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#1
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Selecting a new saddle
I have a knackered saddle that badly needs replacing. Criteria for
a new saddle include comfort (I'm a wimp) and that it shouldn't rip holes in my trousers too quickly (hate that kind of waste). I had a look in my normally-friendly&helpful LBS, and they have a range of wierd and wonderful things, including some with holes or slits in, which leads me to wonder how far some people take the leg-over metaphor. However, they didn't seem particularly keen for me to test-ride with any of them, leaving me unable to choose. So, I'm looking for tips. How do I go about selecting a saddle "blind", without risking a sore bum? and - ahem - what are the strange shapes in aid of? -- Finally, someone takes a stand against Humbug. Three cheers for Austrian shop workers! |
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#2
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Selecting a new saddle
Nick Kew wrote:
I had a look in my normally-friendly&helpful LBS, and they have a range of wierd and wonderful things, including some with holes or slits in, which leads me to wonder how far some people take the leg-over metaphor. However, they didn't seem particularly keen for me to test-ride with any of them, leaving me unable to choose. So, I'm looking for tips. How do I go about selecting a saddle "blind", without risking a sore bum? You go to a shop that doesn't think that's out of the question, is my advice. Or at least get to sit on them in the shop: if they won't even do that then you want the door, not one of their saddles. As has been said many times, your bum is a personal thing (cue multiple-entendre side comment involving a matron) and how it interfaces with any particular design, size and construction of saddle isn't predictable over Usenet :-( I've ridden some popular "you will be much more comfortable on this!" saddles and found them torture equipment, others have used my Brooks saddles that *I* think are wonderful and felt they should be used as cricket bats rather than bicycle saddles. and - ahem - what are the strange shapes in aid of? Supporting, or in some cases significantly *not* supporting, various bits of your anatomy. The cutouts are usually to relieve pressure on the sensitive "bits" peculiar to either ladies or gents, width will depend on the personal layout of your sit bones, and so on. Try before you buy really is the way forward, but some worth trying would be trad leather Brooks, Georgina Terry Liberators and similar and Specialized Body Geometry (by no means an exhaustive list btw). Pete. -- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#3
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Selecting a new saddle
"Peter Clinch" wrote in message ... Nick Kew wrote: I had a look in my normally-friendly&helpful LBS, and they have a range of wierd and wonderful things, including some with holes or slits in, which leads me to wonder how far some people take the leg-over metaphor. However, they didn't seem particularly keen for me to test-ride with any of them, leaving me unable to choose. So, I'm looking for tips. How do I go about selecting a saddle "blind", without risking a sore bum? You go to a shop that doesn't think that's out of the question, is my advice. Or at least get to sit on them in the shop: if they won't even do that then you want the door, not one of their saddles. As has been said many times, your bum is a personal thing (cue multiple-entendre side comment involving a matron) and how it interfaces with any particular design, size and construction of saddle isn't predictable over Usenet :-( I've ridden some popular "you will be much more comfortable on this!" saddles and found them torture equipment, others have used my Brooks saddles that *I* think are wonderful and felt they should be used as cricket bats rather than bicycle saddles. and - ahem - what are the strange shapes in aid of? Supporting, or in some cases significantly *not* supporting, various bits of your anatomy. The cutouts are usually to relieve pressure on the sensitive "bits" peculiar to either ladies or gents, width will depend on the personal layout of your sit bones, and so on. Try before you buy really is the way forward, but some worth trying would be trad leather Brooks, Georgina Terry Liberators and similar and Specialized Body Geometry (by no means an exhaustive list btw). Don't forget the Selle Italia Flite, the king of saddles ! Graham Pete. -- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#4
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Selecting a new saddle
Graham wrote:
Peter Clinch wrote: As has been said many times, your bum is a personal thing...*S******* What he said. Don't forget the Selle Italia Flite, the king of saddles ! Y'know, I'd have said the same thing a couple of months ago. I've used Flite Ti saddles on my mountain bike for the past 7 years and always swore by them. Recently I've been converting to the roadie thang which initially meant lots of very long road rides on my slick shod MTB. After four or five hours of being sat down spinning, the old bung hole was in absolute agony. I then tried one of them thar WTB Rocket V saddles which improved the situation greatly, though still not perfect. When I bought my new *cough*road*cough* bike I specced a Fizik Aliante on it. And thus far it's been bloody marvellous. Whether that's down to a genuine ergonomical improvement, a change of riding posture down to the different type of bike, or simply the mind refusing to accept that having spent all that dosh on a saddle, that it could possibly be uncomfortable. ;-) Whatever it's all highly subjective and personal. You'll just have to try different saddles until you find something that works for you. -- Alex BMW R1150GS DIAABTCOD#3 MSWF#4 UKRMFBC#6 Ibw#35 BOB#8 http://www.team-ukrm.co.uk Windy's "little soldier" |
