Originally Posted by
noimagination
I would begin trying different saddles only if I was sure that the current saddle was correctly positioned on a bike that fit me, and that I had sufficient time in the saddle. Exception: if the saddle is correctly positioned and the bike fits, butt pain is normal but excessive chafing (raw spots on your skin) and/or saddle sores are not symptoms of a lack of fitness, they are probably caused by the saddle.
Yes, this is a very important clarification - sitting pain vs chafing pain. I'd also add that excessive chafing is also very frequently caused by badly fitting (or simply bad) shorts, in particularly the ones that are too big, so instead of moving together with the leg as a whole, they rub against the skin.
Originally Posted by
Gyro
One thing a do for butt pain. Stand on the pedals and stretch and cling your butt muscles. Get's the blood moving again.
Yes, and one more thing that no one mentioned so far - many riders at first always ride as a dead weight, as a sack of potatoes mounted and glued on top of the saddle, always strictly fully seated, including the moments while going over quite rough terrain (pavement cracks, potholes etc.). Lift up yourself at such moments a bit (or more), so that road bumps instead of transmitting directly from the saddle to the butt will be soaked and amortized by leg joints. Avoiding these kicks in the butt over the rough road makes a
huge difference for the stress on the rider's body as well as for the stress on the bike itself. Roughly, if you remain always glued to the saddle than if a bike goes over an obstacle than it lifts whole weight of a bike + rider, if you are already lifted though then only bike weight needs to lift and "springs" (legs) compress.