Finding a comfortable saddle

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?

there may be widely-accepted methods for doing this, but you're pretty
much right: you're buying an item for which fit is important without the
ability to check the fit.

i've always done it thusly: retire to a private place with a ruler and
your naked butt. using the ruler, and feeling the way among the various
folds of the aforementioned body part in an embarrassing manner, determine
the distance between your sit-bones. i'm sure they have a scientific
name, but let's just call them sit bones because i haven't a clue what
that is and have no desire to use google right now.

once you've done that, take the ruler (after cleaning it, of course)
with you to your LBS and measure the available saddles. you'd like
to find one which is more-or-less flat across the width of your
sit-bones. if the center part is significantly higher than the
place where those bones will be resting, then the seat will wedge
itself in and nestle among place where you'd rather not experience
nestling.

apparently, specialized has a "device" that does this for you, allowing
you to find out how far apart are the bones without all the fumbling.
and as it turns out, i ended up settling on a specialized avatar
because it's nicely flat in the sitting area and has a generous
cutout in the center section. AND chro-mo rails, because i've found
titanium rails to be part of the planned obsolescence conspiracy in
the cycling industry.

H. Guy a écrit :

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?

there may be widely-accepted methods for doing this, but you're pretty
much right: you're buying an item for which fit is important without the
ability to check the fit.

i've always done it thusly: retire to a private place with a ruler and
your naked butt.

Ugh !!

This is on the internet, here. You have a chance to develop you real
life interpersonal skills, so you can get the saddle you want.

You want to find a store where you can get them to let you use a demo
saddle, or where you can return it after you decide it's not the one for
you. You may actually have to engage in face to face conversation, but
don't give up hope.

If they won't do that deal, a second-best thing is to get them to take
it back, in a specific period (negotiate !) with a small loss to you, if
you do the same deal on another model. And so on .......

Lastly, you may consider whether the one you /think/ you want will
re-sell easily to another person in your local market. Again, a
probable small loss, but certainty that you aren't stuck with a bad fit.

Before you do any of this stuff, do sit on the one you target, for a
good beginning. And as a last step, if you really are comfortable on
one, buy a second, because they change models all too often.

But a naked butt on a saddle is just ghastly !

--

Sandy
Verneuil-sur-Seine FR
--
-Il n'est aucune sorte de sensation qui soit plus vive
que celle de la douleur ; ses impressions sont sûres,
elles ne trompent point comme celles du plaisir.

- de Sade.

Sandy said:

H. Guy a écrit :

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?

there may be widely-accepted methods for doing this, but you're pretty
much right: you're buying an item for which fit is important without the
ability to check the fit.

i've always done it thusly: retire to a private place with a ruler and
your naked butt.

Ugh !!

This is on the internet, here. You have a chance to develop you real
life interpersonal skills, so you can get the saddle you want.

At least he didn't suggest finding someone to help with this task!

Quoted message said:

You want to find a store where you can get them to let you use a demo
saddle, or where you can return it after you decide it's not the one for
you. You may actually have to engage in face to face conversation, but
don't give up hope.

If they won't do that deal, a second-best thing is to get them to take
it back, in a specific period (negotiate !) with a small loss to you, if
you do the same deal on another model. And so on .......

Lastly, you may consider whether the one you /think/ you want will
re-sell easily to another person in your local market. Again, a
probable small loss, but certainty that you aren't stuck with a bad fit.

It is semi-common practice amongst the people I occasionaly ride with
to swap saddles for a test ride. Our LBS'es don't have selections of
that sort of thing, so most purchases are mail-order which makes the
fitting task that much more difficult. Maybe he can find someone who
will let him have a go, if the shops are not interested.

Quoted message said:

Before you do any of this stuff, do sit on the one you target, for a
good beginning. And as a last step, if you really are comfortable on
one, buy a second, because they change models all too often.

Buying spares is wise advice for any comfort related things like shoes,
gloves, etc.

Quoted message said:

But a naked butt on a saddle is just ghastly !

There is a guy I ride with sometimes who has apparently not bought any
new shorts since about 1985. The lycra is so thin, it looks more like
panty-hose. When the sun is at just the right angle to illuminate his
crack, it is indeed a ghastly sight! And it comes as a shock too,
because you think he is wearing proper clothes.

