So, without making my throat go dry and have myself blush, I have a recurring problem with various bicycles I’ve owned. I go biking for any extended period, and I experience some…well, let’s call it “Male pattern numbness.” I’m told this is a fairly common complaint among male cyclists, and so I found this variety of seat on the internet:
I found one in my city off of Kijiji that had only been used once. Bought, tried it, hated it. I think it would be more comfortable to take off the seat and sit directly on the metal pipe.
Can anyone recommend a brand or design of bike seat, before spring arrives, that is comfy for my butt and also for my frank and beans?
Soft, thick padding is the wrong way to go. You sink in so much, you actually put more pressure there.
What you need is thin, very firm padding that matches your sit bones. All your weight should be there, that leaves your perineum with very little contact.
You may need to experiment with a few seats to find one that works.
Overall bike fit is important. Your weight should be distributed between hands, feet and butt.
Your butt also needs some break-in time to adjust.
Spend a good amount of time adjusting saddle position in every dimension. Make sure your weight is on your sit bones, and that you’re sitting on the widest part of the saddle.
It’s a tough one because you have to find one that suits and (at least to begin with) you can’t do that by looking: you have to try them out and shops often don’t like you swapping them over because doing so causes clamp marks on the rails of the seat and they find it hard to re-sell seats you bring back. I’m at the point where I can usually tell by looking what will fit and what won’t but it took me a while. Basically however, what runner pat said. The mistake lies in thinking “soft”. You need firm support under your sit bones so that your soft bits are held up and away and don’t get pressure on them.
I like a big padded seat. Some exercise bikes have these type seats and that’s what I’m using right now until I find something better. It has to have a spring suspension system to handle bumps. I always use a gel cover to the seat as well.
Hint: No seat will be comfortable as soon as you mount it. It needs to be adjusted up and down and articulated back and forth to find the most comfortable place for your weight. I can start of with a new seat and keep the wrench in my hand. I ride a hundred yards and reposition as needed. Eventually I arrive at the best that seat can do for me. The true test then comes on a long ride.
I hated the saddle my most recent bike came with - too hard. I had the chance to try out three or four different seats from friends’ bikes. The seat tubes were all the same size, so it was simple to change out the seats with the tubes attached. Maybe your local bike store could allow you a chance to try different seats off their in-store bikes this way. I was thinking that softer was better, but finally bought one that was firm, but not too firm. It’s not a super hard racing saddle, but more of a weekend-rider one with a little bit of gel in it. I bought a new handlebar to shift my weight forward a few inches and moved the seat back a few inches and played around with the remaining angle to get the best feel. Like everyone says, a comfortable bike seat relies on the material, but it’s also affected by how well the entire bike fits the rider.
I tried the padded biker shorts, but they trapped too much heat for my comfort.
I hated the saddle that came with my Cannondale Six. It was too narrow or something. I put a MTB saddle on it and my sit bones fit it perfectly. Around mile 50, I start to get sore, but it’s over my whole body at that point.
By the way…why are bike seats traditionally shaped with the “projection” from the middle of the seat towards the front of the bike? What purpose does that projection serve? Is it a balance thing?
It keeps the bike upright and centered relative to your body. Without it, whenever you put more weight on your pedals (i.e. less weight on the seat), the bike has the tendency to tilt to the side under you. Try riding without a saddle some time, and you’ll notice what you miss isn’t something to support your weight, it’s something to keep your bike upright.
Getting back to the OP, I’ve found the Specialized Body Geometry saddles to be pretty comfortable. They make some wide cushy models, but even those have the proper shape to put most of the weight on your sit bones rather than the taint.
Going one step further, there’s a somewhat new breed of bikes called Crank Forward bikes. RANS is the leading manufacturer of this type of bike. If you can find a store that has one in stock, it’s worth a try. Some people say they are as comfortable as a recumbent bike, but some others (like me) find it uncomfortable (too much weight on the buttocks, and also you have to keep your weight on the seat, for the reason I just described above.)
Of course the ultimate in comfort is a true recumbent bike. I’m partial to the Bacchetta brand, but there are many other fine manufacturers. Admittedly they can be rather expensive.
I’m female and don’t cycle much, so I don’t have personal experience - but two odd seats I encountered on a trade fair were:
one rubber ballon in a holder ring with a pump that you could inflate as much as necessary, IOW, it could be adapted to each individual. (The kid’s size was marketed with the advantage “When you take a break, the ball can be taken out of the ring to play soccer with”).
one completly different style of seat that tried to resemble a normal seat. See, on a chair, you sit perpendicular. Now take a foam-padded bar and mount it crosswise to the main frame bar, and sit on it.
Don’t have the flyers here right now for the brand names, so I would advise you to find some specialist bike shop where you can try different seats in the store (like you would try hiking or running shoes) to find the best one for you.
And yes, even better for your butt and your back (most bikes, the distance to the handlebars is so that you sit hunched over, bad for your spine and puts pressure on your lower arm nerve, too) is a reclining bike. In a TV show about old people (seniors, sorry), they interviewed an older women who had to give up normal biking because of knee and back pain, and was overjoyed to start again with a reclining tricycle (because of better stability preferred by seniors). No more pain, and she could enjoy the countryside in summer and have better mobility. (she was shown as a typical example of many seniors).
I vote with Dr. Love, try a Brooks. There is a reason they have been making saddles for about 130 years. They don’t look comfortable, but they are. The leather is stretched between the front and back of the frame so it supports you seat bones without squishing up into you taint. They are very smooth so you can slide around a little without forming pressure points.
Oh, and it will outlast your bike… and maybe your next one.
Agree with all of those who say a cushy saddle is more uncomfortable over the long run. I actually ride a Specialized Toupe (http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=57487) which appears to be the hardest, most uncomfortable saddle ever, but gave me no numbness over the entire length of my most recent 200km ride. Make sure you get the saddle that fits well for you, and also make sure you get the right width. I went from a 143 to a 155, and it made a world of difference.
…Not that recumbent bikes are for old folks only. I’ve been riding them since I was 25 just because they’re fun and comfortable - and no, I’m not overweight or have any disabilities. My titanium racing recumbent is as fast as any road bike, even though it’s now made obsolete by newer carbon-fiber models.
