Shorts and saddle advice please.

[Dr.Doo]

Hey folks. This is aimed at the female members of the forum but guys I welcome your input too.

I'm starting to put in some mileage and have managed 2x 20milers and a several 10milers over the last week. I know that's not a lot of miles for many of you but I've not cycled such distances for over 15yrs. Anyhoo, I have the worlds most uncomfortable (Bike Hut) saddle filched from my housemates hybrid (that I rode for a year), although I've just won the bidding on a Bontrager Evoke R WSD - ok so it's a XC saddle but it's got to be worth trying to see if I like it - just over a tenner (inc p&p) seems worth a punt. I'm looking for suggestions for other saddles if this one doesn't suit. I can't afford a Brooks or that's what would be on my bike already.

My other 'sore point' combined with the atrocious saddle are my shorts. Anything over 10 miles leaves me sore and increasingly uncomfortable as the miles add up. I bought Lidl cycle shorts recently but I think I'd like something with a little more padding. I'm a rather poor, rather mature student and can't afford the bestest, fancy-schmancy shorts so I'm looking for suggestions for value for money cycling shorts (undershorts are good too as I tend to wear the inner from my lidl specials under my regular shorts.)

Thank-you for reading.

[MikewsMITH2]

People taking up or returning to cycling always complain about their saddles. Mrs MWS suffered the same when training for a 100K charity ride after many years of only occasional cycling. The painful truth that the sufferer never believes, is it's not the saddle or your shorts, but getting the muscles in your posterior fit and strong enough to support your weight on the saddle for long periods. As it's not advisable to argue with ones wife, I sighed and bought her a vary expensive female specific saddle with 3 densities of foam and gel, padded shorts and so on. Plus a gel saddle cover! One time 1/2 mile from home at the end ofva ride, she said the pain was "worse than childbirth" . Now she never wears the padded shorts or uses the gel cover and never complains of discomfort. I always wear padded shorts though. I find the seams of normal underwear tend to chafe.

[jodee1kenobi]

I always wear padded shorts and no underwear! As for the saddle I have experienced a Brookes and hadnt got the endurance/stamina/ability to cope with extreme soreness! to break it in so stuck with a cheapy Halfords womens specific saddle on the one bike and on the other just have the saddle that came with the bike. They have been extremely comfortable. As for the Brooks, I know that some people swear by them, but others like myself have tried and not liked Shame because I think they look pretty nifty too!

I think its a bit of trial and error to get the right saddle/shorts for you. What is comfy for one is not for the other

[Dr.Doo]

Ta for your reply Mike. To be fair I've been using this saddle for the last year and put in a fair amount of miles but no matter what and how many miles I put in it just doesn't get any better, the cut out channel positively hurts which I'm not convinced will get better with time and more milage. I'm a relatively skinny bean with little 'padding' anywhere apart from round my middle-aged middle. I'm not sure that an extra padded saddle will solve anything however, a saddle that 'fits' me better could possibly help.

I take on board what you say though and hope that when I get a saddle that fits and I've put a lot more mileage in that I may not need more padding in m'shorts.

Hey there Jodee, thanks for replying. It's a cheapie Halfords women's specific saddle that's causing me the problems. Interesting you should say that about a Brooks saddle. I have a niggling doubt that I'd be able to get past the 'breaking in' period too but would still like to give it a go if I had the disposable income to do so. At least a Brooks would be easy to sell should it not be suitable.

[DavidT]

Like many (perhaps?), when I first became a bit more serious about cycling I spent the first few hundred miles on my new padded shorts, wondering what all the fuss was about! i.e my bum still hurt. I didn't know that padded shorts should be worn against the skin with no undies! Forgive me if you have already got that far!

Happy cycling.

[DavidT]

Should also have said by way of assistance that I tend to use Altura shorts which although not the best quality are reasonably cheap and just about value for money. I''ve also got some Polaris ones which cost a bit more, and are a bit nicer!

[Dr.Doo]

Thank-you David. Would you believe that despite starting cycling some 39yrs ago I have never owned a pair of cycle shorts until recently. I had no clue that I should wear them without underwear *slaps for'ead* Doh! I shall try that tomorrow.