Joseph

Mick said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?
Mick

Go to a bike shop that will let you try it for a ride or two and swap
it if it isn't 'right'...like we do.

H. Guy said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?

there may be widely-accepted methods for doing this, but you're pretty
much right: you're buying an item for which fit is important without the
ability to check the fit.

i've always done it thusly: retire to a private place with a ruler and
your naked butt. using the ruler, and feeling the way among the various
folds of the aforementioned body part in an embarrassing manner, determine
the distance between your sit-bones. i'm sure they have a scientific
name, but let's just call them sit bones because i haven't a clue what
that is and have no desire to use google right now.

once you've done that, take the ruler (after cleaning it, of course)
with you to your LBS and measure the available saddles. you'd like
to find one which is more-or-less flat across the width of your
sit-bones. if the center part is significantly higher than the
place where those bones will be resting, then the seat will wedge
itself in and nestle among place where you'd rather not experience
nestling.

All true. Do note that the sitz bones are closer when leaning forward than when
sitting up, making a difference in saddles for different purposes. Also making
for different measurements depending on the length of ones arms.

Quoted message said:

apparently, specialized has a "device" that does this for you, allowing
you to find out how far apart are the bones without all the fumbling.
and as it turns out, i ended up settling on a specialized avatar
because it's nicely flat in the sitting area and has a generous
cutout in the center section. AND chro-mo rails, because i've found
titanium rails to be part of the planned obsolescence conspiracy in
the cycling industry.

I'm liking Specialized's ideas about saddles. I can also, barely get away with
titanium rails on a road bike, but not off road.

Ron

Here's how to find how far apart are your sit bones (ischial tuberosities):

Take a piece of typing paper out to the curb and sit on it. The indentations
on the paper will be roughly in the form of two ovals. Go back into the
house and draw a line around the indentations. Measure from the center of
each oval to find the distance you need. For example, it might be around 5"
or 5 and 1/2". When you look at saddles on the Internet, they always tell
you how wide they are--but it doesn't mean from edge to edge, it means the
distance between your sit bones. One thing that is interesting is that some
"men's saddles" will be wider than some "women's saddles" on the same
website. In the Terry saddle line, the men's Liberator Y is wider than the
Liberator X....

Once you know the "target" distance, you have a good measure to start to
chose saddles. good luck! I am presently trying the Selle Anatomica
Titanico. So far, it has been incredibly comfortable, but I have only ridden
on it once for 3 hours. http://mcmwin.com/saddle%20shop.htm

Pat in TX said:

Here's how to find how far apart are your sit bones (ischial tuberosities):

Take a piece of typing paper out to the curb and sit on it. The indentations
on the paper will be roughly in the form of two ovals. Go back into the
house and draw a line around the indentations. Measure from the center of
each oval to find the distance you need. For example, it might be around 5"
or 5 and 1/2". When you look at saddles on the Internet, they always tell
you how wide they are--but it doesn't mean from edge to edge, it means the
distance between your sit bones. One thing that is interesting is that some
"men's saddles" will be wider than some "women's saddles" on the same
website. In the Terry saddle line, the men's Liberator Y is wider than the
Liberator X....

Once you know the "target" distance, you have a good measure to start to
chose saddles. good luck! I am presently trying the Selle Anatomica
Titanico. So far, it has been incredibly comfortable, but I have only ridden
on it once for 3 hours. http://mcmwin.com/saddle%20shop.htm

I'm not sitting out on the curb naked!

Joseph

Pat in TX said:

Here's how to find how far apart are your sit bones (ischial tuberosities):

Take a piece of typing paper out to the curb and sit on it. The indentations
on the paper will be roughly in the form of two ovals. Go back into the
house and draw a line around the indentations. Measure from the center of
each oval to find the distance you need. For example, it might be around 5"
or 5 and 1/2".

Another way to do this is with a 1/2" thick piece of styrofoam
insuluation (it comes in 14" x 48"sheets at building supply stores).
Cut off a piece and place it on a firm flat surface. Wearing thin
shorts, sit on the styrofoam sheet. This will leave the impressions of
your "sit bones" on the styrofoam.

