Need Saddle Advice!

Cybersnow

Cybersnow

Active Member
Region
USA
The wife and I are prepping for an e bike ride from Astoria OR to Larkspur CA. It will be a lightweight trip with plenty of pre arranged hotel/motel stays. The bikes are ready and spare batteries, chargers, tools, spares, etc. are all prepped. My biggest worry is sitting in the saddle for 4-6 hours a day. Any suggestions on a great touring saddle?
 
Hi @Cybersnow. As @teskow said, finding an appropriate saddle is a Quest of Holy Grail :) There is no "one model one size fits all". There is a single general rule: the more upright your riding position is the more you will suffer.

I have tried many saddles as I was inexperienced and stupid. To quote a great English writer Jerome K. Jerome "It has been an idea of mine that the right saddle is to be found*." As I have used to ride long distances and could eventually understand it was not the saddle that was wrong, I modified my e-bikes for a sporty, forward position. Now, I ride narrow and firm sporty saddles with no butt pain because my body weight is equally distributed among the handlebars, pedals, and saddle.

Please do not look for the Holy Grail. Use a suspension seat post, wear padded bibs and...
----------------------------
*) "You give up that idea; this is an imperfect world of joy and sorrow mingled. There may be a better land where bicycle saddles are made out of rainbow, stuffed with cloud; in this world the simplest thing is to get used to something hard".
 
teskow said:
The only way you will find a saddle that works for you is to keep trying different ones till you find the right one. Fortunately most of them are cheap enough and returnable. Suspension seat post, mandatory in my opinion.
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Agree with suspension post. Live in a very small town. Most of our purchases come from Amazon as the closest city is 3 hours away. That is the biggest reason I asked here. I am in the process of modifying the seating position to a more forward leaning one. I am an old gravel biker that is realizing it is not the mountains that are getting steeper it is me getting tired quicker.
 
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Cybersnow said:
Agree with suspension post. Live in a very small town. Most of our purchases come from Amazon as the closest city is 3 hours away. That is the biggest reason I asked here.
Click to expand...
Redshift ShockStop and never look back :) Can be bought online, perhaps on Amazon, too.
Please read my earlier post as well.
 
On saddle #6 on my fairly upright flat-bar commuter. Called off the search with an SQlab saddle that got close enough to push my butt limit out to 30-35 mi. Excellent fitting process, customer service, and return policy.

Still on the narrower, firmer factory saddle on my somewhat more forward flat-bar Vado SL 1.

Bear in mind that adding padding can easily make things worse. The wide, cushy cruiser saddle I tried was the worst by far.

Have a wonderful trip! We expect a full report.
 
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Jeremy McCreary said:
Still on the narrower, firmer factory saddle on my somewhat more forward flat-bar Vado SL 1.
Click to expand...
You might not believe it Jeremy but the stock Specialized Bridge Sport saddle is the best of all the saddles I have ever owned. The expensive Specialized Phenom Expert on my Vado 6.0 comes the second.
Just recently, I donated my two wide "comfortable" saddles to friends (whose saddles were worse than those anyway).
 
I started out with the saddle that came with my ebike. (E bike selection was a 2 day process visiting several bike shops). The saddle that came with the bike was an hour and a half saddle. I spent a bunch of bucks ordering 6 saddles from Amazon and there was a definite relationship between cushion and discomfort. Needless to say, Amazon was great in allowing me to return all of them. In addition to sit bone discomfort, I have to watch for perineum discomfort. I think my old gravel bike might have a B17 on it. Which SQlabs saddle did you try?
 
Cybersnow said:
I started out with the saddle that came with my ebike. (E bike selection was a 2 day process visiting several bike shops). The saddle that came with the bike was an hour and a half saddle. I spent a bunch of bucks ordering 6 saddles from Amazon and there was a definite relationship between cushion and discomfort. Needless to say, Amazon was great in allowing me to return all of them. In addition to sit bone discomfort, I have to watch for perineum discomfort. I think my old gravel bike might have a B17 on it. Which SQlabs saddle did you try?
Click to expand...
So you've already been through this wringer. Pretty sure this was the SQlab I ended up with:

611 ERGOWAVE® active 2.1

www.sq-lab.com www.sq-lab.com

HOWEVER, my issue was tailbone > perineal pain. Sitbones were fine up to that limit, so this saddle may not work for your pain distribution.
 
