New Member -- First Question

Norter79 said:

I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but the search function on my browser will not work for one reason or another, so please bear with me.

I've read the "most comfortable saddle money can buy" thread and it helped very little. I say that because I'm just not educated in saddles enough to make a decision..

I own a road bike and will upgrade to a new one once I realize what my specific wants and needs are but in the mean time i'm just looking for a new saddle to ease some pain.

Let me first introduce myself as it may eliminate the need for background questions..

I spent my entire child-early adult life as a competive swimmer and ended 5 years ago when i finished my division 1 swimming career.. while i haven't been spending 30 hours a week in the weight room or pool in the past 5 years i have been relatively active.. still, i'm extremely out of shape for me.

I have an excellent mountain bike, though it's depressing to see it sitting in the corner of the garage.. I've since moved to long beach island, new jersey..
to my knowledge there isn't a dirt path(it's all sand) or good bike shop an hour in any direction.. If anyone knows the area and can tell me otherwise, please do.. furthermore, the nearest hill is 50 miles away, so 95% of the time for me is spent seated..

so, the road bike it is because the mountain bike is just depressing.. you get passed by 80 year olds on well-geared beach cruisers...

I have an old 61cm cannondale with dura-ace components and a selle italia saddle. The thing kills me.. most of the pain is in the actual pelvis bone(on both sides) itself, but the pressure in between my legs gets to me as well(even after 5 miles).. I can make do with a pair of padded shorts and the gel seat cover but after 20 miles it becomes extremely uncomfortable.

I don't care about weight(or cost really), i just want to be able to ride comfortably for 2 hours.. I've even thought about taking the seat from my beach cruiser and putting on my cannondale(it may come to this shortly)..

I was looking at the style with the hole in the middle of the seat, but i wanted to get some advice from knowledgable riders..

there seem to be a lot of votes for the aliante and arione though, and i especially like the sound of "increased contact surface" in the description..

also, i'm 6'6 and 230 lbs, so my hips are probably wider than the average rider...maybe this is what the problem is with my current seat??..

If anyone has any thoughts, i'd love to hear them.. until then, looks like i'm getting another gel pad to put on top of the one i have now..

thanks in advance..

Welcome to the forum. My athletic career started in pool, then went into the triathlon stage after college swimming ended, and is now in the late 30's father with no time to train stage. I should have started out as a cyclist rather than a swimmer- as a 5'10" 150-pounder it was you hulks who crushed me in the pool but who now have to haul that muscle mass up the hills... But I digress. Back to your question.

If the MTB seat works well for you, I would suggest you use that seat on the road bike, or get one that is the same model or as close a shape as possible. Also check to make sure that the road bike fit is set up properly.

Saddles are such an individual thing that you may have to do a little of trial and error, unfortunately.

Another idea--consider a Brooks Leather. It will take a little while to break in, but once it does will be perfectly conformed to your anatomy. They are heavy and require some care, but for some riders, they are the perfect solution.

I have used the Aliante,which I did not like at all, the Arione which was good but neither have a "cut out".
As stated I use the Terry Y Zero at present which does have a cut out and several other do also.
So if you need a cut out as many people do I would not recommend either of these Fizik saddles.

thanks for the suggestions!

actually, the mtb saddle doesn't work very well.. i just spent the majority of my time off of it.. if i didn't, it usually resulted in a pinch flat..

john m, i'm a typical swimmer build..majority of my weight is in the upper body 🙄 ....good thing there isn't a hill within many many miles.

i'm not even certain the road bike fits me well, i tend to think it doesn't. i don't even really know how to figure out if it does or not. common sense would dictate if it hurts in the shoulders, lower back(and it does), it doesn't fit well... but what do i know..

never even thought about it..how long is a typical break in period for a seat? maybe the problem is that i didn't buy it new and the seat was broken in by someone else's rear end..

wanted to avoid trial and error but it sounds like there may be no other way to do it..

edit--just spent some time on terry site...the fly tri gel and the liberator ti race gel both look appealing.

By break-in, I was referring only to solid leather Brooks type saddles. Almost all others (including what you have been using) are leather covers over a plastic or carbon fiber base with a small amount of padding. These types of saddles do not "break-in" and don't conform to anyones anatomy.

As far as fit, you may want to take a look at these websites for some information. Even though the calculators are set up to help people order a bike, they are useful for helping get an existing bike to fit better.

http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-sizing.html
http://www.zinncycles.com/fitsystems/default_ie.aspx
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO

You might want to poke around Lennard Zinn's website a bit for some discussion of bikes for big people. He is a former racer who now builds custom bikes for big people (at 6'6" himself).

www.zinncycles.com

You may also want to look around for some local cycling clubs. There will be some veteran members who should be willing to provide some advice.