Nothing like the smell of deep fried cyclist ripping down the road to rile Rover up!

I used that during RAGBRAI and ended up with friction burns on the skin over my sit bones. To be fair, the day before the friction burns appeared I took advantage of a water slide and other water features in one of the pass through towns, so it may have washed it out.

Good luck finding someone to show you how to properly use butt butter.

I was wondering if anyone would latch onto to that.

I'm certainly not going to show you, but here's a set of instructions ...

1) Make sure your bicycle fits and is set up properly for you.

2) Check the saddle width. It needs to be wide enough for your sitbones but not too wide. If you're riding a trainer or as stoker on a tandem (the two most difficult saddle situations), you might want to consider a slightly wider saddle.

3) Check the curve of the saddle. Some people like them flat, some people like them curved up in the back a bit. You'll figure it out pretty quickly. I like mine curved up in the back.

4) Shorts ... get some with light padding that covers your sitbones. Yes, some people can ride without padding, and you may get to that point too, but start with padding.

5) Core ... start working on it. The stronger your core is, the more comfortable you'll be in the saddle for extended periods of time.

6) Fitness ... keep riding and also work on other aspects of your fitness. Leg strength, upper body, core. The stronger and fitter you are, the more comfortable you'll be in the saddle for extended periods of time.

7) Posture on the bicycle. Don't just sit on the saddle like you're a sack of potatoes. Try to distribute your weight between your hands (small percentage), feet and sitbones. Try to sort of lightly perch on the saddle. This is where fitness and core strength really come in. And by putting some of your weight on your feet when you ride, you'll be able to lift yourself out of the saddle ever-so-slightly on descents or when crossing railway tracks etc. to give your sitbones a bit of a break.

8) Keep clean and dry ... both you and your shorts. As much as possible, keep your shorts dry. If you pour water over your head on a hot day, try to keep it off your shorts. And if it is a rainy ride, it can help to have a spare pair of shorts to change into. As for you, every 100 km or so, get in somewhere and clean yourself well down there. Wash off the sweat and sweat salt, and dry yourself well. If it rains, it does help to use a minimal amount of some sort of cream to protect the skin ... that was the only condition where I found the creams helped.

9) And then, occasionally, I will use a little dab of Ozonol (Polysporin is similar), with antibacterial properties and a pain killer, on certain spots.


Also note that bicycle fit isn't something you arrive at and remain with for the rest of your life. It will change as circumstances change.

Hope that helps!

One word:
Sure it's expensive, but we need to keep the boy in the lifestyle to which he would like to become accustomed. And these YouTube videos don't film themselves. And look at the list of ingredients:

Water, Glycerin, Ozokerite, Cetearyl Alcohol, Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Extract*, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract*, Hordeum Distichon (Barley) Extract*, Dimethicone, Glyceryl Stearate, Pentylene Glycol*, Peucedanum (Masterwort) Ostruthium Extract*, Stearic Acid, Polyglyceryl-10 Pentastearate*, Olive Fruit Unsaponifiables*, Evodia Rutaecarpa Fruit Extract*, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil*, Avena Sativa (Oat) Extract, Bisabolol†, Dipotassium (Licorice Root) Glycyrrhizate*, Ergothioneine, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Phospholipids, Glycine Soja (Soybean) ?Oil*, Glycolipids*, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Sterols*, Allantoin, Panthenyl (Provitamin B5) Triacetate, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Xanthan Gum, Behenyl Alcohol*, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate*, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride*, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Cetyl Esters*, Cetearyl ?Methicone, Hydroxyacetophenone, Menthol*

Pretty sure they're making some of that stuff up (Ozokerite? Olive Fruit Unsaponifiables? Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate? That's a dinosaur, isn't it?), but it can't be cheap to get all that stuff in a 4 oz. tube. $6/oz. seems like a bargain.

