Anybody found a good seat

[David Wood]

I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
The current one is a split type called Ergo and is not bad but not perfect
Surprisingly I bought a massive gel seat with springs and it was awful on a
long run!
(I'm not a lightweight person so I tend to compress all the gel and end up
on the plastic base!)
Any experiences appreciated...

 

[Paul Boyd]

On 11/10/2006 19:34, David Wood said,
> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.

Seats are very personal, as you've just discovered! I don't know if any
still do it, but years ago some bike shops had a "selection box" of
saddles that you could hire and try them out before buying. It might be
worth asking you LBS, although mine gave me a bit of a funny look when I
asked!

I bought a cheap saddle off eBay, and it lasted on my bike for, oh, all
of five minutes. Yet my mother bought a cheap saddle donkeys years ago,
and transferred it onto her very expensive Argos. When it wore out she
bought another identical one a month ago for a fiver! Price isn't
everything...

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Stan Cox]

Paul Boyd wrote:
> On 11/10/2006 19:34, David Wood said,
>> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
>> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
>
> Seats are very personal, as you've just discovered! I don't know if any
> still do it, but years ago some bike shops had a "selection box" of
> saddles that you could hire and try them out before buying. It might be
> worth asking you LBS, although mine gave me a bit of a funny look when I
> asked!
>
> I bought a cheap saddle off eBay, and it lasted on my bike for, oh, all
> of five minutes. Yet my mother bought a cheap saddle donkeys years ago,
> and transferred it onto her very expensive Argos. When it wore out she
> bought another identical one a month ago for a fiver! Price isn't
> everything...
>
Agreed. My fallback is still the San Marco Rolls. Its not flashy but its
more comfortable than anything else I've ridden. Ive just looked at
Wiggle & they now cost £24.99! Shocking. I'm sure I paid £15 for the
last one. Mind you thinking about it that must have been about 6 years
ago

Stan Cox

 

[Nigel Cliffe]

David Wood wrote:
> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
> The current one is a split type called Ergo and is not bad but not
> perfect Surprisingly I bought a massive gel seat with springs and it
> was awful on a long run!

The latter wouldn't be surprising to many here. The gel moves out under body
weight and stops supporting your body. You might find a traditional sprung
saddle works for you (Brooks) if your weight is sufficient to work the
springs.

> (I'm not a lightweight person so I tend to compress all the gel and
> end up on the plastic base!)
> Any experiences appreciated...

Saddles, like shoes, are very personal. What works for you won't necessarily
work for the next person.

Best idea I have is to go to a Specialized dealer and use their "bum
measurer" (bit of foam on a board which holds depressions for a few
minutes). This tells how wide your sit bones are positioned (bugger all to
do with your apparent weight or bulk, mine are wide, and I'm very skinny),
and can be combined with an idea of your riding position (upright, slight
lean, full racing tuck) to estimate suitable saddle widths. Then use this
information to narrow down your selection of saddles, not necessarily
Specialized models.


- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, David Wood
('[email protected]') wrote:

> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
> The current one is a split type called Ergo and is not bad but not
> perfect Surprisingly I bought a massive gel seat with springs and it was
> awful on a long run!

Yes, they are. The only comfortable saddle is a really hard one that fits
you well. Different people have different width pelvises - and the width
of your pelvis has little to do with how large you are. 'Specialized' (the
brand) dealers now have a gauge thing which you sit on to measure the
width of your pelvis.

The reason you need a hard saddle is because you sit on two boney lumps on
your pelvis called the ischeal tuberosities. If you sit on a hard saddle
these take all the weight, and although it can be uncomfortable at first
they have been evolved for sitting on and will cope. If, however, the
saddle is soft, your ischeal tuberosities sink in and transfer weight to
the soft tissue around them which is definitely not adapted to the task.
Not only does it hurt but it can lead to permanent scarring and loss of
function, so avoid soft saddles!

Many people find Brooks leather saddles very comfortable, but you need to
get one that fits. There's a lot of myths about 'breaking in' Brooks
saddles - they do adapt to fit you, but only a bit, and my belief is that
if it isn't comfortable on day one it isn't ever going to be.

Other than the Brooks Professional - which I find very comfortable indeed -
my second favourite is the Selle Italia SLR, which is minimalist and very
hard. I can ride all day with either of those without any discomfort at
all.

Final thought - make sure your saddle is high enough. If your saddle is too
low your **** will take more of your weight and your feet less. Weight on
your feet is not only good for cycling efficiency, it's also good for
comfort.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

A message from our sponsor: This site is now in free fall

 

[Dave Larrington]

Simon Brooke wrote:

> Many people find Brooks leather saddles very comfortable, but you
> need to get one that fits. There's a lot of myths about 'breaking in'
> Brooks saddles - they do adapt to fit you, but only a bit, and my
> belief is that if it isn't comfortable on day one it isn't ever going
> to be.

Hmmmm. The B17 on the old fixer was comfortable from day one, but the one
on Depravo the Roadrat is taking a bit more time to get used to. I think I
may have read somewhere that the brown ones break in quicker than the black,
but putting a brown saddle on Depravo would just be Wrong.

--
Dave Larrington
<http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk>
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative.

 

[Rob Morley]

In article <[email protected]>
David Wood <[email protected]> wrote:
> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
> The current one is a split type called Ergo and is not bad but not perfect
> Surprisingly I bought a massive gel seat with springs and it was awful on a
> long run!
> (I'm not a lightweight person so I tend to compress all the gel and end up
> on the plastic base!)
> Any experiences appreciated...
>
>
I put a WTB Pure V on my ATB and that's pretty good - it has fairly soft
padding with a central groove. My road bike has an old skool Unicanitor
saddle that's as stiff as a board but also very comfortable. As for
finding a saddle that's right for you, it's largely a question of trial
and error. I would suggest something that has a narrow nose and firm
padding, but beyond that you just have to find something that's the
right shape and width to suit your seating area - if the fit isn't right
then no amount of gel padding or springs or grooves is going to make it
work properly (it's actually more likely to make it worse).

 

[Mark Thompson]

> I removed the original cheap seat from my Marin mountain bike and have
> bought several in an attempt to get comfortable one.
> The current one is a split type called Ergo and is not bad but not
> perfect Surprisingly I bought a massive gel seat with springs and it
> was awful on a long run!
> (I'm not a lightweight person so I tend to compress all the gel and
> end up on the plastic base!)
> Any experiences appreciated...

<url:www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html>

The above link has everything you need to know about saddle fit. My
experience is that the bits about fiddling with saddle height, tilt etc
works wonders.

Also, jeans don't really work for long rides <-- understatement