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Bike seats? Comfort, men's health

Old 09-11-22, 11:35 AM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by Chuck Naill
I don't disagree, but I am not wearing bike shorts on short grocery trips.
Okay, short grocery trips aren't long enough to cause irritation.

Just be careful when plopping down on the saddle--especially if you're used to wearing bibs. I hopped on the bike for a short ride once sans bike shorts, riding as I normally would, had one of my boys smashed between my leg and saddle nose. I thought I was going to crash from the pain.
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Old 09-14-22, 08:00 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
Okay, short grocery trips aren't long enough to cause irritation.

Just be careful when plopping down on the saddle--especially if you're used to wearing bibs. I hopped on the bike for a short ride once sans bike shorts, riding as I normally would, had one of my boys smashed between my leg and saddle nose. I thought I was going to crash from the pain.
I admit I was surprised when the discomfort occurred a few weeks back. It was a high 90's day with high humidity. It was an ugly reminder of past issues on longer rides. I just hang to one side.
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Old 09-14-22, 09:42 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Helderberg
I, like many , searched around for a comfortable saddle but only became more frustrated. I got a sit bone measurement, bought the recommended saddle, and still had issues. After one longer ride, I noticed that one side of my butt was sorer than the other. Took note on my next rides and can only guess that one of my sit bones, the left, is either longer or something different with it, so I bought a Brooks Imperial. It has deformed/formed to my odd skeletal formation after some miles, and I am now good to go. Yes, it is heavier than the other saddles I now have on my shelf but I can ride as long as my legs will carry me now and that is so much better. If you buy any saddle online make sure you read the fine print of the return policy. Good luck. And yes, my saddle is not the way all of the experts say it should be but this is what works for me.
Frank.
My WAG is that you have mild spinal stenosis. That can cause a bit of pelvic tilt. Me too. You found an interesting solution. Spinal stenosis is more common than one would think.
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Old 09-14-22, 11:01 AM
  #29  
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I have a bunch of vintage leather saddles that were becoming less comfortable, so a had a Forum member do his magic on 4.
Here’s 3 of them with a single large cutout.





Last edited by Wildwood; 09-14-22 at 11:11 AM.
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Old 09-14-22, 11:15 AM
  #30  
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One way I have found to quickly test how comfortable a saddle will be is to ride on flat route continuously for an hour or more at a tempo pace and constant RPM without moving out of the saddle for this test period.
If your hurting at the end of this test with one saddle, but with another one it is mildly uncomfortable it might be an indication which saddle should be used for a longer test ride.
This will not replace a longer evaluation say a 200 klm brevet, but it will give you an initial evaluation.
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Old 09-16-22, 05:52 AM
  #31  
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I know that this saddle is way above your budget but is worth mentioning because your bike is basically junk if you can't ride it very far. Until I got this saddle, the furthest I could ride was about 35 miles and I was in agony. I have ridden 175 miles in one day on this saddle. Once I got this saddle, the world was thrown wide open for exploration, and I spent another $2,300 on equipping the bike for long distance. This is the only saddle that I have sat on that gets more comfortable the longer I sit on it. It is called the Infinity Seat saddle and I have the lowest model. This saddle blows the sit bones theory up.
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Old 09-22-22, 05:31 PM
  #32  
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I've heard that less is more, but ... dang. I wish I had the cojones to charge top shelf prices for saddles that have perhaps the least amount of what saddles usually have, ever. WTG. I'm kind of glad I'm poor and won't even be tempted by the weight savings aspect. Surprised they didn't mention the weight savings. There better be weight savings ...
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Old 09-25-22, 06:46 AM
  #33  
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moon saddle

have ridden about 50k miles total on them
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Old 09-25-22, 08:07 PM
  #34  
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another option in addition to the moon saddle -

the uranus saddle

good for 1.76 billion miles
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Old 09-28-22, 07:28 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by t2p
another option in addition to the moon saddle -

the uranus saddle

good for 1.76 billion miles
he's here all week folks!
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Old 10-06-22, 11:56 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Helderberg
I, like many , searched around for a comfortable saddle but only became more frustrated. I got a sit bone measurement, bought the recommended saddle, and still had issues. After one longer ride, I noticed that one side of my butt was sorer than the other. Took note on my next rides and can only guess that one of my sit bones, the left, is either longer or something different with it, so I bought a Brooks Imperial. It has deformed/formed to my odd skeletal formation after some miles, and I am now good to go. Yes, it is heavier than the other saddles I now have on my shelf but I can ride as long as my legs will carry me now and that is so much better. If you buy any saddle online make sure you read the fine print of the return policy. Good luck. And yes, my saddle is not the way all of the experts say it should be but this is what works for me.
Frank.

