I'm helping a friend get ready to ride a MS ride next month. She's a 50ish woman who hasn't been on a bike since her teen age years. Got her all outfitted and ready to go, and now into training for the ride. A problem has cropped up. The seat is hurting her in her female part. This from day one. We are now on day 20 or so in the program. i figured i'd let her settle into riding before addressing it. Now, she's getting in form and the problem persists!

From a gear perspective, it doesn't seem to matter what she wears. Padded shorts, no padded shorts etc. So is this a seat adjustment or new seat?

if it's a new seat any reccos in the lower price ranges are appreciated. The bike is a Trek 7200. THX.

1. Check the fit of the bicycle. In particular, when she sits on the saddle, and rests her heel on the pedal, her knee should be just very slightly bent ... not locked straight and not too bent.

If her knee is locked straight, she'll be rocking sideways a little bit with each pedal stroke. Ouch.
If her knee is too bent, there will be too much friction down below. Ouch.


2. Look at the saddle. Is it wide enough for her sitbones without being too wide? She has to be able to plant both sitbones on the saddle. I can tell you from experience if the saddle is even slightly too narrow, and one sitbone kind of slides off the side, that is extremely painful. But on the other hand, you don't want a massive tractor seat either because that can also cause all sorts of friction issues.

Is the saddle level? It should be level to start with ... and then very slight adjustments can be made up or down.

Is the saddle fairly firm or really cushy ... firm is better. I know that may not seem right, but if we sink down into a cushy saddle, there's extra friction. A firmer saddle of the correct width allows us to sit on our sitbones and not put the weight on the middle area.


3. Core work ... and upper body work in general, but especially core work. The stronger the core, the more comfortable the saddle ... just about any saddle. A strong core allows a person to "perch" on the saddle rather than sitting in it like a sack of potatoes. Again, we should be sitting on our sitbones ... and sitting lightly on our sitbones, with some of our weight on our feet.


4. Posture ... sit on a hard chair and straighten your back so that you are sitting tall with good posture. Tuck the pelvis under just a little bit and suck in the abs, thus raising the front of the soft bits off the chair. Now lean forward, keeping the front of the soft bits off the chair. That's pretty much the posture to maintain on the bicycle. It lifts the soft bits off the saddle so that there is no weight on them. However, this can be difficult if the core is not strong ... but it feels quite natural and comfortable when the core is strong.


I hope some of this helps.

Definitely try some seat adjustments, a few mm at a time fore/aft, tilted up/down, but also maybe a saddle with a cut-out down the middle. I ride one myself and it helps prevent numbness. I don't care for a lot of padding, but everybody's different. I'm not done with finding the "best" saddle, but the Specialized Ruby Expert I'm riding on now is pretty good. There are saddles with cut-outs to fit pretty much any budget, and some bike shops offer trial periods with saddles so you can test them out for a bit before buying.

Everybody likes different saddles. Provided the bike fit is right, you still have to try a few, or more than few.

I'll say t because someone else will anyway: try a leather saddle like a Brooks. No guarantees, but they work well for many.

THX, good suggestions and info! Sounds like small adjustments are the place to start. I'll give that a shot for the nxt ride. More suggestions, please feel free to post!

My wife was having the same problem and it was due to the saddle not being wide enough. Her sit bones were not on the right part of the saddle. A wider saddle and adjusted front to back and she is happy now.

You didn't say whether this was pressure, or friction. Or both. You've gotten some sound suggestions so far, but here's one more: Encourage your friend to register for the forums and start asking questions herself. It's hard to figure out what's going on with someone else's butt by relaying questions and suggestions back and forth when the owner of the posterior in question isn't part of the conversation. Longtime cyclists, especially distance cyclists, are very comfortable discussing saddle issues - guess why? If she's embarrassed or feels uncomfortable discussing it on a public forum, there are plenty of forum members who would be happy to help her via PM's or email. I'd be happy to do that, and I'm sure Machka would be too, and probably lots of others. (If it helps, Machka and I are both women, with lots of long distance experience)

She might also read through the Long Distance forum for LOTS of discussions of saddle issues. And keep in mind that although men and women have different sorts of sensitive parts, both sexes have soft bits that aren't meant for sitting on and both have sit bones that ARE meant for sitting on. Most advice about how to find a good saddle, how to get comfortable, what kinds of adjustments to make, etc, pretty much applies to both sexes, so don't ignore the posts that ask about male issues. They might still contain useful suggestions.

One last caveat: We often tend to assume that women with saddle issues need a wider saddle, but that isn't always true. A saddle that is too wide can cause exactly the same problems, because the backs of the rider's thighs hit it when they pedal, so they're forced farther forward onto the narrow nose. So then the sit bones are not supported in exactly the same way that they're not when the whole saddle is too narrow. Or it means that the rider has to rock their hips to avoid that problem, in which case the nose creates a lot of friction and digs into soft areas. IIRC, a Trek 7200 is a hybrid that may come with a wide-ish saddle already, so that could possibly be a factor.

The size of the frame and height of the handlebars can also be a factor, particularly for a newer rider.

It is an old tip but may work for your pal, a Brooks B 17 ( brown with black rails ) just my personal favourite, dunk the saddle in water until it is waterlogged then fit it to the bike don your water proof trousers and go for a short ride 30mins ought to do it, then leave the saddle to air dry "very important" when it is completely dry treat it with Proofide or what ever leather food you prefer finish with a good shoe polish and you are good to go. This is what i did to both my B 17s and they are comfy as anything, hope this helps..

My wife rode a lot, but in post menopausal years had issues with saddles that used to work for her. She tried many wider, narrower, harder, softer, and wound up settling on (figuratively and literally) a Selle Italia Diva which she is quite happy with. Everybody's bottom is different but this saddle has worked for a number of women we know, so it may be worth a try.

I'm not female, but I know a lot of female cyclists. For many, the issue is too narrow a saddle, as Machka said. There are women-specific saddles that are well worth exploring.

For less experienced cyclists, I have often seen women on bikes that didn't fit. The reach from saddle to bars was too long for them, so they tended to slide forward and put their weight on the nose of the saddle instead of sitting on their sit bones. Not nice.

I've also seen women try to ride on a nose down saddle, because they mistakenly believe that it's the nose of the saddle that is the problem. It isn't, but they make it so by forcing themselves to slide forward onto it.

Chamois Buttr. It really helps.

To the O.P. - listen to Machka. She's ridden a few miles.

Some more good suggestions which I'm boiling down to trying some small adjustments and then moving on to a new saddle if those don't help. I appreciate everyone's help and input. I've added the saddles mentioned to the list to check out.

To the poster who admonished me to have my friend register and then gave me the 101 on how to use this forum, thank you as well for your input. Which I parred down to adjust then replace if necessary. As for my friend joining here, why? her interest is in raising money for a good cause, not biking. Bikes just happen to be the vehicle being used to raise the money. Most likely a one and done. I assure you she's not shy in any way. Truthfully, if she has to, she'll gut it out for the ride. But, I figured i would try for a fix. And, if i can get her comfortable on the bike maybe another life long convert to the sport we all love. Again, thx!

Great info!
One thing I would add is maybe try double shorts.

My wife has this issue. The bike was a men's small frame as it fit her better than the woman's version, but she found the saddle was too narrow and the nose was too long. She tried a couple of different saddles, but eventually found the one that worked for her from Specialized.