I shall have a look at the Altura shorts. Ta muchly.

[Vorpal]

There are several (many?) threads about saddles and shorts on this forum. A couple of the ones most likely to be suitable...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47778&hilit=saddle+sore
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=47070&hilit=saddle+sore

My opinion is that the single most important aspect to being comfortable in the saddle is having it correctly positioned. After that, it's getting used to it gradually. Anything else is personal. Some people like padding, others don't. Some people get on well with one saddle, some people another. I've only come across a couple of saddles that I didn't get on with.

[Pipps]

Shorts
If you want to spend £40, go for Altura or Sportful. Both have the best pads at that price-point.

If you spend just under £60, you can obtain the Endura 600-series pad, which although may feel slightly more like a nappy in comparison, is a supreme pad for those 6+ hour days in the saddle.

Saddle
As the old say goes, 'buy once - buy the best'.

You should give serious consideration to a Selle San Marco Concor-X or a Selle San Marco Concor Light. Yes, both are just under £60. But these are the most popular and respected saddles amongst professional cyclist - you will see the majority of pros using them on the tour de france. They are reported to be supremely comfortable.

I am just about to pull the trigger on one myself!

Numbness
One further point which is often overlooked, is that comfortable sit-bones is not the same as comfortable cycling.

Yes, you can pad yourself up with a good saddle and chamois. And your sit-bones will turn to rock in a few years anyway. But you will still be prone to one further problem which no amount of padding can avoid - numbess. Here's an example...

As an inexperienced cyclist, one day I cycled for 8 hours non-stop in the saddle. I didn't stand up once all day. The result: total numbness. I couldn't feel anything when I peed for three days. So, be sure to spend five minutes out of the saddle every half an hour, in order to allow blood to re-flow to your vital region! No matter how well-padded you are.

Good luck!

[Vorpal]

Shorts
If you want to spend £40, go for Altura or Sportful. Both have the best pads at that price-point.
<snip>
Saddle
As the old say goes, 'buy once - buy the best'.
<snip>
Numbness
<snip>So, be sure to spend five minutes out of the saddle every half an hour, in order to allow blood to re-flow to your vital region! No matter how well-padded you are.
Good luck!

Not everyone needs all that stuff. I can spend 6+ hours in the saddle without any of those things. I can also cycle for at least a couple of hours at a time without a break (or 5 minutes out of the saddle). If I suffered any sort of numbness, I would change the positioning of my saddle until I found a way to avoid it. If that didn't work, I'd get a different saddle. But I imagine I could find something that would suit for not too much. My best saddle came out of a sale box years ago. I think I paid about £15 for it.

The OP said that she (I assume she?) doesn't have much money. £100 for shorts and saddle is potentially a few weeks worth of groceries on a student budget.

Dr. Doo, you could try doubling up the Aldi or Lidl shorts? Check end-of-season sales at the big sporting goods stores (if they carry any cycling stuff). I am female, but wear male cycling shorts. Some people find the gender-specific designs are better, but I don't find it makes much difference for me (and the male ones are easier to find, especially in cheap).

Also, a couple of other suggestions... go into some cycle shops and try on stuff, then when you know what sizes you wear in various brands (and what brands actually fit, because they are cut differently), buy the same off ebay. Join Freecycle or Netcycle (if you haven't already) and post a 'wanted' message for cycle shorts (or even a saddle).

[Dr.Doo]

Shorts
If you want to spend £40, go for Altura or Sportful. Both have the best pads at that price-point.
<snip>
Saddle
As the old say goes, 'buy once - buy the best'.
<snip>
Numbness
<snip>So, be sure to spend five minutes out of the saddle every half an hour, in order to allow blood to re-flow to your vital region! No matter how well-padded you are.
Good luck!

Not everyone needs all that stuff. I can spend 6+ hours in the saddle without any of those things. I can also cycle for at least a couple of hours at a time without a break (or 5 minutes out of the saddle). If I suffered any sort of numbness, I would change the positioning of my saddle until I found a way to avoid it. If that didn't work, I'd get a different saddle. But I imagine I could find something that would suit for not too much. My best saddle came out of a sale box years ago. I think I paid about £15 for it.

