how long to "wear in" a new bike? (aka Help the saddle is hurting my girly bits!)

[OakLeaf]

Gloves are essential for when you are riding 25 mph and somehow fall and wind up skidding on your palms on asphalt. It's instinctual to put your hands out to break your fall, but it's not like falling while walking or even running. At higher speed, you can do horrible damage to your hands and wrists and nerves there, not to mention losing a lot of skin. PLEASE wear gloves- they are very important for safety.

+1 - but 15 mph is plenty fast to lose a whole lot of skin. Even if "all" you have is road rash and no permanent damage, losing all the skin off the palms of your hands can keep you from working or doing just about anything for a couple of weeks. The guy who built the frame for my race bike did just that - didn't put his gloves on for just a "little" commute across campus, wound up with both hands in bandages for way too long.


Re: your saddle - search this forum for saddle fitting. You can do a couple of tests at home to figure out how wide a saddle you need and whether you need a cut-out or not (not everyone does, and for those who don't, a cut-out can actually cause problems). There's still quite a bit of trial and error involved in finding your perfect saddle, but you can narrow your search considerably by knowing those two things.

Another thing that can cause you to slide forward on your saddle is having a "pear-shaped" saddle (gradual transition from butt to nose) when you need a more "T-shaped" one (sharp transition). That was my experience anyhow - as I pedaled, my thighs would pull my butt forward to the narrower part of the saddle, because when my legs are extended, I don't have that much space between my thighs.