63rickert

*Most* women want the saddle tilted slightly down. Slight means slight. *Most* men want the saddle tilted slightly up and many have it tilted significantly up. Almost no women can tolerate a saddle tilted up.

Most women want a wider saddle than their husband wants.

Many riders respond very positively to saddles with a cutout. Cutout means a big hole in middle of saddle. More women seem to like that than men. Many riders still find the cutout rather strange.

Thirty or or forty minutes for a total newcomer sounds good to me.

You can always stand on the pedals. Saddle doesn’t hurt when you aren’t sitting on it. Applying more power to pedals works pretty much the same way. Power to the pedals means weight on pedals and less weight on saddle.

Cannondales are mostly very stiff. No cushion in frame. Only remedy for that is bigger tires/less air in tires. Or start over with a new bike.

Is the saddle too high? A high saddle means the rider has to drag their backside back and forth across the saddle to reach the pedals. First sign of that is rocking hips when viewed from rear. A too low saddle is much less likely to cause problems than a too high saddle. At the extreme a low saddle carries too much weight and won’t be comfortable either. Before listening too much to too many experts just try stuff. Move that saddle around. Personally I have been at this 60 years and 400,000 miles and will still occasionally move a saddle for no reason except it has been in one spot too long. Try stuff.

Everyone who rides has spare saddles in the basement and will be happy to let you try them. Some of us have lots and lots of saddles. Ask.

fishboat

Several here have suggested "get a wider seat"...well..maybe, but it's equally likely narrower could be the ticket. The reason I have so many saddles for sale is both my girlfriend and I trying various and not finding nirvana. I too thought variations on a wider saddle would be what my GF needed. I didn't target the 130mm width because I couldn't imagine anyone being comfortable on such a narrow saddle. My GF's sit bones are about 105mm apart. After exhausting some well thought of wider saddles..with no amount of adjustment making them comfortable.. she tried a 130mm Cobb flow saddle..boom..done..she loves it. I bought more. The Terry Damslefly or Dragonfly were a second choice..but the Cobb is "it".

Barry2 

If I were you, I'd take a trip to a reputable bike store and bring your bike.
Tell them that you're having issues and although you are not adverse to buying a saddle, you are unsure that is the actual issue.
Offer to pay for a rough bike fit. Not the $3-400 full fit, just a half hour of their time to determine if your existing bike is indeed suitable for your height and build.

They can only say no

I bet they don't!

Barry

Kapusta

MTBR has a pretty active forum for women: https://forums.mtbr.com/womens-lounge/

It is a mountIan bike site, but the saddle issues are likely not road bike specific.

They will likely mock your husband for telling you that you are “sitting wrong”, but will likely have good advice from people with actual experience being women.

Phil_gretz

I have read through the responses, and frankly, the helpful people did not understand the nature of your question. Likely due to the delicacy of your wording. My wife had your EXACT issue after we had begun lowering her handlebars and rotating them farther forward/downward, creating her need for a forward rotation of the pelvis and the resulting abrasions and severe pain. She was riding the Terry Liberator that others have mentioned. She had ridden pain free for years prior to those specific fit changes.

We then tried another saddle, same problem. We tried different shorts, with or without compression underwear. Same result.

So, we dialed everything BACK to the original position of the handlebars with the original Liberator saddle. Voila, problem solved.

Your issue may very well have to do with the angle of your pelvis and the length between the hand positions and your saddle position. You'll need help fitting/re-fitting this bike to you. The existing saddle may be okay, or it may not.

There is also a women's only sub-forum here at BikeForums.net. Maybe a note to the moderators can tell you how to apply and be accepted to it. We men never go there and don't know how to get in. Discussions are more frank there, from people who actually know what you're going through. Good luck.

Road Fan

I was going to suggest other forums as well. The Womens' Forum suggests itself. The Mod I talked to about it was named Siu Blue Wind, and she was a kind of gatekeeper. Another Mod, CB400bill is a very nice and understanding person and I would expect him to help you get connected.

There is also a forum on bicycle fitting, called "Fit your bike" I think - I spend a lot of time there, I should remember! Bike fitting and solving such problems is the main topic there.