The OP said that she (I assume she?) doesn't have much money. £100 for shorts and saddle is potentially a few weeks worth of groceries on a student budget.

Dr. Doo, you could try doubling up the Aldi or Lidl shorts? Check end-of-season sales at the big sporting goods stores (if they carry any cycling stuff). I am female, but wear male cycling shorts. Some people find the gender-specific designs are better, but I don't find it makes much difference for me (and the male ones are easier to find, especially in cheap).

Also, a couple of other suggestions... go into some cycle shops and try on stuff, then when you know what sizes you wear in various brands (and what brands actually fit, because they are cut differently), buy the same off ebay. Join Freecycle or Netcycle (if you haven't already) and post a 'wanted' message for cycle shorts (or even a saddle).

Cheers for those suggestions Pipps. Sadly those sort of prices are beyond my student pocket. I'm trying to get in the habit of standing up periodically on the pedals to let some blood flow back to the numb bit which seems to help and I always stop for a brew too if I'm cycling for over an hour or so.

Thanks Vorpal. You're right, I am female (although lets just say not yer girly sort of female - nurse doo wouldn't like me if I was ) and I am a student so have a very limited budget. Jeepers! with 60 squids for a saddle and the same for a pair of shorts that's just about how much I paid for my bike (she's an old hand-built tourer). I'm checking out any sales on the sites and the LBS's and as I usually wear men's gear that's what I've been looking at, I think often the gender specific stuff is just a ploy to get us to pay more. Sadly the Lidl/Aldi shorts don't go down to a small in mens which is how I ended up with womens shorts in which only the inner fits anywhere near properly. The outer look like I've had a small person cut off my hips. Good idea to maybe double up on the cheapie shorts.

I'm looking forward to trying out the saddle I won on ebay last night, after checking the model out at the local (top dollar) LBS, I decided it was worth a punt and at £7.50 instead of the £40 the LBS was charging I reckon it's not a big loss if it doesn't suit me. I'm also keeping an eye on shorts on ebay too.

I am a member of freecycle but I've not heard of netcycle and shall go sign up now. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far folks, much appreciated.

[burnsie]

Hi Doc. I got back into serious cycling a few years back. Have read a number of debates re this issue and thanked the heavens I didn't suffer....until this year, when I've had various issues with chafing etc. This puzzled me as to why it should suddenly appear; the worst offender seemed to be my commuting bike, which had a well broken in Brooks B 17; anyway after various strategies including buying new shorts as I became convinced they were the problem (which they weren't!) I noticed one day that the nose of my saddle seemed rather high...certainly higher than I'd like..so after messing around (resulting in a post here re my saddle post) I seem to have eliminated the problem, with a sudden absence of chafing..others have remared in the past that a difference of even 1/2 degrees or mm forward/bacward can make a big difference....so might be worth considering this

Dave

[PaulB]

You should give serious consideration to a Selle San Marco Concor-X or a Selle San Marco Concor Light. Yes, both are just under £60. But these are the most popular and respected saddles amongst professional cyclist - you will see the majority of pros using them on the tour de france. They are reported to be supremely comfortable.

Pro cyclists generally ride in a very different position to us leisure cyclists so "racing" saddles do not automatically make comfortable general purpose seats. I use a Fizi:k on my sports bike and a Specialized anatomic one on my folder. Riding without padded shorts or underwear is fine. You need to check out your posture on the bike; ie are you a "sit up and beg" rider or a more sporty cyclist - one saddle may not fit both styles.

[Steve Kish]

Decathlon bib shorts with red inserts at £22 each.

Sudocrem applied on the skin just before putting on the shorts.

'Nuff said!

[Pipps]

... I think often the gender specific stuff is just a ploy to get us to pay more.

Sounds like you haven't been introduced to bib-shorts yet then! There's a big difference for girls and guys when taking a pee whilst wearing bibs. It definitely justifies a female-specific design.

You can buy padded shorts on eBay, at very reasonable prices brand new from the likes of Tenn, but I started there too and I can safely say there would be more padding if you placed a folded napkin under each cheek!

Put a few hundred miles on your steel tourer and then reconsider your budget!

Welcome to cycling! You will now be skint forever!