icemilkcoffee 

A few years ago I bought a high crank/handlebar above seat style recumbent bike. But try as I might- I could never shake the nervous low speed handling. The key problem is that counter-steering doesn't work too well on these recumbent bikes. It's a bit like getting on a jet ski- you need to unlearn all the counter-steering you have intuitively learned. I never got comfortable at low speeds on the bent. And at high speeds I had some white knuckle moments as well because of the slow steering and high polar momentum- it's slow to turn-in or rotate. It just seems like the recumbent needs another 20 years of evolution to work the bugs out.
I ended up selling the bent. This year I started riding drop bar road bikes. It's hard work to get used to the riding position, which seems to be designed by sadists. But little by little I am able to get more used to it and get more aero. In my case I learned that there are no shortcuts. You just have to bite the bullet and do it the hard way.

BrazAd

Chamois cream + theblackbibs.com ($40/pair) + Selle SMP TRK = comfort for century rides or less. Miles, not KM!

You're welcome,

Gary

Digger Goreman

Ban motor vehicles from the roads?
Just saying....

branko_76 

I agree with post #24 by noimagination ,

1) get the bike to fit your body

and then

2) get your body fit

easy49

You didn't say if you bought regular shorts or bibs. Bibs can make a big difference. They stay in place much better and that reducers rubbing and maintains proper placements of the chamois. And as someone mentioned make sure they fit snug.

rydabent

Since going bent in 2005 that has never be an issue. I wear my whitey tighty briefs, and rugby short. They are basically sweat pant only short.

rydabent

I simply cant imagine riding with some sort of goop in my shorts-----------yuck.

BrazAd

The goop isn't *IN* your shorts. I rub some on my sensitive areas, a light film, before I put my bibs on. Never even feel it's there!

Gary

tomato coupe

You mean you don't squirt the whole 8 oz. tube into your shorts? Good, because that was getting kind of expensive!

chrisnapos32

For me, the SUGOi - Men's Evolution Zap Short have been the best shorts I've ridden in. I have done 40 mile rides on them and I never have had problem with them. They are expensive....$104 on amazon. For me, they are worth their weight in gold. I would also look at trying out different saddles. I am doing that right now because of numbness in the perineal area and it is getting expensive. See if you can try out saddles in your nearest bike shop.

dscohen

Retul Bike Fit did wonders for me. I had been buying the wrong width saddles for years; not to mention riding with my saddle too high and my stem too long.

GAtkins

+10 on Retul. No affiliation, blah, blah, blah,

Glenn

dscohen

I'll add this one other item...when I first started riding 10+ years ago (and had less money than I do now), I tended to buy one part and stick with it regardless of the associated fit because I didn't want to spend the extra bucks. Now that I'm older and have a bit more disposable income, I've never felt as comfortable as I do now on my latest build. Part of that is not being afraid of trial and error. That's what it takes. Unfortunately, once you've bought and used something, you now own it. Make yourself an eBay account and get acquainted with selling all those parts you can't return. There's a market for them.

I went through about 5 different saddles in the last two months in order to hone in on the correct one. I also had to go through 3 pair of shoes. That's easily over $1000 in guess and check...grrr!

,,,And if you're on a budget...after paying $350 for my Retul bike fit, I went back and compared those numbers to the ones generated by the Competitive Cyclist fit tool. It's uncanny how close those numbers came out being. They were generally off by +/- 2 cm. That can be a lot depending on the measurement, but it gets you in the ballpark.

Ultimately, when you develop pain, you really need to have a long and hard think about the ergonomic mechanics that are causing that pain. You need to take into account outdoor temperature, time when pain starts to occur, and where exactly that pain is occurring. For example, it's not enough to say, "Oh I have foot pain." You need to think about exactly where on your foot and how that particular area interacts with your shoe and whether the heatwave you're cycling in is a contributing factor.

Ryan_M

I never really thought much about the saddle. My past bikes always had a minimal padding saddle, when I got my current bike (Giant Roam 1) the seat was a lot cushier. It's not really a mountain bike but I thought thats just how it was. instead of rolling the dice on buying a new saddle and it maybe not working out I checked out the used ads figuring others had done the same, if it doesn't work out I could probably sell it for the same price or at a minimal loss. I tried a smaller saddle with less padding andd it's helped a lot! Sit bones are still a little sore due to a new saddle but friction issues are so much less! I think I'm on the right track.

woodcraft

Bull****.

FlMTNdude

Ok, maybe 2 pints then. But it is not just dripping when I take them off, Admittedly, I do not handle heat.