Saddle Position

I sometimes get a tingling sensation with numbness around the crotch
(I'm male). Could this be because the front of the saddle is too high?

"Saxman" wrote in message
...
I sometimes get a tingling sensation with numbness around the crotch (I'm
male). Could this be because the front of the saddle is too high?


Maybe angled up too much at the front. Also check out the specialized body
geometry saddles with perineal cutout, many other makes too.

Jc.

"Josey" wrote in message
...
"Saxman" wrote in message
...
I sometimes get a tingling sensation with numbness around the crotch (I'm
male). Could this be because the front of the saddle is too high?


Maybe angled up too much at the front. Also check out the specialized body
geometry saddles with perineal cutout, many other makes too.

Heh. Mate was complaining about his Specialized BG saddle - finds it awful
after a while. He's a brooks man though, so obviously his arse has been
moulded to fit them.

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:46:05 +0000
Saxman wrote:

I sometimes get a tingling sensation with numbness around the crotch
(I'm male). Could this be because the front of the saddle is too
high?

Or the whole saddle is too high, or it's the wrong shape, or your bars
are in the wrong place. I reckon it's probably leprosy.

Rob Morley wrote:

Or the whole saddle is too high, or it's the wrong shape, or your bars
are in the wrong place. I reckon it's probably leprosy.


According to information about feet positioning on the pedals, the seat
position is correct, so it might be angled incorrectly?

On 20 Jan, 07:27, Saxman
wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:
Or the whole saddle is too high, or it's the wrong shape, or your bars
are in the wrong place. *I reckon it's probably leprosy.

According to information about feet positioning on the pedals, the seat
position is correct, so it might be angled incorrectly?

Might well be, why don't you experiment with different angles? Most
advice I've read says that blokes' saddles should be horizontal, but
go with what works for you.

Josey wrote:
"Saxman" wrote in message
...
I sometimes get a tingling sensation with numbness around the crotch
(I'm male). Could this be because the front of the saddle is too high?

It might be...

Maybe angled up too much at the front. Also check out the specialized
body geometry saddles with perineal cutout, many other makes too.

The thing about Spesh's "Body geometry" stuff, is that despite all their
marketing bruhaha about anatomical study and design, different people
have different individual geometry, so while a BG saddle/shoe/whatever
might conform perfectly to their idealised computer model of a person
that's no help if it doesn't conform to /you/! (case in point, the one
time I treid a BG saddle for more than a few meters it practically
crippled me!)

Saddles need to be the right Magic Shape for a given rider, and that's
down to the individual shape of your particular backside. The one way
to evaluate this best is to sit on a load... Whatever Specialized tell
you about their BG design, whatever sellers of leather saddles tell you
about them shaping to fit you personally in time, it's all a bit of a
nonsense if the basic shape isn't the same as your own.

Once the model is sorted, next trick is adjust the positioning
incrementally in as many ways as you can be bothered in order to get it
as right as possible. There is no special formula for this, some people
like saddles set in different positions to others, it's really down to
personal preference. So get out the tools and fiddle and faddle until
it's right, or as right as it can get.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:27:34 +0000
Saxman wrote:

Rob Morley wrote:

Or the whole saddle is too high, or it's the wrong shape, or your
bars are in the wrong place. I reckon it's probably leprosy.


According to information about feet positioning on the pedals,

What information is that?
Unless you've done extensive and precise anatomical measurements and the
right calculations you're probably working to rule-of-thumb, which is
really just a starting point. For instance different people have
different pedalling action - the angle and movement of the ankle
varies, and this obviously has impact on the pedal/saddle
relationship. Likewise some people aren't as flexible as others in the
lower back, or prefer different gears, or have larger/smaller feet ...

the seat position is correct, so it might be angled incorrectly?

It could be, or it could be the saddle is too hard or too soft or too
narrow or too wide or ...
As a rough guide the saddle should be horizontal, or angled slightly up
at the front - when someone has his saddle high at the front it tends
to indicate his saddle is too low, too low at the front tends to
indicate the saddle is too high. As saddles aren't flat across the top
you have to judge which bit should be horizontal, and as they flex (by
varying amounts) you can't really tell what shape they are when you're
actually riding. The key to fine tuning position is to refine your
current position incrementally, but you really need to understand how
what you're changing affects the other factors.

On Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:58:40 +0000
Peter Clinch wrote:

Saddles need to be the right Magic Shape for a given rider, and that's
down to the individual shape of your particular backside. The one way
to evaluate this best is to sit on a load... Whatever Specialized
tell you about their BG design, whatever sellers of leather saddles
tell you about them shaping to fit you personally in time, it's all a
bit of a nonsense if the basic shape isn't the same as your own.

I have a few saddles that I've ridden for only a few miles before
deciding that they weren't right for me, and I've pondered the worth of
establishing a saddle pool where people contribute all their bum
bruisers so others can try them out. I suppose it would only work in
population centres, because just moving a big box of saddles around
might cost quite a lot otherwise.

Rob Morley wrote:

I have a few saddles that I've ridden for only a few miles before
deciding that they weren't right for me, and I've pondered the worth of
establishing a saddle pool where people contribute all their bum
bruisers so others can try them out. I suppose it would only work in
population centres, because just moving a big box of saddles around
might cost quite a lot otherwise.

That's a good idea, as bums can differ as much as fingerprints.