Seats, Saddles & Sore Bums
The single biggest complaint I hear from potential bicycle customers is that the “seats” are too skinny. I always tell them, their problem is not the saddle, but their fit. Any saddle is comfortable if the bike is properly fit to you. No saddle will be comfortable if the bike does not properly fit.
Routinely, I meet people complaining their super cushy padded gel seat causes their bottom and privates to go numb. They wonder if they need special biking shorts (I love mine, but did you need them as a kid?). This is not surprising. Your pelvic bones dig in and the cushion pinches off the circulation. Ride like this long enough and combined with sweat, you’ll get saddle sores. Adding another layer, with overly padded bike shorts, just makes things worse.
The most popular saddles for touring cyclists, that practically live on their bikes, are a single sheath of leather. It is stretched like a sling over the metal frame. Unpadded triathalon shorts are their most popular riding shorts. The longer your ride, the less padding you want. It is not a matter getting used to it or breaking it in.
If you are uncomfortable you either have the wrong type of seat for your riding or your bike is not properly fit to you (yes, we also have a problem with selling folks what we want instead of what they need). Almost nobody actually fits people to their bikes anymore. Oh, you can pay $200 and learn a bunch of useless nonsense, designed to make you go faster. For most of us, that just isn’t our main concern.
When I hear complaints about saddles the first thing I do is check for proper fit. Not size, fit. Basically, your legs should have 1-2″ of play at the bottom of your pedal stroke. The more competitive you are, the closer you’ll want to be to that 1″. The nose of your seat should be the length of your elbow to the tips of your fingers to the handle bar, at the stem (women, the far side of the bar). This can be accomplished by moving the seat forard or backwards on the seat rails or with a shorter or longer stem.
If you move your seat, you need to be sure your knee doesn’t move past the ball of your foot. The ball of your foot should be set just past the pedal axle (too many are pedaling with their toes and calves rather than their larger, more powerful, glutes).
Generally speaking, you want the bottom of your seat to be even with the top of your stem. It can be one or even two inches higher, but not lower. I realize some more competitive cyclists want a slammed stem. Their seat is generally tilted at a similer angle to the level of the stem. This keeps their back straight and flat. They also tend to have a very strong core to support this riding position. Most of us don’t and this is only good for relatively short, fast rides. So much of your weight is shifted forward that your elbows get stiff, your wrists ache and your fingers get numb. I am not a fan. I believe it actually increases your aerodynamic profile.
You don’t want your stem much higher than your seat either. Your saddle puts your hips in the exact position they should be for efficient pedaling. As you raise your stem you are rotating your chest up and out, putting all your upper body weight on the small of your back.
How about handlebar width? This isn’t often a problem on road bikes, with drop bars, but you need to think about it on flat bar road bikes, commuters and anything made for off road riding (I do see a lot of women’s drop bar bikes with bars WAY too wide). Your bars should be no more than 2″ wider than your shoulders. Too wide, as are most, and you will have elbow pain and pain at the base of your neck. It’s not that hard to swap a handle bar or cut one to the correct length.
There’s more, but get the basics and you will be comfy on your saddle. Now, be sure you get the right bike and saddle for the type of riding you are going to be doing. That is the time to look at saddles.
Of course, a more upright riding postion requires a bigger seat. A more aggressive riding position needs less surface area to reduce chaffing. Women’s pelvic bones are at an angle and a man’s tend to be straight up and down. Any shop can help you find a saddle suited to you. You should never be uncomfortable on your bike because of your saddle.