Digital Gee

Returned to cycling after three years on a mostly stock Sirrus Elite (2015). Of course, my butt is sore. Really sore.

Wondering if a different saddle might help during the transition get my butt used to this, or is it just a matter of patience and time? If so, any recommendations? Everything else is fine - knees, thighs, arms, even neck.

Someday, I'll get a Brooks. But for now...

mpath

Assuming you're properly fitted on the bike, give it patience and time. My first few rides from winter hibernation always results in a sore butt for a few days.

dannwilliams

Sounds like you've been off the bike for a while? Give yourself time to acclimate to the saddle. Gradually increase time on the bike. If after a while you still feel uncomfortable, a different saddle may be the cure. When I started riding, I went through 3 before I found one that worked for me. 4th seats the charm I guess! It needs to be wide enough for your sit bones, once I got that right it has been nice riding.

Carbonfiberboy 

Best butt conditioning is about 1/2 hour on the bike, every day or almost. Wrong saddle width is frequently the cause of butt pain. See your LBS.

donheff

I recently took my old bike on a vacation. I rode it for a couple of days before leaving and my butt was sore. I swapped out the Brooks from my newer bike and that made a big difference on the vacation. So, yes the saddle can make a big difference. Now I am back at step one on where I go from here. I like the Brooks but it isn't perfect. So should I just order a second Brooks or start experimenting with alternate saddles with the old bike?

RonH

If your butt just can't get comfy with the current saddle try a Selle Anatomica. I have an X series on both of my bikes.

bogydave

“Wondering if a different saddle might help during the transition get my butt used to this, or is it just a matter of patience and time?”

Both

You are searching for the “holy grail “
A saddle good for the 20 mile
rides & also for the 50 - 100 + mile rides.
Gotta find one to fit your bones &&&
Condition your bones to sit on a 4” wide padded seat for hours

Digital Gee

I think I am going to look for another saddle. I know it's partly a matter of getting conditioned to the saddle, but if it's the wrong saddle, why bother?

The one that comes with the bike is a $35 very basic saddle. While I can get used to it, I remember three years ago never quite feeling good about it when I first got the bike. I've never done a saddle search. How can you tell before you invest that it's going to be worth the investment? I mean, I doubt you can return one to the LBS, right?

Do most LBS have something you can sit on to get measured and/or fitted for a saddle?

linberl

Your butt bones need to get numbed up, lol. That's an issue with any saddle. After that, then you can figure out what is comfortable. If you really can't stand it right now, buy a cheap saddle gel cover that you can toss after a week or two.

To measure your sit bones, get a piece of corrugated cardboard (maybe cut from a box) and set in on a step and sit on it. The depressions will be your sit bones; measure center to center of the depression and that's the width of your sit bones. Cheap and easy version of the Specialized device.

As I said at first, I'd ride your current saddle (with or without gel) a week or two so you can get your butt toughened up and THEN go look for a new saddle. Otherwise, you may be misled by tenderness that will go away shortly.

Digital Gee

That's a great suggestion. I'll do that first.

caloso

I give a saddle a hundred miles or so before I give up on it.

bogydave

Some LBS have demo saddles you can try for a week or so
to find one that fits you
then buy that model from them.

WNCGoater

I'm not sure you can. Most can't tell if a saddle is the right one before they do some 40-50-60 mile rides. Well, at least I can't. If it is comfortable for 40 miles, it certainly should be comfortable for 20 miles. But not necessarily the reverse. I can ride almost anything for 20 miles.
And price doesn't necessarily mean it will work better for you. Some have great success with stock saddles or even cheap saddles.

You could "invest" in a Brooks or a Selle Anatomica. The safety in that is, they each have a very high satisfaction rate that almost borders on cult-like and if it doesn't work for you, you can get almost all of your money back out of it quickly in a resell.

fietsbob

taking the saddle off the peg wall and setting it on a wooden chair seem an adequate way to plonk your backside on it?

canklecat

In my case saddle comfort depends on my own conditioning. The wider, padded saddles that came with my bikes were initially comfortable for quite awhile. But in 2015 I was coming from a point of poor physical conditioning. I hadn't done much more than some walking for several years after a car wreck, and still used a cane for longer walks until 2014.

So I sat very heavily in the wide, padded springy saddle on the comfort hybrid I bought in 2015 to resume cycling. That bike has a spring suspension fork and I added fatter tires to reduce the road shock even more. Experienced cycling friends would give well meaning but useless advice such as "Your arms and legs are your shock absorbers!" Yeah, right. I offered to trade busted necks with them for awhile. No takers.

A year later I got a rigid frame hybrid with less upright riding position and a padded, but less thickly padded saddle without springs. Took awhile to get accustomed to. I even added wider, softer tires. And swapped out the supplied flat handlebar for the riser bar from my comfort hybrid.