I'd also suggest perhaps finding a qualified fitter who is female. I don't know where you are but I know a very good one, Jess at Fitmi.com here in Ann Arbor MI. If you live near Ann Arbor it would be worthwhile to come here (with an appointment). She also might be willing to consult to give you some help in sorting out the potential issues.

My last suggestion is to contact a seat manufacturer. There is one that is female-owned, Rivetcycles, Debra Banks, owner and chief designer (and everything else). She is a highly experienced long-distance rider who has put a lot of excellent information and advice on her website, and might be willing to consult/advise as well.

I have a lot experience setting up my bikes and those of Mrs. Road Fan. I would be willing to try to help more if you want.

Road Fan

I'm tempted to do this, and I'm a guy!

Kapusta

“This food tastes fine. You are just eating it wrong.”

phughes

Usually though, if you are having saddle pain, it is because the seat is too high. Rarely does a too low saddle cause saddle pain. Of course if it is simply sit bone area pain, that would simply be due to getting back on the bike and riding more than usual, but if the pain is elsewhere, most likely it is a too high saddle, a saddle that is too far forward, or too great of reach.

Kapusta

Life is too short to dicker around a painful saddles designed for a different anatomy.

Kick this one to the curb, and get a different saddle recommended by other women.
s

Road Fan

No wonder my wife always yells at me! I say that to her all the time!

Road Fan

Migil, I hope you have found some help somewhere here. If you still need it, I like to help people with this. I'm not a pro or a fitter of any sort, there's no $$ involved. I just have a lot of experience and I like to try to understand the problem and then suggest fixes.

It is not likely to be an anatomy problem, unless you have a known anatomy problem. Setting that aside for better or worse, for a bike to fit you well, you need to adjust the devices on the bike (saddle, bars/grips, and pedals) so that your body is perfectly positioned to be comfortable and to propel the bike efficiently, so you can use it to improve your fitness, skill, and strength. Not all bikes can be adjusted for all people, that's why there are different sizes and styles of bikes. The business of mens' machines versus womens' machines is kind of a nothing in my opinion. For any bike the first step is to see if you are able to set the saddle height correctly. It's really a test of whether the bike is too big to ride, not too big or small to stand over. We're focused on making the bike rideable.

To set the saddle height we need to check the saddle height, then set is rather precisely. Checking can be done wih numbers but by feeling is just as good. With the bike stationary, and you riding shoes on and your chosen "costume," sit on the bike salddle and hold onto the wall while you get up on it. Put your heel on the pedal and pedal backwards with one foot while the other one hangs loose. If the foot hangs loose and only lightly touches the pedal, that is a good pedal height. Then change to the other foot/pedal and let teh first foot hang. If the heel ontact with the pedal is evenly light, the saddle is the right height. If you have to force your knee into locked to get your leg straight, the saddle is too low, maybe as little as ⅛". You need to raise it and check it again.

Or if your heel is not in contact with your leg straight, the saddle needs to come down just a little bit at a time until there is contact, but no force on your heel on either leg. Then if you put the front of your foot, you should feel free leg motion without your hips rocking and scraping your undercarriage on the saddle top. That will hurt, and it's not just a guy thing.

I would like to hear that you have tried this. Be mindful of safety, I'm sure you can feel that the balance is a little precarious while trying these things. I hope this helps get you thinking. The next step would be to adjust front/rear location of the saddle.

I would imagine a better bike shop, with a reputation, and in a big city where cyclists are developed and demanding, you may want to have a shop fitter take you through this get the best guy/girl to take care of you. I assume it would be well under $100, but that is set against the fact that you were given a perfectly good free bicycle. I'm not saying buy pedals, a saddle or other parts, not without good reasons why your bike fit needs them. My view would be "don't buy any new parts, make the old ones serve you as well as can be done.

I hope you let us know how things are going. If you can do this heel/pedal thing, I think we can take you through the rest of it.

Sy Reene

Is this a record? One 'first' OP post, a few dozen responses.. I hope she found a home.

jay4usc

buy from REI you have one year to return it no question ask. If you’re not happy they will take it back and you can grab a different one.