Even today among some there is still an attitude of hubris and ignorance that those seats are for wussies.

studies linked to selling you one of the saddles that claim to cure the problem..

People have ridden Leather saddles for a hundred years
and seem to have not become infertile and died out as a result.

Eddy Begat Axel Merckx just fine..

They don't just claim to cure the problem. Most of the time they do. A few permanently damaged individuals will not be helped, but the great majority will. It used to be that if you had a problem, you just quit riding. Since only about 5% of male riders became permanently damaged, it wasn't that noticeable. Today we live in a different moral climate, where if even a few children are burned by flammable nightwear, all children's nightwear becomes nonflammable. Some see this as progress, others as unacceptable meddling.

Nancy, to be fair, most of us here are touring cyclists who support your trip. So we are telling you what you want to hear and what we want to believe. But I don't think we're providing you with any useful scientific ammunition. Your supporters are really no more credible than your detractors. People will believe what they want to believe, and there's not much you can do about it other than ask your detractors for their sources.

How on earth can you prove bicycle saddles caused these people's erectile dysfunction problems? Also, the groove in most saddles doesn't do anything, it's the nose that causes pressure.

If anybody blasts you for being a bad parent, it's up to that person to provide their sources up front. If that person doesn't have at least that much respect for you, it doesn't make much sense to give that person the benefit of the doubt.

This is the nut of it. If there is a problem, you're going to know about it, and it's nuts not to seek some sort of help. If there's no problem, there's no problem, no matter what some busybody thinks. And if the kids are sitting in a fairly upright position and aren't putting a lot of weight on the area in question, then there's every reason to think that there won't be a problem.

"A kid riding a bike from Alaska to Argentina or a kid looking like this?"

I think the worst part would be looking like that and then getting singled out for ridicule online.

Can anyone tell me whether it is possible to have these erectile dysfunction/fertility problems without knowing it. It is one thing to get a numb feeling persists with it, and cause damage, another to feel great all the time, and then get damaged. I have only had severe pain once, and it resulted from a poor saddle position, obviously temporary. Was a bad deal though, because it was one of the few times I have ever been driven a long distance from home and tools, and dropped off for a ride home. Served me right.

But anyway, I would have thought your kids would not be easily damaged without noticing anything along the way.

Also, most people aren't riding properly fit or equipped. I would imagine fertility might even go up if a person is riding without underwear, in proper cycling attire.

If there is a problem with doing stuff like what you are doing, that I have noticed in a lot of cruising families, it is for the kids to find a second act that compares with the trip. As one kid put it, he didn't find hanging out with his college friends to be an equivalent experience to traveling the Americas in a trimaran, and he was incapable of settling into a "normal" life. But a lot of childhoods are like that just different specifics.

The general idea is that you are pinching off the circulation to the areas in question, which causes numbness, which results in ED. When you restore circulation (either by abstaining from cycling or by adjusting your bike's fit or saddle), the feeling comes back and the ED goes away. As with many other medical conditions, you can choose to ignore the signs, numbness, but the signs are there.

Yeah, like growing up on a homestead in Alaska. Ruins one for what passes for normal society. Read Seth Kantner's Shopping for Porcupine. I've ridden with his older brother, a 30,000 mile/year guy.

But no, anyone who is self-aware knows there's a problem. Unless for reasons of shyness or ignorance or ego they don't do anything about it. It's very noticeable, once you know what to look for. But remember, Ed Pavelka didn't know he had a problem until he acquired a girl friend and then found . . . uh oh! He simply wasn't paying any attention to it. My guess would be that teenage sons are paying attention to it. But maybe not preteen.

Once your body racks up a few years you start to realize symptoms. It's not just on the day you ride, or the next day. It's years and years later. Much like smoking.

I'm going on 64 and have a problem with my urethra growing shut. The urologists call it "strictures". That's a common occurrence from repeated crushing and damage to the urethra. And when it grows closed, you have some painful problems. Look it up for yourselves if you're interested in the gruesome details. Given enough time, it happens...

I do understand that you guys support what we're doing and will tend to give us that info. But - you are also great sources of info for all things bike related! If there were conclusive studied showing that young kids are more at risk if they cycle, then I figured you would know it. the dingbat who is criticizing us doesn't know his nose from bat****, but I just thought I'd ask if those studies exist.

I'm pretty sure they don't; not as far as kids are concerned. But there are several small studies relating to adults that can be readily Googled.

