saddles everywhere but my butt still hurts

Hi, I'm new here, my bottom has led me to this place where finally i find women talking about women's problems and seats and stuff.
Background:
i have a Raleigh cross bike that I rode over 200 miles in a 2 day ride to portland. At the end, my butt was a little sore, but no big deal compared with everything else. upon it is a 30+ year old Brooks with springs in excellent condition. (no obvious serial number on it)

my husband bought us a tandem. with an EZ ride post for me, the stoker. he tells me i can't use my brooks with the EZ ride for some reason (double tracks? springs? not sure. The seat that came with the tandem i tossed immediately. He sweetly bought me a new brooks which was okay but after 50 miles it was no fun anymore so how am i ever going to get comfy?
I sat on it for a year before i gave up on it. Then
I went to a bike class and sat on all the seats of other women's bikes. based on that I got a MTB performance seat which was HORRIBLE. it pinched the insides of my thighs and lead to numbness.
I spoke to the women we ride with after that, one of them has actually ridden around the world!!! so I am in great company.

They all say get a terry butterfly. So i did. I found a used one on ebay.
it's better than the MTB, no more pinching, but there's a steady pressure on my sit bones which cuts off circulation, so i end up wiggling around quite a bit.
the serious discomfort goes away after 5 minutes off the bike but the bones in there are kind of sore now.
SO i get back onto my raleigh with the old brooks and .... I am in heaven. Even the bone bruised sitting bones are okay.

one other thing. I am menopausal and now those girl bits are really pathetic.
I started using that stuff that my husband uses (forgive me i forget what it's called, but it's a thick lubricant) but i never needed it before but now it's absolutely necessary, to protect from serious beatings, so to speak.

any advice from you guys would be appreciated.

thanks all
Mimi

I've never tried the Brooks, but I know I absolutely hate the WTB saddles as well as the Terry Butterfly. They just don't fit my girly bits At All.

I've been pretty happy with the Specialized Body Geometry saddles with cutouts. A lot of other people here on TE highly recommend the Fizik and a number of other saddles. Saddles really are a very personal thing, and what works for one may be the worst thing in the world for another. Unless I'm talking to a family member who has extremely similar anatomy to mine, I don't take saddle recommendations from others. It's pointless.

See if you can find an LBS (local bike shop) that has a wide selection of saddles and a full return policy so that you can keep trying and returning saddles that don't work for you.

Good luck! :)

Mimi, reading your post, it seems you already have a comfortable saddle (the 30+ year old Brooks). Regarding the new Brooks, it will take more than 50 miles for a new leather saddle to be comfortable. Unfortunately, you need to put up with quite a bit of discomfort before the saddle is properly "broken in".

So my first question is - does the seat post from your Raleigh fit the tandem?

If yes, then the usual solution is to take your saddle and seat post from the old bike and fit it to the new one.

If no, my advice is to try and find a seat post which will take the old Brooks and fit the tandem.

Otherwise, if you really can't face the discomfort of breaking in your new Brooks, you could try the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow. I too, have sit bones which are unusually sensitive to pressure and I find this saddle quite comfortable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matagi

Mimi, reading your post, it seems you already have a comfortable saddle (the 30+ year old Brooks). Regarding the new Brooks, it will take more than 50 miles for a new leather saddle to be comfortable. Unfortunately, you need to put up with quite a bit of discomfort before the saddle is properly "broken in".

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I rode the new brooks for at least 500 miles last year when I realized that
it still was not as good as the first one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matagi

So my first question is - does the seat post from your Raleigh fit the tandem?

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no, unfortunately the EZ ride beam is a totally different thing, no seat post at all.
we wish it wasn't there; but it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matagi

Otherwise, if you really can't face the discomfort of breaking in your new Brooks, you could try the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow. I too, have sit bones which are unusually sensitive to pressure and I find this saddle quite comfortable.

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thank you. I think I might try another Brooks (I can see the steam coming out of my husband's ears) that is more like the original one. I have written to that Wallingford bike company about it. perhaps they can help.

http://www.co-motion.com/graphics/cap.jpg

this isn't my bike, ours is old and ugly :)

Mimi, another thought, your problem might be seat position ..... have you tried altering saddle angle and fore/aft position, etc?

Looking at the pic, I can't see how you adjust saddle height (I am exquisitely sensitive to the smallest change in saddle height - I get excruciating left sit bone pain if it drops by more than a few millimetres)

Also, that unsupported post looks like it would be quite "bouncy" and may be contributing to your comfort problems - do you notice much bounce when riding?

Hi Matagi
thanks for posting.
it's really tricky to set the seat position on this thing because without your weight on it, everythings in a different position. It is not actually bouncy unless my husband and i are out of cadence. (hard to explain) but when it starts to happen i ask him to go to a higher gear and the problem goes away.

Unfortunately, we're stuck with the thing.
For earth day (saturday), we rode 34 miles and the Terry butterfly just puts too much
pressure on all the wrong stuff. my sitting bones feel bruised.

I have decided to buy a B67 Brooks, which is the modern fitted version
of the saddle that I have.
I'll let you all know what i think of that one.
Thanks to those of you who suggested Wallingford Bikes, I wrote to them
and they were MOST helpful.