OCRR

peterws

Bought a Chinese saddle with the old-fashioned coils at the rear. It was real soft. Was also uncomfortable after a couple of miles. Put the old one back on again. Waste of £7. . .(shrug)

Retro Grouch 

I'm thinking that if you were to use it whenever you sat in front of the computer posting on BF, it would encourage you to ride more. Problem solved!

Oldguyonoldbike

I've had good luck with Specialized saddles, although as you can see everyone has their own preference, and their own butt of course.
I'm not sure which saddle comes with the Sirrus, but since you presumably got the bike from a Specialized dealer, they should be able to measure you for one of their saddles. You sit on a gel thing about the size of a loaf of bread and they measure the imprint.
FWIW I like the Romin for a more aggressive position, and the flatter Phenom for a slightly more upright position. I also have an entry level Toupe, which is a literal PITA after about ten or fifteen miles.