kahn

Ah, thanks. I see that I was ahead of my time - cutting a hole in various saddles to accommodate a crushed sitting bone.

phughes

I just don't see a cover like this working well on a bicycle seat. On a motorcycle, with minimal air, the AirHawk is quite comfortable. ON a motorcycle seat though, your thighs are supported by some of the seat, as is almost the entire part of your butt, depending of course on the motorcycle. With minimal air in the AirHawk, the air lifts you over a larger area, taking some weight off your tailbone and sit bones, but not all the weight, allowing you to remain planted on the seat, with less pressure.

On the bicycle, I cannot see it working the same way. The pad will simply raise you off the seat, and I cannot imagine the chafing between the legs, and I am a thin guy. It looks like a bad idea designed by someone who has good intentions, but doesn't ride very far at a time, if at all.

veganbikes

If you need to put on a cover on your saddle, more importantly you probably need a fit and a better saddle (which your fitter could recommend) A saddle should only need covering if you are trying to keep rain off of it, otherwise it is already a single unit. A lot of pain can be caused by thing being in the wrong position, height, setback, angle, bar position (including angle) and other factors. None of which have to do with the actual saddle.

Also if you only ride occasionally you won't have a chance to get used to riding and that will cause pain and is not something adding a cover is going to help with. People have already pointed out the differences between a bike which you pedal and a motorcycle you don't (and also typically sit on with your whole butt or most of it). However that is quite important to note for this.

Though when I get sultry I may want that but I try not to get high temperature and sultry when riding. When you see goofy wording like that from someone who used google translate so they could pump out the product cheaply and quickly, you should probably avoid it. It is great for comedy but probably wasn't much R+D going into it just hey lets just make something silly and someone will buy it.

sysrq

Well it's a hit and miss with everything not just things that come out of China so things like bad translation sometimes can be overlooked.
Now when trying out it on a Lepper Concorde instead of Selle Anatomica with carefully adjusted pressure it feels like floating, can't feel any pressure points or poking only gentle pressure fluctuations as you pedal, so the main thing is the right saddle shape and structure (matress spring loaded hammock) + air pressure which is more on the low side. Thin gel cover on top of it also adds some protection and makes it look less conspicuous.

Kapusta

Never thought I would see “sultry” associated with “hemorrhoids” or “skin acne”.

kahn

So you have now tried it out and find it a reasonable solution for saddle discomfort? You could just use a plain saddle cover (no gel, just fabric) to hide the hemorrhoids preventor!

sysrq

Not sure yet since I haven't tried it properly on the road and it might be just a confirmation bias/optimism bias. I will probably keep the gel cover as well just in case it doesn't feel right during more "technical" situations or due to any other number of reasons during the ride. It feels like it's just as good without the gel cover though.

indyfabz

Think “humidity” got lost in translation.

Kapusta

You think so?


Though I never thought of my sweaty butt as "humid".

indyfabz

That's because you have a better command of the English language than the person who wrote that copy, which is actually redundant since sultry means hot and humid, not to mention that sultry is not a noun.

veganbikes

If you cannot take the time to proofread with someone who reads fluent English and you are selling to English speakers that is not good.

Yes a proper saddle shape is important putting covers on it beyond rain isn't as they can and do move around which doesn't help your ischial tuberosity. If you find yourself needing to slap gel and air and other stuff on top that saddle is clearly not the right saddle for you. Also if you are worried about being conspicuous over comfort while riding maybe don't ride? I personally find comfort while riding to be of the utmost importance over brief moments of being conspicuous. I can find ways to secure my saddle and seatpost if I am worried but if I lock up my bike properly I am not so worried about that and then in the end I can just put a rain cover on it when I park.

