Originally Posted by gsa103 (Post 16966928)

I found that heavily padded saddles (like the one you are on) are much worse for perineum pressure. You sink into the saddle and then the bulky padding makes contact in the wrong places. I ride a Selle SMP Dynamic, they're tricky to setup, and put a lot of pressure on your sit bones (but nowhere else). Find a shop that demo's the Specialized saddles, my guess is you'll be able to find a better saddle for not too much money (<$100).

How heavy are you? If you're under 200 lbs a saddle with less padding should also reduce the pressure. For me the trick was a minimally padded saddle, and a good pair of bib shorts (Assos). And lots more riding...

Originally Posted by Fiery (Post 16965906)

All bikes feel different when you change stem length, but you get used to it. Also, a longer stem tends to feel odd when going slow, and gets better the faster you go. Short stems feel nice and sharp on the parking lot, but can get insecure once you are up to speed. All this, of course, is when speaking of bikes with standard road/race geometry.

Originally Posted by skycyclepilot (Post 16961471)

i went through several saddles before I found one that was close to comfortable, then changed the stem to increase the comfort. Well over 100 miles in all.

Originally Posted by vasuvius (Post 16967112)

Unless the discomfort is really bad and means a really poor fit (blame the LBS), a 100 miles or so is simply too little to start fine tuning the fit.
It takes me 400 miles to break in a new saddle and I have yet to meet a saddle that my butt disagreed with.
Every single change, and always only 1 change at a time, should at least be tested for a couple hundred miles unless it's really bad early on.

Originally Posted by skycyclepilot (Post 16966957)

I'm 190 pounds. I've tried a few firm saddles, and they all just plain hurt - but none were wide enough. The Selle Royal Ellipse is fairly heavily padded, but has a very wide, very deep channel for the perineum, and is working fairly well. I am wondering if I can do better, though, and Specialized is at the top of my list to try. Thanks for the recommendation.

Originally Posted by skycyclepilot (Post 16967166)

The first few saddles were awful, but I'm making 10 mile rides with the latest one, and am reasonably comfortable. I think I just need time to toughen up and get used to riding.