I just bought a new saddle for my bike yesterday (Trek 7.2FX, the stock seat was profoundly uncomfortable). The new saddle is one of those “body geometry” seats with the middle back segment removed, so it supports the sit bones without putting unnecessary pressure on the…erm…taint.
I’ve only ridden it a mile or so (15 miles ending at the bike shop, got the new saddle, rode 1 mile home with it). So far, it does seem to relieve some of the unwanted pressure, but due to the new distribution of weight, it’s rougher on my sit bones. I should have expected that, and I do believe that the bones can handle the extra pressure far better than any other part of my backside.
I tend to take long rides (usually 10-20 miles, sometimes longer), so I figured it was about time to get a good pair of shorts and a new saddle. It was either the one I got, or a gel saddle (which I understand are more comfortable but offer less support, and thus not as suitable for long rides).
I haven’t gotten a chance to go out with it again (probably will tomorrow), and I’m not sure how good a purchase it was. I was wondering what other cyclists’ opinions were (I’m male, but I understand that such saddles are recommended for women as well as men, opinions from all are welcome).
Ya got a “junk-saver” saddle! I think they’re mostly like this now, either with an open space or with a much softer spot. My KHS CX100 came with a Selle Italia saddle with a soft spot in the center. It’s pretty comfy, and I have no plans to change it unless I can find something very similar in yellow.
Saddle selection is a very personal matter because everyone has a different shaped butt crack. I don’t think you have given your new saddle enough time. Give it four or five rides and then evaluate how your butt crack feels. If you still get pressure points or excessive soreness, then you should consider a different saddle.
Your butt crack needs a bit of time to adapt to the saddle. Whether you get a saddle with a cut out / gel insert should be of minor significance because the general shape of it is what is most important. Look at the bicycles of professional road cyclists and you will see that few of them use cut outs / gel inserts. Most just ride traditionally styled saddles. You can even buy rigid carbon fibre saddles.
On a personal note, 5 years ago I was using a Specialized Body Geometry saddle without any cutouts and was quite comfy on it. This is on a road racing bicycle. However, my bones grew a bit and now the Specialized saddle created pressure points.
I then bought a Selle Italia saddle with a cut out in the middle and it was the worst saddle I have had the pleasure of using. And I worked in a bike shop at the time. The edges of the cut out was creating an elongated oval shaped pressure point in the soft tissue right where I was putting all my weight.
That saddle was short lived. I then proceeded to buy a Selle Italia XO saddle with a gel insert in the middle. This was better than the previous Selle Italia saddle but I now felt pressure points on my sit bones. I continued to use this saddle until my bike got stolen.
On my new bike, I have a Fizik Aliante saddle and I must say, I love this saddle. I don’t have any pressure points and it is very comfortable on long rides. I hope they never change the shape of this saddle. From the link, you can see that it is just a plain Jane saddle, but it does its job because it is a good fit for my butt crack.
Note: If you are sitting on your “junk” when riding your bike, stop riding or you will castrate yourself. Sit on your crack, not on your balls.
I finally acquiesced to passing time and bought myself the widest most gel filled seat I could find! Aaaahhh, pure bike ridin’ bliss! There’s something about having kids that gets the old pelvic girdle spread out and makes it impossible to get both sides of the butt bones on a standard bike saddle at once, so there’s always too much pressure on whichever side is actually on the seat at the time. If you try to split the difference and put the ass bones to either side of the seat the coccyx gets very painful instead. Although I feel like an old granny with that wide ass tractor lookin’ seat on there, the lack of pain in my derriere after a long ride more than makes up for the embarrassment…
I remember visiting the website of a company that makes custom bicycle saddles. By this I mean they take a mold of your butt crack and make a saddle from that. I’m surprised that more people don’t do it. Too bad my google-fu didn’t turn up anything. Help?
I think the cut out in the middle is to avoid pressure on the… erm… prostate and the nerves serving the genitals, if you’re a male.
By far my best saddle ever was a Brooks hard leather saddle. I massaged saddle soap into it with the side of a bottle, and during a couple of wet rides it comformed to me perfectly. In years since I’ve read this ridiculed like I was putting a “stingray” banana seat on a Merlin, but it was perfect. I did generally get used to the other saddles since then, but I still think they’re like having wooden boots instead of broken-in leather boots.
Apparently the point of a saddle is to carry the weight on the tuberal ischeosities (spelling is probably wrong), knobs on the bottom of the pelvis, without messing anything else up. You might expect to have to toughen the flesh near them to get comfortable. The Brooks saddle helped me learn that mine are not symmetric.
I use a WTB comfort zone saddle on my road bike. Like the others I had to try a few (specialized body geometry, selle italia, etc.) before settling on the WTB, even though it’s primarily a mountainbike saddle. It’s not perfect, but it works for now. Most of my rides are an hour or two at the most. I haven’t tried the Fizik yet. It might be worth a shot.