PeteHski

"These aren't the droids covers you're looking for"

But seriously I think you are going about this problem the wrong way. You would be better off doing some research on different saddle types and maybe find a shop that has demos available. Specialized are quite good in this respect and have a fit system to help you choose the right saddle for your butt. Aftermarket covers are certainly not the answer to a comfortable saddle. There's always a degree of trial and error involved, but padding is not really the key to saddle comfort. Shape and position are the primary factors and only a modest amount of padding should be required. Too much padding can actually make a saddle unbearable to ride for any distance.

roadsnakes

I`d give it try.

Seats that I found comfortable at age 17, are now unbearable pushing age 70.

Anyone remember the hydro seat or seat cover from the early 1970`s?

It had a water filled bladder.

Must not have caught on.

kahn

And it gets even better/worse when you are PULLING age 70!

roadsnakes

This one looks promising..................

https://www.ergo21.com/bicycle-seat-cushion/

Or, at least an alternative to the Air Cushion.

sysrq

I already tried out different saddles, the Lepper Concorde felt the most similar to the one I was used to before, just had to cut out the central slit and soak it in a hot water and apply things like Dubbin to keep it soft. As I understand Specialized are mainly intended for racing and weekend warrior applications.
The key is what kind of padding depending on specific requirements. The air cell cushion one is supposed to even out/spread the pressure points while not creating pressure in undesirable anatomical areas.
Now after riding riding the one from Amazon for 8 hours there was only slight overall discomfort at the last 3 miles of riding. Previously was unable to sit on chairs for 3 days after riding. Whereas now was able to sit immediately without any pain at all.

kahn

So which one did you finally opt for? Was it the Brand: VANTEN. Did you just use it or also cover with gel or just a saddle cover?

I'm still looking but a friend is in dire need of cushioning.

Milton Keynes

So much Engrish.

Yeah, I doubt this would be much better than a decent saddle and padded bike shorts. Again, most seat covers seem to have the problem of sliding around on the seat and not staying put.

Milton Keynes

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

Milton Keynes

That's your entire problem right there. Your butt's not broken in. No saddle in the world is going to feel comfortable for you if you're only getting on your bike once every 2 months, and then riding 4 hours. If you ride your bike every day, say like for half an hour to an hour or so, it will toughen up the muscles around your sit bones so it won't feel like you're sitting on a brick when you do the occasional 4 hour ride.

sysrq

Added some generic fairly thin gel cover from Wilkko. Gel cover makes it work over slightly wider pressure range according to information on WildAss page, so in hot weather one might not need to reduce the air pressure due to expansion. Only thing is, it might theoretically increase the sweating and render the air flow provided by the gaps between cells useless. Never had any problems with sweating on gel covers though, only on foam saddles covered with artificial leather.

sysrq

To prevent sliding had to resort to some DIY and stitch some loop tape to the gel cover since it had a slightly thicker surrounding fabric compared to Vanten while attaching some hook tape to saddle rails.

sysrq

Now after trying out this thing for a second time it has become apparent that the increased air pressure in the nose part of the cover is pressing too much on perineum. Had to go back to gel only cover during the middle of the tour only to experience severe sitbone pain after 20 minutes. Unfortunately figured out a bit too late towards the end of the tour that you can bind something around the nose to stop putting too much pressure where it doesn't need to be. Then it started to feel a bit more acceptable. Even those air cell covers intended for motorcycle use have been described as redustributing too much air pressure on the front part of the saddle.

Phil_gretz

I'm going to guess that your fit and bike position are not optimal, and that's why there's so much apparent need to solve a saddle "problem". If your posture were corrected on the bike, it's likely that the saddle would then disappear beneath you. Remember that this is a guess. I may not know what I'm talking about...

Ogsarg

Loved my Airhawk when I was motorcycling but I don't see it being something I would want on a bicycle. The airhawk has air pockets with small openings between them. The idea is to get just enough air in it to relieve the pressure points, while keeping you connected to the saddle.

On a bike where you're pedaling, I don't think the air would move around fast enough to achieve the desired result. If a saddle doesn't fit your posterior, its not likely going to get better with any add-on device.