Saddle issues

[nuliajuk]

One of the local shops here has Specialized, and a whole wall of red and white Specialized test saddles that a person can sign out for a week or so and test. I personally don't get on with that brand and wish other manufacturers had the same setup, although I suppose it would take up a lot of space.
I do know that some shops have loaner saddles in the more expensive models. My husband test rode his favorite one that way before taking the plunge and buying one.

[Catrin]

I went through a long series of demo/loaner saddles early in 2011 before I found THE saddle for me - my SI LDY Gel Flow...the same one now giving me troubles.

I saw my fitter today and the measurements are spot on perfect, so nothing has slipped or somehow changed. He DID note that there are very noticeable signs of wear in the saddle right in the exact area where I am having discomfort and pain. This is a popular saddle, at least at my LBS, and he tells me the pattern of wear in my saddle isn't common. He suspects that there is something about my hips/how I sit on the saddle that is causing premature wear which is causing compression.

As I have the same saddle on my mountain bike with 1/4 the miles, we are going to switch them out and see if that takes care of the problem. Both of us are pretty sure it will, and if it does I will have a decision to make. If it really is how I sit on the saddle then I will likely have the same issue with other gel saddles. If I get a saddle that is more firm but has less give then that can cause problems as well. If I choose to go with leather then it will be the Selle Anatomica rather than a Brooks, but I am not ready to go there yet. It WOULD last longer than another SI LDY saddle...but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

At least I am glad that there is something obvious with the saddle & it isn't my imagination.

[malkin]

...He suspects that there is something about my hips/how I sit on the saddle that is causing premature wear which is causing compression...

I suspect there is something about how much you sit on that saddle. You ride like a fiend, girl!

[Sky King]

I suspect there is something about how much you sit on that saddle. You ride like a fiend, girl!

Haven't done any research but maybe we should start a thread about estimated miles before needing to be replaced...

[Catrin]

I did return to a more...moist chamois cream yesterday and it seemed to make a difference. I still had some problems with the saddle, but it wasn't as extreme. It appears that there were two problems going on. Next Friday we are switching the saddles between my bikes as they are the same saddle and see what happens. The MTB LDY saddle doesn't have near the mileage and is obviously more firm in the cutout area so it will be a good experiment. My phone just died so I hope to be able to put off a saddle purchase until the spring...

[hulagirl]

I'd put money on the weight loss shifting things around!

REI sells the LDY (also my saddle of choice on my road bike) and they do usually have good coupons and sales if you keep your eye out. Plus their return policy is fantastic.

I'm currently beta testing a new Selle Anatomica saddle. It's my first dip into the leather saddles and I have to say, once the sit-bones stop screaming, it's pretty comfortable. UNTIL you get into your drops. The cut-out is not who-haa friendly at all. I find that I need shorts with padding on this saddle vs my LDY where I can ride in tri shorts, no padding in aero or in the drops and be fine.

Denise

[e3rdpower]

Haven't done any research but maybe we should start a thread about estimated miles before needing to be replaced...

I was wondering this myself. I'm sure there's a lot of factors involved.

[pll]

I will float two more hypotheses, which I did not see in the thread:

Hyp. 1: I will call this the "phase of the moon" hypothesis and it happened to me in the past. Each month, for a couple of days, my saddle would cause me all kind of grief. I suspect I was just more sensitive during said days... Unexpectedly, the lasting cure thus far was a new wheelset and plusher tires (Conti GP 4000 S, with 320 tpi).

Hyp 2: your weight loss may require raising the saddle just a smidgen to compensate for the loss of 'padding', so to speak. You might be sliding around a little more than before.

[Catrin]

I will float two more hypothesis, which I did not see in the thread:

Hyp. 1: I will call this the "phase of the moon" hypothesis and it happened to me in the past. Each month, for a couple of days, my saddle would cause me all kind of grief. I suspect I was just more sensitive during said days... Unexpectedly, the lasting cure thus far was a new wheelset and plusher tires (Conti GP 4000 S, with 320 tpi).

Hyp 2: your weight loss may require raising the saddle just a smidgen to compensate for the loss of 'padding', so to speak. You might be sliding around a little more than before.

#1 is out of the question since I no longer have any remaining parts of my former reproductive system - nice not to have to worry about that

My fitter found last week that my saddle post was a smidgen too high (about 1.5 mm), so that probably would have allowed for it? Unsure, but Friday we are switching to a far less used version of the same saddle, so we will see. I do appreciate all of the input and hopefully switching saddles will take care of things until at least spring. That being said, I need to ride my mountain bike this winter for some gravel road riding/training, so if this does solve the problem then I will still have a decision to make...