When do you say, "Enough!" and try a new saddle?

My question might be an unusual one, but I'm still wondering: what level of pain or discomfort do you tolerate before thinking that it's time to try a new road bike saddle? Is there a Holy Grail of a bike saddle where it is so comfortable that you don't even think about it during a 30+ mile bike ride? I know it often takes many saddles before finding a good one so how do you know if it's the right fit?

I've ridden my Synapse for about 450 miles, all on the stock saddle (Prologo Kappa Dea). I start to experience some discomfort after maybe around 20-25 miles. However, it is tolerable to me and I figured that no one is going to feel like they're floating on air during a long ride on a small seat. I've been fine after finishing all of my rides, including the recent 50 mile ride which is currently my longest distance.

Luckily, I've not experienced severe or prolonged pain, tingling and chafing. I switch positions or stand every once in a while to relieve some of the pressure. I'm not sure what really prompts a saddle change other than obvious pain. I guess I'm looking at this as a preventative measure - I don't want to be putting undue stress down there just because I don't know what could be better than what I currently have.

My only reference besides myself is my friend who was in pain on his stock Tarmac p̶l̶a̶n̶k̶ saddle, so he had to get a new one and felt much better. Relative to him, I'd say I got lucky with the Prologo. If you're still reading my rambling, thanks. Am I just looking for an excuse to buy something new for my bike?? :p

If you get to a point where you're not thinking about your butt/bits while you're riding, you're good.

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Originally Posted by Owlie

If you get to a point where you're not thinking about your butt/bits while you're riding, you're good.

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Agree with wise Owlie.

If you aren't even feeling any discomfort until mile 20, your saddle is pretty good for you.

Ha, I'd say the opposite. IME I can ride on just about anything for 20 miles. It took me YEARS before I finally replaced the absolutely horrible stock saddle on my commuter (with one I pulled off the roadie), because I almost never ride it more than 20 miles. It's what happens when I'm in the saddle for longer that really tells.

As far as when enough is enough ... that's really personal. How bad does it get by the time your ride is over? Do you plan to start riding longer, so that you'll be experiencing more and more problems as the rides go on? Is the skin broken so that you have to spend time healing, or are you good to go by the next day? And cost/benefit analysis goes into the decisionmaking too, unfortunately ... saddle searching is expensive, so it definitely becomes a matter of "how bad do you want/need a new saddle."

Owlie is right ... you'll know you've found The One when you ARE floating on air after 200 km. Not all of us have found that saddle ... it may not even exist for all of us ... but that IS the ideal.

If you have an idea of a saddle you'd like to try, you might post a want ad here on TE. I think there are a number of TE'rs with saddles that didn't work out for them - or that are worn out but still usable enough for someone to get an idea about.

The hunt for the perfect saddle :) Just have to share, was so pleased when a husband and wife dropped in the other day. they had read my article (where I did the basic synopsis of TE suggestions on measuring for a saddle) They used the flour technique to measure their sit bones. They made marks on the ziplock bag using a permanent marker and brought the bags with them (sans flour) How great was that. He went home with a Brooks B17, she went home with a Rivet Pearl.
My fingers are crossed for her with the Pearl as her measurements were a tad wide for it but after riding six, yes six, different saddles she loved the cut out and it just felt right. We do have a six month return policy though.

Any how... For me, being able to ride my Rivet Pearl day in day out and not really think about it has been great. Sure my butt gets tired after 30 plus miles but it doesn't have pain.

For me it depends on where the pain is. My current saddle causes sit bone discomfort on longer rides, and I'm okay with that because the pressure is supposed to be on the site bones, and I already know that a more padded version of my saddle causes numbness upfront.

Pain anywhere else, numbness or chafing mean the saddle is a problem.

I do also consider how bad the discomfort/pain is. I've tried some saddles that actually slowed me down because they hurt so much, and I took them off the bike after 1 short ride. The ones that were too padded in the nose were uncomfortable but only caused numbness on very long rides so I used them longer, and tried out shorts with a thinner chamois to see if I could get them to work, before giving up and trying something else.

