stevebiker

What kinds of genital problems, specifically, did the news article warn about?

Childbirth would not be affected by genital problems, unless cycling caused obstruction of the vaginal canal that would restrict birth during delivery. I doubt that riding would affect fertility or embryo development in the womb, which are remote from external genetalia.

This is not common among American female cyclists, though the type of pressure can be of concern, as reflected by our magazine media articles.

Condorita

Interesting. I was contacted almost immediately.

NightShift

Yeah, and men never feel uncomfortable discussing our issues in mixed company, and our issues never get personal.

Rimmer

What goes on in the women's forum?

Bethany

Awesome that she's out on a bike. She needs a saddle that fits her right for her sit bones so there isn't so much pressure. Can't really help on which one works best though. I think Terry is a brand a lot of women use on some other forums. Make sure the bike fits her as well. If she's having to lean forward a lot or keep shifting positions, it adds to the pain. Padded shorts really help. Take breaks and stand up. She'll be just fine for having kids. If cycling was detrimental to having kids, no woman would ever ride a bike.

Didn't even know there was a women's forum..LOL. Cycling shouldn't hurt and no one should have to just "deal with the pain" regardless of gender. I hope after reading the posts, she'll feel better about being on a bike.

Homebrew01

The same saddle, tilted a bit more up or down, can make all the difference. Bring the correct tools on a ride so you can stop & make small adjustments. Like shoes, if it doesn't fit, try another one.

Artkansas 

Does she have a female specific bike frame? I have heard those can help.

garethzbarker

she's on a little 6 speed cruiser right now. I'm probably going to get her a nice bike for her birthday. I'm measuring her sit bones next week, I was thinking of going with a B17.

Rowan

Go over to the 50+ forum where the gutter humour exudes on the Komando thread. And this in a forum that supposedly prides itself on its maturity.

I was around when the women's forum was open, and it often wasn't really pretty with the rubbish that many males threw around -- admittedly most were senior college and university jocks who apparently were just discovering puberty.

a1penguin

Probably man bashing and cat fights. I've participated in "women only" lists in the past and generally not liked the energy.

Machka 

Nope.

apollored

I dont generally have problems in that area when cycling though I dont at the moment have any cycling shorts so wear whatever is convenient at the time.

But I do have a wide comfy saddle that I bought after I got the bike at a different shop.

No way could I ride with those pencil thin saddles.

NightShift

What does that have to do with the double standard?
Is it not open now? Do you mean before it was open?
Right. Crass remarks are clearly the mark of educated, athletic males.

Machka 

You've obviously got no idea. You weren't here back then.

And no, it's not open anymore. It's closed to the men, and has been for a few years. It's better that way.

Machka 

The B17 is a good idea, but may take a little bit of getting used to.

Do you have a B17? If you do, then you'll be able to offer her some advice about it too.

If you do go that route, a few warnings/tips:

-- a new B17 is slippery!!
-- a new B17 is very hard, and never loses that hardness. It is hard now and will remain hard for the rest of its life unless something goes terribly wrong with the saddle. But being hard is good.
-- try the saddle level, but if she doesn't feel comfortable that way, tilt the nose of the saddle up. It may take some tilting to get it just right.
-- it could take several hundred km before the saddle breaks in, but there is a non-intrusive or destructive way to speed things up a bit, which I can tell you if necessary.

I love my B17s, but they aren't the type of saddle I can just hop on and feel wonderful. It takes time, but it is very worth it ... once the saddle is broken in, I can ride, and ride, and ride, and ride, and my sitting area is the least of my worries.

Boudicca

+1 on Machka's comments.

I had one miserable afternoon on a rental bike a few years back before I realised that there were things I could do to be comfortable. I now have Terry Butterfly saddles on all my bikes, they are relatively firm, and have a cutout just where it works for me, I have the seat set up just right and the saddle perfectly parallel to the ground. (Every backside is different, so what works for me may not work for OP's wife. There are people who tilt their saddles up, or even down.)