#5
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Selecting a new saddle
Peter Clinch wrote:
.... | I've ridden some popular "you will be much more comfortable on this!" | saddles and found them torture equipment, others have used my Brooks | saddles that *I* think are wonderful and felt they should be used as | cricket bats rather than bicycle saddles. The point about Brooks saddles, in case the OP was wondering, is that they /are/ hard, relatively, but the leather gets to be shaped exactly right which gives you a much more even pressure across the said geometry, which is much more comfortable on long rides and just generally. You have to look after the leather though. -- Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk |
#6
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Selecting a new saddle
Patrick Herring wrote:
The point about Brooks saddles, in case the OP was wondering, is that they /are/ hard, relatively, but the leather gets to be shaped exactly right which gives you a much more even pressure across the said geometry, which is much more comfortable on long rides and just generally. But the leather needs to be in more or less the right place to start with. Roos doesn't like the Brooks on my Brompton because one of her sit bones isn't properly on the saddle, and the fact she gets to choose which one doesn't make up for the basic problem! You have to look after the leather though. It's not that hard though: Proofide it once in a while ("while" is measured in months), stick a Tesco bag over it if you leave it parked in the rain and that's been quite enough for all of mine (B17 on the MTB, Brompton one and a B66 which has transferred from my old tourer to the freight bike). My B66 is the most comfortable saddle I've ever sat on as it was more or less the right shape before wearing in more exactly to me. But for *real* comfort the recumbent sprung, padded armchair on the Streetmachine is an order of magnitude better. Pete. -- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#7
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Selecting a new saddle
Nick Kew wrote:
So, I'm looking for tips. How do I go about selecting a saddle "blind", without risking a sore bum? Your bum will be sore until it adapts to the new saddle, just like new shoes are. I have never agonised over choosing a saddle. I have a Rolls San Marco, Selle Italia Turbo and Flite Titianium. Don't really see why folk have so much trouble, ones backside will mould itself to the saddle, at least mine has, takes some time though. The trick is to ride regularly so your backside does not soften up and change saddles rarely. -- The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk |
#8
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Selecting a new saddle
Your bum will be sore until it adapts to the new saddle, just like new shoes
are. If the shoes fit properly in the first place - they won't cause your feet to be sore at all. I have never agonised over choosing a saddle. I have a Rolls San Marco, Oh I have - having had my posterior on saddles which have caused *excruciating* pain to my delicate nether regions... The trick is to ride regularly so your backside does not soften up and change saddles rarely. The trick is to have a saddle which is comfortable to sit on and therefore assists in making one's cycling enjoyable, as opposed to an offshoot of the medieval torture chamber, as that way, one is more likely to want to keep at it :-) Both my Bianchis - with the saddles supplied on them were really, really painful to sit on. As soon as I switched the saddles to Terry's Liberators (TiLite on Gino and RaceLite on Luigi) the difference was incredible. I cannot stress how much difference the change of saddle made to me. Put it this way - when I got Gino - after cycling ten miles on it when it had the original saddle on it - I literally could hardly walk for a couple of hours afterwards. With the change of saddle to Terry's Liberators, it is so comfortable I don't even notice them there, so to speak. Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o* *l.c**$*$om$$ |
#9
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Selecting a new saddle
MSeries wrote:
Your bum will be sore until it adapts to the new saddle Not the case with my saddles. are. I have never agonised over choosing a saddle. I have a Rolls San Marco, Selle Italia Turbo and Flite Titianium. Don't really see why folk have so much trouble, ones backside will mould itself to the saddle, at least mine has, takes some time though. So rather than agonise over choosing it, you agonised over sitting on it for a while instead. I think I prefer my way! Pete. -- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#10
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Selecting a new saddle
In article , one of infinite monkeys
at the keyboard of "MSeries" wrote: Your bum will be sore until it adapts to the new saddle, I've ridden enough saddles to disagree. One I had in my youth was always painful (dug right in to the bones). Others have ranged from neutral to nice. Also noticable was the time when I had two tourers; both saddles were OK comfortwise but one wore through the trousers far quicker than the other. just like new shoes are. Not mine, unless I make a bad mistake buying them. Not even the heavy mountaineering boots (bought in a small village high in the Italian Alps) caused serious soreness. much trouble, ones backside will mould itself to the saddle, at least mine has, takes some time though. The trick is to ride regularly so your backside does not soften up and change saddles rarely. It's not so much the soft bits... not even the vitals if I wear pants that hold them up safely. -- Finally, someone takes a stand against Humbug. Three cheers for Austrian shop workers! |
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