Also, bear in mind that small changes to the saddle position can mean big differences in comfort/discomfort, so it's important to make sure the height and fore/aft position are right for you. I used to have the perfect saddle for me (a Juliana that is no longer manufactured), but for a while I considered replacing it, until an LBS manager with a great eye for bike fit lowered it for me and made it perfect.

Thanks for everyone's input. I am thinking about starting to go on longer rides so my butt and bits are definitely going to be on my mind if I stay with my stock saddle. I'm going to shop around for some new saddles and hopefully find some stores with a decent women's collection to demo. A lot of places here cater mostly to men's seats. I'm most interested in the Specialized Jett and Ruby - sounds like the Ruby is a little firmer and lighter than the Jett? Selle Italia also seems to have a nice selection.

No reason to limit yourself to trying "women's" saddles. What's your sitbone width? Just like the bones they're intended to fit, saddles marketed to women tend to run overall slightly wider than saddles marketed to men, but there's a whole lot of overlap in the 125-145 mm range.

My sitbones fit perfectly on the Prologo seat which is 143 mm - it's the bits that aren't as impressed with the seat over longer distances. Good point about broadening the search - I'm going to find a store that sells the Specialized seats and see what I like from there.

Looking back, my only real saddle discomfort has been due to bike fit issues rather than saddle issues. So I'd probably start by making sure that's all good because no saddle will be comfortable otherwise.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

When I sit on a saddle and it hurts, I make sure the saddle is adjusted correctly. If it still hurts, I rip it off of there and replace with a Specialized Toupe or Ruby. :D

So, the answer is: Zero Seconds.

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This, except I replace it with a Terry Butterfly. I don't feel the Butterfly, which is the whole point.

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Originally Posted by gocard

My sitbones fit perfectly on the Prologo seat which is 143 mm - it's the bits that aren't as impressed with the seat over longer distances. Good point about broadening the search - I'm going to find a store that sells the Specialized seats and see what I like from there.

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I'm the same way on some saddles and for me, soft tissue pain (in the front) is the deciding factor on saddle comfort. But I'm like you and lucky that our sit bone width is relatively small (compared to a lot of women).

One thing to keep in mind if you experience pain over distance is your body position. As the rides get longer, are you losing your form a little bit? I know that I do, which for me means that my core starts to sag a bit and the change in position is slight enough that it starts to cause soft tissue pain.

As an example, last weekend, I did a longer ride than usual (time wise...distance wasn't that long but we were out there a LONG time). By the end, I found I needed to consciously contract my abs to keep my core aligned to keep my soft tissue off the nose of my saddle because I was tired. The next day, my abs were sore but my soft tissue was fine! ;)

Just something to keep in mind as well. Of course, I'm all about buying new bike stuff, so get the new saddle too! :D

I'm finally getting my fitting this weekend and I'll see how the seat works for me after that. I am also all about buying new bike stuff and have been holding myself in check fairly well up until now, but a new seat is worth it to me!

I do think that as my ride gets longer I start shifting more due to the discomfort in the front. I naively thought that was just something that we have to live with when we sit on bike seats for a longer period of time. However, from everyone's responses it sounds like there IS something better out there. My LBS only recommended the Butterfly to me and I might try it out, along with the Specialized seats which they don't carry. The Specialized ones look so sleek and would look great on my bike! But only if it fits well.

I have a Butterfly on both my road & MTB. :)

I don't think this has been mentioned yet -- make sure the saddle is level. If the nose is tilting up, that could be the cause of your problems.

Yep, I've checked to make sure my seat is level. I'm wondering if I ought to angle it down just slightly but I'll see what happens with the fitting this weekend. Problem is, my friend really wants me to ride the 120 km Tour de Cure in about 3 weeks and I really don't see how I could survive that with my current seat. Slight discomfort is tolerable on a 30-40 mile ride, but any more than that and I am probably going to be thinking only of my seat and soft tissues! I'll try to demo this weekend as well.

I had this problem espically on longer rides. I put up with it until yesterday when I knew I was going to want to ride 60 miles in prep for a 68 mile charity ride in two weeks. I lowered the nose of the saddle just slightly after 15 miles and the pain/numbness was all but gone. My form suffers the longer I ride so nosing the saddle down about a half turn really helped me.