Aramei said:
I've Read Many Posts On Bike Saddles And Soreness Women Have Been Experiencing. I Have Just Started Riding This Year And Am Experinecing Soreness Also. But I Think Mine May Or May Not Be Similar.
Sorry For Being A Bit Graphic, But I've Not Yet Seen Any Posts Addressing The Exact Issue Im Having. My Problem Is That After About An Hour Of Riding I Start Feeling Sore...it's Not A Sit Bone Or Outer Vulva Sore...it Is An Inner Vulva Sore...i Tend To Be A Bit Large There. I Think Too That Maybe The Increased Blood Flow While Riding Is Contributing To This.
I've Tried Chamois Butter And It Worked At First For Short Rides, But Now With Doing Mtb Races I Need Some More Help...lol
I Know A New Saddle Would Help, But I'm Still Looking Into That.
Based on my wife's similar lament over the years, somewhere in the middle of last season, I installed a "traditional" LEATHER saddle on her bike to see how much truth there was to the "myth" of the leather saddle ... and, I installed one on one of my bikes as a subsititute for my San Marco Concor.
Her first ride was a bust ... she refuses to test any adjustments before hitting the open road ... but, the discomfort was MY fault because I installed the saddle in the micro-adjust seatpost which was on her bike and it did NOT allow
me (yes, I'm blaming the inanimate object!) to properly set the angle ... the top of the saddle was dead-LEVEL for the maiden ride.
I changed the seatpost and set the angle to what I
knew should be a more comfortable angle
(see attachment) ... where the RAILS are close to level.
Voila!
She said it was great ... "the most comfortable saddle ..."
What difference could one small adjustment make?
IMO, and
OTHERS have disagreed in the past & will undoubtedly in the future, a significant key to comfort is WHERE a person sits on the saddle
(see second attachment) + the angle of the top of the saddle ...
It is my contention that a person wants their sit bones to be in the
GREEN area ... and, with the rear of the saddle slightly higher than the nose of the saddle, the tender areas should experience less pressue.
Sitting in the
RED area invites discomfort ... excessively padded shorts, while providing SOME relief, are a poor remedy.
This is true whether or not it is a leather or "plastic" saddle.
A reason that a leather saddle is more comfortable is because they are generally WIDER ...
Of course, a so-called
Woman's saddle is also wider, but the benefit is lost if the person is not sitting on the widest portion.
I ask my wife after EVERY ride how the bike AND saddle are -- the report after every ride is not the same, but the leather saddle generally scores higher marks for comfort than all other saddles.
BTW. A problem with the cushy saddles is that the sit bones sink down a small bit which means the perineal region may still be pressed into the nose of the saddle ... so, even if there is a cut out region, the portion which surrounds the cutout is still there.
Hearing-or-reading people who set their saddles level or slightly elevate (!?!) the nose complain about perineal discomfort but who refuse to set the nose slightly downward only makes me shake my head & wonder why they refuse to try a different angle for the top of their saddle ...
A "plastic" (contemporary) saddle which is wide enough which is being sat upon in the proper area should be comfortable ...
FWIW. I wear unpadded RUGBY-type shorts when I ride ... I guess that half my butt is hanging off the back of the saddle ... and, I only wear padded cycling shorts in cooler/colder weather to keep the chill down!
BTW2. NOT all leather saddles are the same ... some are wider than others, and some are harder than others ... and, the nose area on some is not as stiff on some as on others -- WRIGHTS saddles are made with a thinner and (therefore) more compliant leather (i.e., a
negative amongst
aficianados which can be looked upon as a positive!); but, hard or less-hard shouldn't matter if the saddle is properly adjusted.
The
disadvantage of a leather saddle is that it is generally TWICE the weight of a "plastic" saddle -- over 500g is not uncommon. Also, leather saddles require more maintenance ...
An potential
advantage of a leather saddle (on longer rides in hotter weather, in particular) is that the leather saddle will be a little cooler because the excess body heat is dissipated more readily through the leather platform vs. being trapped by an "insulated" plastic platform.
A leather saddle which
some MTBers highly endorse is the
BROOKS Conquest which has coil springs in back -- it weighs over 800g -- supposedly, as-good-as-or-better-than a suspension seat post. Undoubtedly, a leather saddle on a mountain bike requires even more maintenance than one used on a road bike unless all the riding is in dry conditions.
NOT everyone agrees as to the comfort of a leather saddle ... they AREN'T for everyone ... and, NOT necessary if the perineal discomfort can be mitigated or eliminated by re-angling the saddle "properly" AND sitting toward the rear of the saddle (i.e., on the widest portion); but, if all else fails, then a leather saddle is worth considering.
That's my opinion, and I'm stickin' to it ...