Quoted message said:

When you look at saddles on the Internet, they always tell
you how wide they are--but it doesn't mean from edge to edge, it means the
distance between your sit bones. One thing that is interesting is that some
"men's saddles" will be wider than some "women's saddles" on the same
website. In the Terry saddle line, the men's Liberator Y is wider than the
Liberator X....

Once you know the "target" distance, you have a good measure to start to
chose saddles. good luck! I am presently trying the Selle Anatomica
Titanico. So far, it has been incredibly comfortable, but I have only ridden
on it once for 3 hours. http://mcmwin.com/saddle%20shop.htm

Mick said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?
Mick

Performance bike online lets you try saddles and return them if they
don't fit right. I just bought a Terry Falcon Y and like it a lot.

-nate

"Mick" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS
it has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to
buy it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the
shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?
Mick

The old classic information about saddles comes from
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html
article about saddles and fit, etc.
I find that a good saddle has very little padding, a split or cutout back, a
cutout or slot down the middle, and a narrow nose with a wider rear part.
The little to no padding is important as padding or gel tends to bunch up or
push out at other places causing pressure problems on your sensitive
backside nether regions.
The split back prevents problems with the saddle putting pressure on your
tailbone, etc.
The cutout in the middle or slot, releives pressure on your nether regions.
The split saddle oand or cutout works good at helping to get a little more
air circulation going so you have more air flow down below too.
The narrow nose keeps chaffing or abarsions on your inner thighs to a
minimum.
I find that wearing a good pair of cycling shorts goes a long way in confort
too.

Another interesting thought is as a rider becomes more advanced the saddle
becomes ever more smaller, narrower, and harder. I see that mainly because
as a rider becomes more advanced, they get stronger and pedal harder, they
have a more aggressive riding position and also they pedal harder, so they
have less and less weight to support on the saddle. So less saddle becomes
better as one becomes more advanced in cycling.

Gel pads or padding should be avoided, as the gel pads do not allow for air
flow, the gel pads are thicker and put more pressure on your nether regions,
causing more problems.
As you sit down on a gel pad, it squishes out of the way of your sit bones
and puts more pressure on the other parts of your backside.

I currently ride a Selle San Marco ASPide Arrowhead saddle and a lot of
people think it is a torture device or something for masochists. 🙂
But it works for me. But after riding it for 60 miles on some chip seal
roads one day last spring, the constant vibration got to my backside some
and I had a couple of raw spots there. Riding a 100 miles on other days on
non-chip seal roads has not been a problem for me though. So I was thinking
that maybe the similar saddle with a couple of thin gel pads for the sit
bones might be worth trying one of these days. Of course a pair of cycling
shorts with maybe a thicker chamois pad might do the trick too for those
chip seal roads.

Earl Bollinger said:

and I had a couple of raw spots there. Riding a 100 miles on other days on
non-chip seal roads has not been a problem for me though. So I was thinking
that maybe the similar saddle with a couple of thin gel pads for the sit
bones might be worth trying one of these days. Of course a pair of cycling

That's why I like the Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow. Might be just what you
need. Narrow, flat-ish, cut outs, some gel, flexible shell.

Joseph

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

There is a guy I ride with sometimes who has apparently not bought any
new shorts since about 1985. The lycra is so thin, it looks more like
panty-hose. When the sun is at just the right angle to illuminate his
crack, it is indeed a ghastly sight! And it comes as a shock too,
because you think he is wearing proper clothes.

oog. i call TMI on that one! okay, so i typed the phrase "ruler and
your naked butt". but that story was just gratuitous! i will carry to
my grave the image of those shorts romantically lit by the setting
sun.

Mick said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my LBS it
has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would be happy to buy
it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you cannot try on the shoes.
How do I work out what fits me?
Mick

The major problem is to get something that is wide enough to support
your sit-bones in a soft area. Some saddles, like the Brooks B-17,
the #1 selling saddle from Brooks, start out very narrow and taper
outwards gradually. If your sit-bones are narrow, you can sit near
the front of the saddle. If your sit-bones are wide, you slide back
to the back of the saddle. The B-17 has dimensions 170mm x 280mm.

Older Avocet saddles followed this concept, they tapered from narrow
to wide and the padded area for pelvic bones spread as well. These
older saddles work pretty well; I've owned one before and liked it. I
don't know about newer Avocet saddles.

