Kanon25

Am not new to bikes but have just bought a electric bike to use for getting around the city. In the context of using this bike. I obviously dont weath bike shorts underneath, however the seat that came with the e-bike ( Selle Royal Milo+ ) is surprisingly not that comfortable for me personally, despite being very padded.

I have done a good around of road and gravel riding over the years and there, I had settled on a Selle SMP VT30, which works well in that use case (padded bike shorts under and with more leaned-forward riding positions). Am not sure how to approach selecting a bike seat here with this upright and more passive city riding and no padding.

Has anyone been on this path and found good options for this?

veganbikes

A saddle that works well for you would be my recommendation. It is possible your butt and my butt are similar but it is more likely they are different. My butt seems to like the Ergon saddles but that is my butt.

If you like the Selle SMP saddle you should try one of those maybe something slightly wider depending on the position and your sit bones.

Rick_D

Seats are very personal. I have Selle Anatomica on my city/commute bike and it's perfectly comfortable. Has vast fore-aft range and the tension is easily adjusted. The Series 2 saddles can be user-rebuilt, using screws instead of rivets. Leaving out in the rain not recommended.

Arrowana

Excessive padding can potentially make a saddle uncomfortable for longer rides. With a more upright position, a slightly wider saddle than you use on your other bikes may help, and slightly more padding might also help. If you need additional cushion, some options to consider would be wider tires, a sprung saddle, or a suspension seatpost. In my case, I'm stuck riding full suspension and upright, and actually get by with the same saddles I used back when I could ride a road bike. You might even try swapping the saddle from one of your other bikes to see how it works for you on the ebike.

Aushiker

I am also a fan of Selle Anatomica saddles and are in the process of slowly migrating over from Brooks saddles.

2old

I fit well on WTB saddles for my MTB and e-MTB activities, but have an "upright saddle" on my cruiser. It's similar to the "cloud" variety on Amazon and provides excellent comfort on the occasional rides on that bike. The fact that it's inexpensive, well made, and wasn't purchased from a bike shop doesn't bother me.

Sempervee

Believe it or not the best improvement I made with 5 different seats on my RAD mini is the STOCK seat with a suspension post!! To this day 700 miles later on it!

grumpus

Try a VT30 angled slightly up compared to your regular fit?
I would like to recommend the saddle I use on most of my bikes, it's a design that originated in the 1960s pro peloton, a hard plastic saddle (some models have a thin padded layer) that doesn't require me to wear padded shorts, that I use on MTBs and road bikes. Unfortunately I can't recommend it for you, it just happens to suit my anatomy - you'll have to find your ideal saddle by trial and error.
Specialized claims to be able to measure your pelvis and match it to particular saddles, I've never tried it, never needed to, but you might find it helpful. It does try to address a major component of saddle fit, "sit bone" or ischial tuberosity width, although soft tissue will also play a part.
Otherwise I've had a few WTB models and found them good for casual MTB use.

Smaug1

You really need to let us know what ebike you have for the city and preferably post a link to it.
A leaned-back cruiser or upright city bike usually will be more comfortable with a wider back area, since more of the weight is supported by your butt. That style seat isn't comfortable for road bikes, as the legs chafe too much on that larger back portion.

Kanon25

Its the Orbea Optima E50. So it’s very an upright cruiser, with high handlebars - basically modern take on the classic “Amsterdam city bike”.

Based on the research I have done, I’ll try to stick with something that has a gap in the middle for pressure relief, I have shortlisted the Brooks England B17 Imperial, the Selle SMP E-City and the ISM Touring. Am just waiting for one them to pop up on the used market and I’ll go for it.

rm -rf

I think any saddle is uncomfortable if a rider hasn't been riding regularly. Give it a few weeks and multiple rides with the stock saddle before you decide what to do next. And that will help when you evaluate one of the nice saddles you have in mind.

The local bikeshare bikes have a similar form to your Orbea. They have extra wide, deep cushioned saddles. It's fine for the short 5 minute to maybe 30 minute rides these bikes are used for. But too wide and squishy for longer rides.

Smaug1

↑ This is hard to believe to a newer rider, but it is absolutely true.