And what Carbonfibreboy says is true. Just because cycling is good for you, and most people never have these problems, that doesn't mean they don't exist. Men who experience penile numbness while riding are at risk of erectile dysfunction because they are applying pressure to the nerves and blood vessels that supply their genitals. For almost all of them, that can be fixed by the appropriate choice of saddle and a proper fit. But there are a few who simply have to give up riding to avoid permanent damage.

Nancy, I wouldn't worry about the kids at all. If they're comfortable, they're fine.

What do doctors who regularly treat male symptoms have to say? Why does it not occur to anybody here to simply ask Urologists?

One thing I have learned is that you will ALWAYS be able to find a doctor or two who will support what you want to believe. In order for this issue to be seriously resolved is to do some kind of conclusive study with thousands and thousands of participants who ride bikes. That's what I was looking for - doesn't appear to be any.

this is the sort of question that doctors are really bad at answering. It's more of a personality test than anything. I know one thing, a researcher that concludes that cycling usually doesn't cause problems with the male reproductive system is unlikely to garner any attention, but saying that it means no kids will get you in every paper in the U.S. Of course, I don't doubt that a broad study would reveal some cases of reproductive problems, but that's true of people that only exercise by walking back and forth to the refrigerator for beer.

I've had numbness, but it's only on a fairly rare basis. Same thing for the last 35 years or so. I racked up thousands of miles per year when I was in my teens and early twenties. This didn't stop me from having kids. I might worry about a 11-16 y.o. boy not telling me about this, but I'm guessing that if it happened every day for a week, even the shyest kid would say something.

I participated in such a study in an STP, years ago. So it had to be under the auspices of Cascade in some way and was probably by a local university. Of course nothing like that is conclusive, though it might be indicative. And AFAIK any urologist who has studied adult cyclists says it's a problem.

As others have said, it's unlikely to be a problem with your boys. I never had any problem until I was fully mature, and I rode a lot as a kid and teenager, on any saddle. In my case, the numbness was always accompanied by discomfort, one might even say pain except that cyclists interpret discomfort as challenge rather than pain. I don't know if everyone with this problem has also experienced discomfort. Also AFAIK infertility, meaning low sperm count or quality, is not the problem. It's simply the inability to achieve an erection.

Yeah, and every psychologist will say we're all crazy too. There's this thing called "job security" :P

Focusing and critisising her for making her kids infertile though is a little off the rocker.. instead, if the person was concerned, they could have emailed her and discussed the issue, or maybe relayed personal experience. In my mind, the person who wrote the article was just out to sensationalise.

At any rate, the fix is simple, buy a holey saddle or tilt it down a bit.

Just as most cardiologists and respriatory doctors say smoking is bad for you, eh? We all know better, don't we?

I don't know about the studies(waste of time and money) but as somebody that has ridden a bicycle everyday for the last 35 years,I can assure you,everything works fine and I'm no spring chicken.

Smoking will kill you too,it killed my grandmother at 106 and my mother at 98.
Just think how long they would have lived if they didn't smoke.....LOL!
I'm not saying smoking is good but there are ALOT of other factors involved.

I think living in L.A. is more dangerous to your health than smoking.

The world needs more studies......

The world needs more scientific literacy.

Bottom line is ------ if the seat is adjusted correctly, and he is experiencing no discomfort (I would think you would know by now), there is no problem.

If there is a discomfort problem, a slight adjsutment usually takes care of it.....

Next question ---- how much have they grown during this trip???? LOL

If it's any consolation the bible of all things cycling 'The Art & Pastime of Cycling' by R J Mecready published in Dublin 1891 doesn't mention the danger of 'sexual dysfuntion' from extended cycling. It was more concerned with warning cyclists of the dangers of wearing cotton rather than wool, mouth breathing rather than nose breathing and the inadvisability of drinking water while riding.

Studies weren't quoted in support of these theories but a heavy reliance was placed on the opinions of clegymen cyclists.

Despite this unscentific approach large families continued to be normal for several generations.

The fact that pros don't have an issue isn't great proof that the issue doesn't exist. Perhaps all those who would have been pros left the sport due to that very issue.

The other fact, that the "bible" or book which was written by really experienced guy, never had an issue or heard about it doesn't mean that it can't exist.

What is obvious is that there is a biomechanical relationship between your soft bits and the seat. Some riders reported numbness, the urologists explained how and why. Maybe they're just trying to keep themselves in business? I doubt it.

I am more skeptical about unproven seat designs like nose-less saddles than I am about men lying they have an issue from the bicycle.