PeteHski

You did it again!

Come on, they've been called saddles since day 1, even if you missed it for some reason. I would argue that "seat" is the more contemporary term by far. Today you see both terms randomly interchanged, but back in the day saddle was more commonly used.

Selle Italia, Selle Royal and Selle San Marco have been calling them saddles for well over 100 years. Clue is even in their company names.

Lombard

I road my bike.

What?? You never heard of road scholars?

Crash2Much

I don't recall ever hearing anyone say bicycle saddle until the bike shop acted like they had NO clue what a bicycle seat is. And I also don't recall ever going to the bike shop to buy a bicycle seat before. I have been to the bike shop to buy several things, tires, tubes, taller seat post, brake pads, but never a bike seat. I buy a lot of parts on ebay & Walmart. When our boys were in school I had 18 bicycle for the neighbor kids to ride a group of about 10 to 12 would come pick out a bicycle after school to ride until dark every day. The kids called them self the bike group. I use to have pictures of the bike group but every time me computer crashes I loose pictures. I still have a storage building of bike parts that all need a new home I need to list them on market place. I learned never to let a scrap metal guy have $300 work of free stuff so he can sell it for $2 at the scrap yard. Scrap metal people don't see the true value of things it is just scrap metal to them.

PeteHski

Your personal experience doesn't change the facts. This is a bit like our 3 year old dog thinking the world began in the middle of 2019. Nothing I can say would convince him that the world is considerably older simply because it goes against his personal experience. Just because you never heard anyone refer to a bike saddle until recently doesn't automatically re-define the history for everyone else.

livedarklions

Frankly, I don't believe your story about the bike shop, but as far as not having recalled ever hearing anyone say "bike saddle" before, have you considered the possibility that you either have a bad memory or aren't very observant?

In the same thread, you have claimed both that "saddle" only started getting used regularly AND that it's an archaic term dating back to when people would switch from horses to bicycles. How much evidence do you need before you'll admit that both of those stories are wrong? Both terms are fine, and they're used interchangeably and commonly. "Bike seat" is probably the more common term now (but not by much), and the Schwinn ads prove that "saddle" was not a term that was chosen just to appeal to bike snobs.

Crash2Much

I grew up in a small farm town population 6200, no bike shop, no Walmart, no K-mart, the only store in town that sold bikes was Western Auto. After college I got a job in a larger town still no bike shop or big box stores. My college room mate from Chicago is the first person I ever met with a 10 speed bike that was 1970. I had a 3 speed English racer bike then. Our town finally grew to 40,000. we had no bike shop until 20 years ago. I was never exposed to anyone that called a bike seat a saddle not even my college room mate. I always tell people that I grew up in a 3rd world country. 4 of us in college road 30 miles every day just for fun. There are bike groups in our town now but I can't ride with them I can't keep up. There are a lot of old people in their 70s in town that ride trikes, I would love to have a trike but can't afford the price. I think trikes have seats but not sure.

livedarklions

You know it's perfectly ok to say that you learned some stuff about how common the word "saddle" is and the history of the term from the responses to your posts. Seeing this post, I don't think you're really looking for an argument, and I want to just encourage you to keep riding and learning stuff.

There's an over-50 forum on BF. You might want to check in there about age-appropriate group availability in your area.
https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plus-50/

Road Fan

I don't think it's possible to prove anything in BF threads, unless you have some rigor. We can confirm or deny each other's statements.

I can disagree with the statement Even the first device on a bicycle upon which a rider sat, was called a "seat." But here we can't disprove it, if it can be done at all. We can demonstrate it was not universally used in that way.

My guess is that the term "saddle" was in fact used due to the commonness of horseback riding, which was contemporary with early bicycle riding. The bicycle "sitting device" functionally resembles a saddle, so why wouldn't people call it that? It also functionally resembles a seat, but not any seat you would normally find in a home. Not a dining room chair, nor a desk chair, nor a relaxing or comfort chair to be found in a living room or family room. Also not a workbench stool - might be called a seat but not a saddle.

livedarklions

That it's a new thing has been thoroughly disproven in this thread by any reasonable standard of proof. There are numerous examples posted from the 19th century all through the 20th century of ads using the word "saddle". These were not hard to find, they're all over the place. You can, if you like, also find such examples of the word "seat" during these periods.

Don't know why you'd need to "guess" here, saddles are a type of seat that one straddles. Seats may or may not be saddles. As applied to bicycles, the terms have always been used interchangeably.

I don't think anyone is making the claim you "can disagree with" so I really don't get your point. No one claimed that the use of either term has ever been exclusive except for OP, so who is attempting to "prove" it?

Road Fan

I always though the cognoscenti said seatpillar!

Trakhak

From the evidence, it looks likely that the kids who started using 20" bikes for BMX racing (before the term "BMX" came into being) were the first to use the term "seat" consistently for what had always been called "saddles" by adult bike riders. They wouldn't have known or cared that grownups called them saddles.

Either that, or they took the term "seat" from the motorcycles that their 20" bikes were meant to emulate, along with "ape hangers," "sissy bars," etc.

indyfabz

Heh. During a bike tour of the Black Hills, I visited the mammoth dig site in Hot Springs. There was a sign explaining that people who dig at the site include groups from Road Scholar. I thought it was a typo until someone later explained.

https://www.roadscholar.org/

Road Fan

Hey, I was being ironic! I agree with your point of view, and I am not saying "saddle is a new thing." Plus I am not at all surprised that we can disprove any of a number of points by looking at historical examplesI I just started our to say proving is difficult.

I like the John Forester comment on saddles: "You don't sit in the saddle. you straddle it. You're not buying a seat for your buttock muscles, but a prop for your pelvic bones." From "Effective Cycling, MIT Press, copyright 1984. He was also talking about mashing versus higher cadence, saying that in hard riding, you twirl the pedals and are stabilized by the ischial contact points.

Road Fan

Now somebody is going to start talking about "riding on the rhodes!"

livedarklions

Basically, OP started by arguing that the term "saddle" wasn't used for 90 years of common bicycle usage. That's a negative claim. Examples probably can't prove a negative claim, but they sure can disprove it.

I can't prove a claim that there are no unicorns, but if you suddenly bring in a live unicorn, that would disprove that claim.

Eric F 

That's how one gets street smarts. Duh.

indyfabz

R.I.P. Randy Rhoads.

Eric F 

I believe Randy rode the Crazy Train.

rsbob 

The all knowing and all seeing mighty Google knows there is a definite difference between bike seats and saddles. And you call yourself cyclists or bike riders or cycling enthusiasts. You should be ashamed.

Road Fan

Yes, exactly.

Road Fan

yes, exactly.

indyfabz

More like the crazy plane. 😇

c_m_shooter

They have always been saddles. Carryover from horses. Why does a driving harness for horses include a part named the saddle? It obviously is no place to sit?

Eric F 

Sadly...yes.

indyfabz

Saddle of rabbit is one of the best pieces of meat on the planet.