Congratulations!!!!
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Old 10-06-22, 12:02 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Wildwood
I have a bunch of vintage leather saddles that were becoming less comfortable, so a had a Forum member do his magic on 4.
Here’s 3 of them with a single large cutout.




Can you say who did those cutouts?
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Old 10-13-22, 10:19 PM
  #38  
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Recently bought a new leather saddle for a vintage bike I hope to ride regularly on ‘good’ winter days.
I know they need more than my 100 miles, so far, to break-in. Butt, it may prove to be too wide. Did pull the laces to reduce or eliminate any inner thigh rub.

(I believe newer pads in newer shorts are thicker than old days - as I cannot yet see sitbone dimples in the leather cover)


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Old 10-16-22, 01:46 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by davester
Many bike shops have loaner programs where you can try out different saddles before you settle on the one you want to buy.

Excellent advice.
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Old 10-26-22, 06:27 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by tim24k
That’s odd I have never ever replaced a stock recumbent seat.
I have changed the pads multiple times on some of mine. There aren't many upright saddles that have replaceable pads.
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Old 10-26-22, 06:36 AM
  #41  
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Several people have mentioned saddles becoming more uncomfortable over time. Maybe some of those people have reached the age where, like me, they're starting to lose some height (and, like me, might be in a bit of denial about it).

Thought about doing saddle cutouts or looking for new saddles but then just went ahead and dropped the saddle height a cm or so on all my bikes. Problem solved.
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Old 10-27-22, 09:44 PM
  #42  
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Have prostate issues and am a big fan of Selle Italia’s line of Boost seats. A bit pricey but my prostate’s worth it. <- Think I heard that in a commercial. The word prostate stuck with me though.
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Old 10-30-22, 05:50 PM
  #43  
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmm another my butt is sore riding a DF bike. Imagine that!!!!
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Old 10-30-22, 08:27 PM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by rydabent
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm another my butt is sore riding a DF bike. Imagine that!!!!
Yawn....you need a new schtick.
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Old 10-31-22, 09:56 PM
  #45  
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I ride 2 different drop-bar gravel bikes, sort of a medium-aggressive position on one, a bit more relaxed on the other. The Ergon SR Comp (their almost cheapest model) is a winner for me. Wide and long cutout, and the rise of the rear and firmness have me really perched on my sit bones--very little pressure on the undercarriage. Can ride for hours on this saddle. Just ordered another I found on sale for $80.
https://ergonbike.shop/products/ergon-sr-comp-men
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Old 10-31-22, 10:01 PM
  #46  
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I found a full cutout causes more problems then just a channel for me.
I use this service to rent saddles. free shipping both ways and the rent cost if you keep it will go towards the new saddle.
https://www.bikeseatguru.com
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Old 12-15-22, 04:27 PM
  #47  
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After experiencing some problems that required visiting a urologist, I decided to try a Selle SMP saddle. Selle SMP makes dozens of saddles, so it's somewhat difficult to choose the right one. Since I wasn't sure that the unusual shape would work out for me, I didn't want to invest a lot of money. Amazon was offering the Selle SMP Well S saddle at a significant discount for the white model. Not my first color choice but I decided to give it a try. After some dialing in, I felt a significant improvement. It has proven to be an extremely comfortable saddle and I have not experienced any numbness. I subsequently ordered another one in black from BIKE24 which is on my road bike; the white one is on my trainer. It looks like the current pricing (Dec, 2022) on Amazon is $111 for white and $131 for black, so the discount for white has decreased. I highly recommend giving it a try.
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Old 12-15-22, 10:31 PM
  #48  
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[QUOTE=MattTheHat;21063099]Try as I may, I cannot find a saddle more comfortable than the Serfas Dual Density with cut-out. I've used it on a mountain bike and three different road bikes for rides up to 100 miles. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK or not, but I highly recommend it.

Grabbed one off Amazon and haven't even picked up my new bike from the shop yet. Just looking at pics of the standard seat and I knew it needed an upgrade. Will report back once I actually get to try it out which may be quite a while since we are just starting winter here in the US NE.
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