Zaxatron

Hi Everyone,

before I get into the discussion I would like to tell you that I had a left inferior pubic ramus fracture in 2006 due to some car not stopping at a stop sign and hitting me side on.

Also in 2015 I was hit from behind, while riding in the bike lane, by a drunk driver and I was injured copping Left L 1-L3 transverse process fractures.

Due to these previous injuries I suffer left lower back pain when I go on long rides and perineal pain.

About 20k into a ride I start feeling the very last 2 toes on the left foot start getting numb, also get some numbness in the lower back. When this happens I have to unclip my left shoe from the left pedal and dangle my leg for about a minute. When I do this I feel blood starts to flow again and perhaps a nerve becomes uncompressed and feel better.

When I get perineal pain, I mainly get it on the left inside my perineum area. The right side of my perineum feels fine.

I wear Pearl Izumi shorts.

Since, I bought a Velo, Fizik Tundra2, San Marco Ponza bike saddles.

Also tried different seat post heights, cleat adjustments, fore and aft setting of the saddle, slight down tilt of the saddle.

I have pretty narrow seat bones. The distances between the 2 is only 9 cm.

I opted for a 12.5 cm wide saddle.

I must mention that I ride a Merida Ride 400 road bike which is a compact frame. I do not particularly like the compact frame which brings me too forward, I prefer riding in a more relaxed position.

This happened because I got sucked in by the bike salesman talk.

Does anyone have any tips for me in order to reduce or eliminate the perineum pain which is quite annoying and painful?

On very long rides (over 150k), the knob of my penis becomes desensitized for a few hours.

I am 59 years of age, but still very fit.

Thanks

Best regards

Zaxa

Carbonfiberboy 

Try this one. More relief in the center: VELO SENSO SPORTS VL-3206 Saddle, Black x White | eBay

TiHabanero

Sounds like your body is a bit of a mess. Post a pic of you on the bike, preferably a full on side shot. Tell us the saddle/handlebar offset. Knee over pedal placement, and foot over spindle placement, shoe model, insole, socks used, and pedals, or go to a trusted shop. My preference would be a shop that works with "mature" riders.

berner

Most saddles when viewed from above have a wedge shape. Such saddles, even narrow ones, seem to be wide just forward of the sit bones and I find them painful after 25 miles or so. I have difficulty finding saddles that are wide at the sit bones but narrow just forward of that. The saddle that works for me I've had to arrive at by customizing the underlying plastic under the foam padding. That plastic can be remolded with a heat gun to be as narrow as I need it. It may be you will one day find the perfect saddle but I would think about the actual shape beyond just wide or narrow. I was spurred into drastic measures when at the point of giving up cycling and had nothing to loose by butchering my saddle. You may not need to take drastic measures but I would urge some new thinking.

philbob57

I recommend viewing https://www.cervelo.com/en/engineeri...f-road-saddles.

Also, I recommend checking out the documentation on ismseat.com and selleanatomica.com and the blog posts that come up when you search on 'steve hogg selle smp'. Specialized also has saddles that are aimed at preventing perineal numbness - Toupe, Power, Romin, and ?.

Specialized offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Some LBS's also provide tests. Amazon allows 30-day returns.

Pick one you want to start with, and run through them until you find one that works. What works for me may not work for you.

Leisesturm

In another thread someone linked a saddle with the shape you want. I forget the name (edit: Kontact saddle) but what I can tell you is that my Bontrager Affinity has the exact same shape as that saddle and isn't being sold at some outrageous price point because of it. In fact I got mine on sale for $60. We have a his n' hers set on our newest tandem and I like mine so much I got another xx/xy pair for our fancy tandem that we hardly ever ride anymore.

I should note that my sit bones are in the same area as the o.p. but I am using the widest size of the men's Affinity: 148mm. It is extremely firm and flat across the top. There is no cut-out, only a slight depression in the perianal area but I perceive no pressure on my taint while riding. None at all. The sensation is that all my weight is being borne by the sit bones. I also use Pearl Izumi shorts.

To me saddles are like religions. I have a hard time believing that only those who are Seventh Day Adventist get to live forever with properly functioning genitalia and the hordes of heathen who worship at different denominations or even <gasp> different Gods should suffer from impotence and shortened (sex) lives. I think anyone who cares enough to ride a bicycle is doing something Good and Holy, and the Universe will bless them. Too narrow saddles, too much time plotzed on the saddle without a break, and a position too far forward on a too narrow saddle will cause even the most carefully made anatomic saddle to turn into a weapon of destruction of (wo)manly function.

The o.p. has sampled enough quality saddlery to have found something that could work! Maybe it ain't the seat? That's my guess. The last thread in this vein featured the SMP saddles which are worth a look but I'm really thinking this is a case of technique being modified rather than equipment.

Leisesturm

Kontact Bicycle Saddles

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...ll-about-smps/

Bontrager Affinity Elite Saddle | Trek Bikes

Usually when this subject comes up (see what I did there?) the Moon Saddle or some other kind of 'noseless' saddle gets thrown in the discussion. Personally I like having a nose on my saddle. Removing it should be the absolute last resort. It isn't obvious how much control over the maneuvering of the bike is done from the seat but some people do find that they crash more when they go to noseless saddles. Buyer beware.

fietsbob

rotate your hips more upright..i'm almost 70 never had those issues.

brooks team pro, SI turbo, SM rolls, Fizik vitesse no cutouts.. tried S Anatomica hated the hole.




'/,

berner

In further news, about the time I posted in this thread, I "laced" my saddle with a zip tie to narrow it even further just ahead of the widest part of the saddle at the beginning of the nose area. I drilled small holes through the plastic underlying base material and punched small holes through the cover to thread the zip ties. This morning I rode 25 miles, the most I've done in nearly three weeks. So far so good but need to ride 40 or 50 miles for a truer test. I love to tinker, especially when the tinkering works.

Road Fan

For me, generally peri pain is due to my hips rocking and rubbing too much on the saddle surface - pressure combined with motion results in abrasion, and that for me means bleeding and pain that lasts up to a week.

What I've found are two strategies: first, don't let my weight be supported by the narrow part of the saddle, rather the two sit bones need to be supported on the wide part of the saddle. For me one thing is that I bias teh nose up rather than down, because it reduces sliding forward onto the narrow middle of the saddle.

Second, I try to prevent hip rocking by progressively scooching down my saddle one small increment at a time, maybe a sixteenth of an inch, or maybe a millimeter. If I go too low, I will end up creating excess knee stress and pressure as my foot bottoms out, and that can hurt, too.

I also tend to slide the saddle back (again incrementally) to reduce hand pressure. This may sound odd, but it works for me. Sometimes after a substantial rearward adjustment I find the saddle needs to go down just a little more.

I'm doing all this using a Selle Anatomica saddle - when they are dialed in they are great. But I've also used these principles to set up other, even non-leather, saddles such as Brookses, my Specialized Toupe and some older Specs.

Wildwood 

Get out of your saddle more, if only a few mm.
With the problems you described there may be no saddle that works perfectly, esp for 150K