If you are just looking for a saddle that's comfortable, and
size/weight are not a problem, buy any larger saddle that flares like
a Brooks B17 - the dimensions should be at least as large. That way,
you can probably find a comfortable position on your saddle.

The shop www.wallbike.com offers an unconditional 6-month
return-for-cash (minus shipping) policy on Brooks saddles.

If you are looking for a stupid-light fashion statement that fits
well, select any two (but not three) of those qualities...

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

H. Guy said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick"

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my
LBS it has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would
be happy to buy it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you
cannot try on the shoes. How do I work out what fits me?

Quoted message said:

apparently, specialized has a "device" that does this for you,
allowing
you to find out how far apart are the bones without all the fumbling.

Its essentially a bit of foam on a board. The foam holds its shape for a
while after sitting on it for a few minutes, thus allowing a measurement to
be taken.
There is no need to purchase a Specialized saddle after using their
measuring device at a shop; any make of saddle would seem fair to consider.

Quoted message said:

and as it turns out, i ended up settling on a specialized avatar

Which comes in three widths. So its handy if you know how wide to purchase.
I also use one.

Sit bone width has nothing to do with your weight or looking bulky. I'm
very skinny yet measure for the widest width.

- Nigel

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

Quoted message said:

I'm not sitting out on the curb naked!

Joseph

I didn't say you had to be naked.

Quoted message said:

Earl Bollinger said:

and I had a couple of raw spots there. Riding a 100 miles on other days on
non-chip seal roads has not been a problem for me though. So I was thinking
that maybe the similar saddle with a couple of thin gel pads for the sit
bones might be worth trying one of these days. Of course a pair of cycling

That's why I like the Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow. Might be just what you
need. Narrow, flat-ish, cut outs, some gel, flexible shell.

Joseph

They better be good! It strikes me, that for what you are getting,
$125 is an outrageous amount of money to play for a simple seat. There
are no moving parts, it's not complicated to manufacture, etc., etc.
Just my two cents. Gunny

Quoted message said:

There is a guy I ride with sometimes who has apparently not bought any
new shorts since about 1985. The lycra is so thin, it looks more like
panty-hose. When the sun is at just the right angle to illuminate his
crack, it is indeed a ghastly sight! And it comes as a shock too,
because you think he is wearing proper clothes.

Joseph

I ususally ride by myself but a young woman training for Ironman came to
my town for a few months and she insited on buying me some new shorts.
I have to admit the new ones were much better.

Friday

Gunny said:

Quoted message said:

Earl Bollinger said:

and I had a couple of raw spots there. Riding a 100 miles on other days on
non-chip seal roads has not been a problem for me though. So I was thinking
that maybe the similar saddle with a couple of thin gel pads for the sit
bones might be worth trying one of these days. Of course a pair of cycling

That's why I like the Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow. Might be just what you
need. Narrow, flat-ish, cut outs, some gel, flexible shell.

Joseph

They better be good! It strikes me, that for what you are getting,
$125 is an outrageous amount of money to play for a simple seat. There
are no moving parts, it's not complicated to manufacture, etc., etc.
Just my two cents. Gunny

If you've ever had problems on your rear end caused by cycling you'd
know that $125 is extremely good value. It's worth that much just to
save the embarrassment of going to a doctor.

Friday

Nigel Cliffe said:

H. Guy said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Mick"

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a lightweight comfortable saddle. When I go into my
LBS it has rows of saddles. If I knew which one fitted me, I would
be happy to buy it, but it is like being in a shoe shop where you
cannot try on the shoes. How do I work out what fits me?

Quoted message said:

apparently, specialized has a "device" that does this for you,
allowing
you to find out how far apart are the bones without all the fumbling.

Its essentially a bit of foam on a board. The foam holds its shape for a
while after sitting on it for a few minutes, thus allowing a measurement to
be taken.
There is no need to purchase a Specialized saddle after using their
measuring device at a shop; any make of saddle would seem fair to consider.

Quoted message said:

and as it turns out, i ended up settling on a specialized avatar

Which comes in three widths. So its handy if you know how wide to purchase.
I also use one.

Sit bone width has nothing to do with your weight or looking bulky. I'm
very skinny yet measure for the widest width.

I'm a clyde and run their narrowest. Which is not particularly narrow as
saddles go.

Ron