Selle SMP TRK is terrific. Been riding it for several months and it has been fantastic for long(ish) rides. Absolutely love it.

Several hyper-milers on the board here use this same saddle.

www.sellesmp.com

TRK Medium

Designed for Trekking bikes, thanks to its comfortable padding TRK Medium is perfect also for recreational and sports use.
www.sellesmp.com www.sellesmp.com
 
Cybersnow said:
Two or three great sounding saddles to try. I need to find my sit bones template to make sure I am ordering the correct width.
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I think Selle SMP has an app or something to help you do that, Cyber… Good luck!
 
Went to my local bike shop and had my sit bones measured. 140mm and the measurement tool said I need a 155mm saddle. I purchased a Selle TRK in large as it was 160mm. Due to heavy forest fire smoke, will wait a couple of days to give it a try. (It was the only saddle in stock from Selle). If that doesn’t make it through 3 20+ mile rides, I will try another of the suggested saddles. At least I know a little more about the right size.
 
Excellent, Cyber! I hope you’re as comfortable with the TRK saddle as I am.
 
Cybersnow said:
The wife and I are prepping for an e bike ride from Astoria OR to Larkspur CA. It will be a lightweight trip with plenty of pre arranged hotel/motel stays. The bikes are ready and spare batteries, chargers, tools, spares, etc. are all prepped. My biggest worry is sitting in the saddle for 4-6 hours a day. Any suggestions on a great touring saddle?
Click to expand...
Sounds like an awesome trip! What route will you be taking?
 
stompandgo said:
Saddle width is the #1 most important factor determining saddle comfort. Most people ride saddles that are too wide.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting observation. I just measured my sit bones (made indents in cardboard) and came up with 95mm... I'm relatively narrow in that area.
 
I've said all of this before.
  1. Spend the money and get a decent bike fit. If your bike is properly adjusted chances are a lot of saddles will work for you. But if your bike is not properly adjusted then no saddle will ever work. And since it can be a matter of a few millimeters in stack height, reach, or saddle height that is the difference between relative comfort and a torture device it is very unlikely you will be able to figure it out without help. So find a qualified bike fit specialist to help you. Keep in mind that most bike shops won't have such a specialist. So expect to spend some effort and money finding someone who can help you.
  2. A sweaty a$$ is a sore a$$. So that big squishy saddle might be comfortable for a while but after that you are stewing in your own juices. And it is important to understand that the point of padded bibs or shorts isn't so much the padding as the ability to wick perspiration away. This is why sometimes thinner shorts can be much more comfortable than thick padded shorts.
  3. Everybody is different so people that say "saddle X is perfect" won't necessarily help you at all. You're on your own here. But the good news is if you get the bike fit dialed chances are there are many saddle and shorts combinations that work.
  4. Generally the fewer layers between your bare butt and whatever saddle you use the more comfortable you will be.
  5. Do not be afraid to mix it up. Generally on a long trip I will bring both thin nylon shorts and also two different kinds of padded bike shorts. If anything that way if something starts to rub you can at least move the painful spots around a bit.
  6. Deal with problems. If you start having some discomfort, stop and figure out why and make some changes.
  7. Kind of in contradiction to #6, you need to keep in mind that bicycles aren't necessarily super-comfortable contraptions and you should expect to have to toughen up your hind parts before committing to a long and strenuous trip.
  8. I'll remind you that on a long multi-day trip keeping your behind and your shorts clean is very important. Expect to have to wash your shorts (usually in a sink) at the end of each day. This is another reason that thin padded shorts win -- they can easily air dry overnight.
 
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