Last summer, two years after resuming cycling, I got my first drop bar road bike in more than 30 years. It came with a Lycra fabric over dense foam saddle that was comfortable at first... for awhile. That bike demanded a huge adjustment. I had to do more than just ride a bike. I had to increase my upper body conditioning -- not just stretching but pushups, etc., and some homebrewed kettlebell exercises (I use plastic jugs from cat litter, now filled with water).

By January I was tired of that saddle. Never could find the sweet spot. Turns out my butt sit bones are much narrower than I'd realized. I needed a 131mm wide saddle, narrower even than the common 140-145mm road bike saddles. The saddles that came with my bikes ranged from 165mm to much wider. As my leg and arm strength gradually improved, and I sat less heavily in the saddle, that width became a liability.

After more than two months and 600 miles, I'm satisfied with the narrow, relatively firm Selle Italia road bike saddle. Even wearing my most thinly padded AeroTech Pro shorts (the faux-chamois is really just a semi-thick hank of microfiber, not gel foam or anything like that). It's a keeper.

But it took more than two years to get my body back into that kind of shape.

So for now you might try a saddle that will get you through that period of reconditioning, and swap to another saddle later. If I had my druthers, I might have tried a Selle Italia Q-Bik saddle last year -- it's shaped like my Selle Italia SLS Kit Carbonio, but with a bit more padding, a bit wider, and with a perineum relief cutout. In fact, I may get that Q-Bik for my hybrid.

Paul Barnard

My butt is a limiting factor in how long I can ride. I tried a number of different saddles before I found one my butt liked. Good saddles can be expensive and there's no guarantee that you can just go out and buy comfort. You will need to spend some time in the saddle conditioning your tissue. That's inescapable. There are ways to avoid throwing money on top of money at a problem. Some shops have a bin of take-off saddles they will let you try or buy cheap. Certain manufacturers have a demo program. ISM is one of them. You pay a fee to rent a saddle for a week. If you want it, your fee goes toward the purchase price. You can also try another one before you decide. That's how I arrived at the ISM Adamo Typhoon that allowed me to ride my first century.

I can all but guarantee you that an ISM PR 3.0 will transform the bicycling experience for you. They aren't cheap, and for a cheapo like me it was hard to make the leap, but it allowed me to truly enjoy the cycling experience in a way I otherwise would not have.

qcpmsame 

Deege, head to a Specialized dealer that is trained in the Body Geometry (BG) fitting system and have them do the "sit bones" fitting for you. Then you will have a good idea about how wide a saddle to look into. Getting it placed is next, that one is something you can do also. Lots of vids on youtube about this, check there and watch a few first.

And, keep in mind @BluesDawg 's old saying, "The more you ride your bike, the less your ass will hurt."

Bill

nesdog

Specialized has a thirty day return policy if you buy direct from them. I bought a Power saddle that I ended up hating and returned with no problem.

Digital Gee

Thanks, everybody, for all the advice and suggestions. I did order this cover but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. We've had a lot of rain, and my GF's mother suffered a stroke, so I haven't been out riding at all. Now I'm about to do two weeks of business travel, so all of this has to wait until I get back.

When that happens, my calendar is pretty clear and the weather should be cooperating!

BorderRider

Digital Gee,

a few years back, my butt + neck + lower back + feet all ached when I reached the 25 miles distance. I was on the point of quitting it all . I tried a Toupe Gel Specialized 139 mm, a Toupe Gel Specialized 143 mm, a Bontrager affinity R , all these saddles were ridden at least 125 miles. Tried a Brooks B 17 for at least 150 miles. Different LBS all fiddled with the usual and various adjustments.

On last resort I went to a LBS that had been highly recommended by many top notch riders around home. The guy was quick with his diagnostic: your bike is too small ! To make a long story short , the next year I bought a new bike (Look 566) that was perfect for my size and a Selle Italia Man Gel Flow saddle. Problems solved !

Best of luck in your search for a better saddle !

Flip Flop Rider

I like your thinking. A new bike might solve it!

Wheever

In my experience, if you've found the right saddle for your butt, and it's properly adjusted, your butt won't ever hurt, even if you've been off the bike for the winter. (In my case, after months of searching, that saddle was the SMP Drakon.)

Just went for my first ride since Thanksgiving, and no discomfort of any sort after a two-hour ride. Last year, my first ride of the spring was the 5-boro tour of NYC, and even though I had been off the bike for 6 months, 5 hours on the bike gave me no discomfort other than a little chafing on the inside of my left groin area from standing with one leg down waiting for the ride to start. (Which was a lot of stop and go as each group was allowed forward to the start line. So boring.)

Anyway, my point is, while it's time consuming and often feels futile, the quest for the perfect saddle is well worth it! Good Luck!

Connie40023

Connie40023

Connie40023