Udderly Smooth Chamois Cream with Shea Butter, 8 Ounce (Twin Pack); $11.98 @ Amazon

Works every bit as well as any other brand, at less than 1/2 the cost. Each tub lasts at least a year, as I only need it in hot weather for rides of 80+ miles. So it is used infrequently. But at the cost per ounce, go crazy.

Bag Balm works better than anything I've ever gotten at a bike shop.

Some folks use a friction reducer, some don't. Sometimes a little dab is helpful, sometimes not needed. Depends totally on the individual and their needs for that ride.
Some folks swear by one product or another.
You have to test it out for yourself.
Since the topic is chamois cream I will share another product that works well for some folks. A dab of Palmers Bottom Butter before a long ride or run can make a big difference in terms of friction related issues. Fairly inexpensive too.
Good Luck.

I was turned on to Bag Balm by a tandem stoker years ago. She said the same thing, that stoker was the most rigorous test of saddles. (Though downhill on fix gears may well be the most intense abuse we can get from them. Mercifully, those descents rarely last more than minutes.)

Ben

Missed opportunity for a Klingon joke. -1

The ingredients say that it's lightly scented. I can get scent induced headaches. How lightly is it scented?

So lightly scented that I've never actually noticed a scent. I just took some big whiffs of the container, the Udderly Smooth smells very similar to my wife's crazy-expensive Neutrogena Pure sunscreen, if a little more faint. My wife is super sensitive to smells as well, and she's not bothered by it, so it must be very mild. We don't have scented hand soap or lotion 'round here.

Outstanding. About to place an order. It's nice knowing nobody had to club a harp seal for my bicycling comfort.

Full disclosure - i know the inventor and proprietor of Enzo's. I have sponsored him with wheels off and on for years and still consider him a friend.

That said I would still highly recommend trying buttonhole chamois cream.
He started the company for the exact reasons noted at the start of this thread. He ran out of the original Assos stuff. Tried the new Assos stuff. Hated it Tried DZ and liked it but was not happy about the price.

He figured out what was in all of them and removed the bad for humans stuff and made buttonhole. Price was his biggest concern after the formula. Just about every pro i know or work with is using it. Many have to hide it when at venue because it isn't sponsor correct for them. I have people who refuse now to use anything else.

To top it off the company still supports racing directly and the sport as a whole. Not a corporation without a face or a company no longer owned by the cyclist that created it. Check it out. Thank me later.

That's a mental picture I can't handle...

Any good stuff is going to cost some money. However, if this is a problem you can try Noxema or something like that. Nivea cream. Doesn't last as long. Cheaper. I ran out of my cream at home and used Nivea in a pinch. Not as good but it works.

Do not use petroleum based stuff like Vaseline.

Start a company making chamois cream and charge half price. You'll make it up in volume.

:)

Bag Balm, use as directed. A buddy's wife once asked him why there were finger marks in her new can of Crisco. I take Chamois Butt'r in a small container for freshening things up on very long rides. Bag Balm is rather obnoxious to get off one's fingers, but that's why it works so well.

I assume you know they sell little packets, expensive but convenient.i keep one in my saddle bag for century+ rides. I hate getting bag balm off of everything it sticks to, have to use dish soap to get it off my hands
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cf47fd21b4.jpg

If I had once seen them, I've totally forgotten. I have the big bottle and squirt some into ~2 oz. container I use. Then the trick is to dab some down there discreetly, hah hah. And then I can wipe my finger on my shorts, legs, anything handy.

Yup.. let's hear for packets; I have one of these, plus the below in a ziploc.. takes up no room at all in a jersey pocket.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9b8aeeca9d.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4a352436bb.jpg

Bag Balm. Around $7.50 for a pretty big tub. The go-to butt saver before the cycling specific creams arrived on the scene. Kind of pain with the tin lid (I prefer the convenience of a tube of Chamois Butt'r).

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2b32596d88.png

Maybe you could show the OP how to use it. :D

I've never once used any or felt a need to.

Maybe try not using any?