And it's counterintuitive, but the main problem for me is if the saddle is too soft. You sink down into it and the Bits That Are Not Designed To Get Squished get squished. On a long ride last year I persuaded a fellow rider to take off the gel seat that she thought would make her riding morre comfortable after she complained of pain. Pain went away. Magic.

NightShift

Wow. What an effective and informative argument.
Rowan said open, not open to men. If it's not open it's closed. If it's not open to men it's restricted.
I'm not arguing against restricted forums; I'm arguing against double standards.
Why would it be a bad thing to have a men's only forum where someone could be banned for making insulting comments? How are we less deserving of a private board where we can discuss gender specific issues than women?

Machka 

This has nothing to do with the OPs question.

If you've got issues with the forums, post it elsewhere. Here, perhaps: https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...ser-Assistance

Machka 

You've got to have a saddle wide enough so that your sitbones can rest comfortably on the saddle, but not so wide that there's chafing and discomfort.

I've tried to ride a saddle that was too narrow. I could only get one sitbone at a time on the saddle, the other sitbone would slide off the side. Talk about uncomfortable!!! I could manage about 10 minutes with that saddle and by then I was in such incredible pain, I actually didn't want to ride that bicycle. I changed the saddle to something a little bit wider ... and what a difference! So much better.

NightShift

Machka, you posted that women can feel uncomfortable discussing personal issues in a mixed forum. I posted a very brief response meant to point out that the same can be true of men. I don't feel that was unreasonably distracting from the focus of the thread. The responses to my post seem to favor a double standard. I've responded to those responses. Beyond my first post in this thread, which I still consider perfectly reasonable, I haven't done any more to derail the thread than the people responding to my post (including you). If someone wants to argue for a double standard I will argue against it. You can either tell me why you think I'm wrong or we can drop the matter (and this isn't the first time or place I've brought up the issue of this specific double standard).

unterhausen

If you have a problem with the way things are run here, please take it up with Tom Stormcrowe, not air it out on someone's thread. I think that the woman-only forum is a great idea, and a male-only forum would be a failure. The problem with posts about sensitive male issues comes from other males, whereas the same is not true of sensitive issues related to females.

NightShift

Unterhausen, as I already expressed, I didn't try to start an argument about this in someone else's thread. I'll argue the point when and where I feel I have cause to do so. If you really didn't want this distracting from the thread you could have pm'ed me your argument. If you want to discuss the matter outside this thread then you still have that option.

Artkansas 

LOL!

I'm not sure if there are any male specific topics that I haven't heard discussed on these forums. If you could make a solid case for the need of such a forum, I imagine that the mods might make one. But I don't think there is a need. We males are a hardy bunch.

fairymuff

Nuff said...

garethzbarker

Anyway... Yes I really only use brooks. Wish I didn't sometime. For instance I use it on my carbon ultegra road bike. the saddle weighs half as much as the frame But they seem to be the only saddles that I've found so far that for for me. Recently I've been torturing myself on a little racing saddle on my new bike friday but I'm not sure if that will last.

I can instruct her on the saddle, I might even rough it up a bit for her; not enough for dimples just a couple of hundred km to soften it up and take the slippery feature away.

To be honest she hasn't complained much about pain. The only time I saw her in real pain was from hand numbness, so now I think she wants dropbars on her next bike. Her complaints are about a fear of harming her privates from cycling over a long period of time. So I'm trying to educate her on proper techniques to avoid any problems and let her know there are women that ride everyday and do long distance with no problems down there.

I'd like to slowly teach her about fit and comfort and health over the next couple of months so she has a better idea of what she wants on her new bike. Thanks for all the help.

I'd kind of like to move on the bar position. I know it's about comfort but her bars are like 6 inches above the saddle right now. Women should be a little higher than men but by how much? I wanted to get her to try around one inch above at least. I feel up on those big riser bar is ultimately unsafe on descents, dangerous for your spine and painful on the ass on long rides.

P.S. somewhere up there someone said something like "In America we.." I am American. I reside in Korea these days and my wife is Korean though.