Comfortable saddle

[AndyK]

I rode round for several years on a cheapo BMX saddle. It had a one-piece plastic seat, shiny down the sides with a textured strip along the top surface. Double insert shorts gave an incredibly comfy ride.

Yebbut... two padded inserts? Didn't that leave you walking like John Wayne when you got off the bike?

[Andyw]

All the big guys at my club ride Fizik Aliante including myself.

I used to suffer until I bought the Fizik, now my legs hurt way before any posterior pain.

[JohnW]

..................Didn't that leave you walking like John Wayne when you got off the bike?

..............the hell it did.................

[Binkyboy]

Saddles come in different shapes and you need to find the shape that suits you before finding the specific one.
Flat, curved, each of which can be narrow or wide, etc

Try and have a go on each of those types (borrow one from a friend), and work from there.

You will quickly find the one that suits you the best.

[Vorpal]

IMO, the single most important factor in saddle comfort is position. Anything else is personal. there are numerous threads on the forum about this topic. Search on words like saddle, comfort, sore, position, etc. try them together, or in suitable pairs, read a bit, change the search terms....

Agreed. The most comfortable saddle I've ever had was a sprung foam one with a slippery plastic covering. The covering is most important. slippery plastic slides against your leg wear. Not your leg wear against your leg.

That's not always true either! My most comfortable saddle has a lycra covering. I think that the lycra on my saddle helps to keep my shorts in the right place, so the sliding occurs between the layers in the shorts. It's just a theory, but I've had other saddles with a similar covering that I liked.

[JohnW]

IMO, the single most important factor in saddle comfort is position. Anything else is personal..............

I personally wouldn't say that "position" is all there is to it - but I would say that it comes equal first with shape and design of saddle.

[ukdodger]

IMO, the single most important factor in saddle comfort is position. Anything else is personal. there are numerous threads on the forum about this topic. Search on words like saddle, comfort, sore, position, etc. try them together, or in suitable pairs, read a bit, change the search terms....

Agreed. The most comfortable saddle I've ever had was a sprung foam one with a slippery plastic covering. The covering is most important. slippery plastic slides against your leg wear. Not your leg wear against your leg.

That's not always true either! My most comfortable saddle has a lycra covering. I think that the lycra on my saddle helps to keep my shorts in the right place, so the sliding occurs between the layers in the shorts. It's just a theory, but I've had other saddles with a similar covering that I liked.

Eh? 'Layers' in shorts.

[reohn2]

IMO, the single most important factor in saddle comfort is position. Anything else is personal..............

Spot on!
I have six Selle Italia Turbomatic 2's. I ride three of them on three different bikes,all three feel slightly different to each other,and two are very different to those.
The sixth one I haven't tried yet.
I ride two San Marco Squadra's on the tandems,bother different to each other.
But because they're positioned right I can ride them all day.
In the past I've ridden Brooks with no two alike,which isn't surprising as each one comes from a different animal .

[ukdodger]

IMO, the single most important factor in saddle comfort is position. Anything else is personal..............

Spot on!
I have six Selle Italia Turbomatic 2's. I ride three of them on three different bikes,all three feel slightly different to each other,and two are very different to those.
The sixth one I haven't tried yet.
I ride two San Marco Squadra's on the tandems,bother different to each other.
But because they're positioned right I can ride them all day.
In the past I've ridden Brooks with no two alike,which isn't surprising as each one comes from a different animal .

Do you wear padded knickers at the same time though? Because I dont. Not even padded shorts yet twice I've done the E2E without a trace of soreness. Some bum ache after 40m or so but standing for a bit cures it. If a saddles right you dont need padded knickers.

[reohn2]

Do you wear padded knickers at the same time though? Because I dont. Not even padded shorts yet twice I've done the E2E without a trace of soreness. Some bum ache after 40m or so but standing for a bit cures it. If a saddles right you dont need padded knickers.

I wear lightly padded lycra bibshorts,which are comfortable all day long sometimes upto 80miles with upto 20 or 30miles of that on rough tracks and bridleways etc,tarmac only rides can be upto 100miles without issue.
If I'm about town on short journeys I wear normal thin walking type trousers.

[meic]

If you are riding regularly then almost any saddle is comfortable.

The saddles which I find most comfortable are the ones which I ride the most.

After a period of abstinence from riding they all seem to get uncomfortable.

My favourites have been with a thin cushioning layer on top of a plastic base, an old Madison and a £5 Lidl job.

The Brooks comes a poor second and the Rolls bruised my bones. Only the Brooks has bothered me below 100 miles in a day and the Rolls only really started to hurt at around 150 miles in a day. I dont wear "nappies" though which probably helps.
The Madison didnt hurt even at 190 miles but that is the saddle that I do most of my long distance riding on.

I reckon those people that actually find a Brooks comfortable, only do so because they do a lot of miles on them.
As the Rolls has come off for now to be replaced by the Brooks, I will probably end up joining that group after a while.

[Vorpal]

Eh? 'Layers' in shorts.

Cycling shorts, even cheap ones, have layers in the padding. The inside layer stays in place next to the skin. The other layers can move against each other without causing chaffing.

I don't need to wear cycling shorts. I merely find them more comfortable. I actually prefer them mostly because they don't have seams. I have had trouble with seams chaffing me in the past. I prefer the thin padding in cheap shorts to the thick, shaped ones in expensive shorts.

[Ayesha]

Eh? 'Layers' in shorts.

Cycling shorts, even cheap ones, have layers in the padding. The inside layer stays in place next to the skin. The other layers can move against each other without causing chaffing.

I don't need to wear cycling shorts. I merely find them more comfortable. I actually prefer them mostly because they don't have seams. I have had trouble with seams chaffing me in the past. I prefer the thin padding in cheap shorts to the thick, shaped ones in expensive shorts.

The layer next to the skin is Chamois leather, and the layer between that and the woolen shorts is Terry Towelling.

[reohn2]

The layer next to the skin is Chamois leather, and the layer between that and the woolen shorts is Terry Towelling.

Yeah that's right............... about 30years ago!

[JohnW]

This is something else that we've been through before.

I wear Corrinne Dennis "touring shorts" - I find them to be the best cycling shorts I've ever had. They are slightly "stretch", but slightly baggy, and allow ventilation to those parts that benefit from ventilation on100miles+ at high-summer temperatures. They have a double seat, but none of that padding that creates salty hothouse conditions, followed by salt rash, followed by chaffing, followed by broken skin, followed by fungal infection that all that padding and thermal insulation brings about.

There seems to be some debate about whether A). : position on bike/saddle or B). : characteristics of the saddle itself, are solely responsible for comfort. Think about it - isn't the idea that only one of them is relevant, and the other is irrelevant - a preposteriorous one?