My wife is having problems with her Brooks B67. No sit-bone pain, but "front end" pain... usually the day after. We've raised the nose (dropping it was worse), and set the nose slightly off to one side (helped a lot), but it still makes her sore the following day, not bad enough that she can't live with it, but enought that she's wondering about the Terry Liberator (cutouts, but softer; not after the softer, just want to eliminate the pressure points up front). Anyone have any experience with both, or have any other suggestions? She rides fairly upright, and wanted to try the Brooks based on my observations of not knowing it's there on 60-100 mile rides. Any and all comments welcome!
Senior Member
The problems men and women have with saddles tend to be similar, even though bike companies market different saddles for each gender.
A good saddle provides a secure platform for the sitbones, and puts no pressure on the stuff between and in front of the sit bones. I've found that the best saddle for me are models in the Specialized Body Geometry line. But, even those models vary.
The saddles that work the best are as wide as what you are sitting on. And, most men's saddles are not wide enough. And, the best saddles are dead level from side to side, and from back to front. If the sides of the saddle "drop off" and are lower than the center, your sitbones are not supporting most of your weight. The sides of the saddle must be at least as high as the center, and must be firm, so that your sitbones don't sink into the foam, putting your weight onto your crotch.
And, if a saddle is dead flat from back to front, the rider won't tend to slide forward when putting weight onto the handlebars. If the bars are high enough that your hands are as high as the saddle, it reduces the tendency to slide forward, off the sitbones.
WTB and Bontrager sell some good "clones" of the Body Geometry saddles at lower prices. Trial and error is sometimes the only way to find the "best" saddle out of those that have good designs.
A good saddle provides a secure platform for the sitbones, and puts no pressure on the stuff between and in front of the sit bones. I've found that the best saddle for me are models in the Specialized Body Geometry line. But, even those models vary.
The saddles that work the best are as wide as what you are sitting on. And, most men's saddles are not wide enough. And, the best saddles are dead level from side to side, and from back to front. If the sides of the saddle "drop off" and are lower than the center, your sitbones are not supporting most of your weight. The sides of the saddle must be at least as high as the center, and must be firm, so that your sitbones don't sink into the foam, putting your weight onto your crotch.
And, if a saddle is dead flat from back to front, the rider won't tend to slide forward when putting weight onto the handlebars. If the bars are high enough that your hands are as high as the saddle, it reduces the tendency to slide forward, off the sitbones.
WTB and Bontrager sell some good "clones" of the Body Geometry saddles at lower prices. Trial and error is sometimes the only way to find the "best" saddle out of those that have good designs.
Senior Member
Sounds like she is sliding forward on the saddle, so raising the front a touch more might help. You might also want to check fore-aft position - the saddle may actually need to go forward a touch. (the problem could be that she is reaching too far to get to the handlebars and putting pressure on the front) The other thing to look at is saddle height, might need to go up a smidge more.
Whatever, you change, make it one thing at a time and if that change doesn't work go back to the starting point and change something else (otherwise you won't know which change really made a difference)
You may also find that you only need to change something by the merest fraction of an inch to produce a result.
It took me a couple of weeks of fiddling with my saddle to finally give me a comfortable position (my problem was left sit bone pain) but the principle is the same.
For some reason (no logic here, just a feeling) I think she might be leaning too far to reach the handlebars, so maybe start with a dead level saddle and move it forward by small increments and see if that makes a difference.
Whatever, you change, make it one thing at a time and if that change doesn't work go back to the starting point and change something else (otherwise you won't know which change really made a difference)
You may also find that you only need to change something by the merest fraction of an inch to produce a result.It took me a couple of weeks of fiddling with my saddle to finally give me a comfortable position (my problem was left sit bone pain) but the principle is the same.
For some reason (no logic here, just a feeling) I think she might be leaning too far to reach the handlebars, so maybe start with a dead level saddle and move it forward by small increments and see if that makes a difference.