Sore from riding, is it my seat?

[Aquila]

It sounds sort of like you've been riding this seat for a while, and it's been fine, and now it's a problem?

Is there something else that's changed recently? Have you had the bike in the shop?

(I had my bike fixed from a non-seat problem, but they move the seat to clamp it, and left the seat about half an inch higher than it was before. It took me a while to figure it out because it wasn't a huge change, but lowering the seat back solved my soreness at once.)

[lauramaili]

Thanks so much everyone!

Melalvai, I was looking into a brooks saddle actually, more recently a cardiff saddle.

Aquila, I never noticed a problem because (I'm assuming this is why) I lived in san Francisco and a lot of riding was done standing up trying to get over the hills. I was hardly seated.

Oakleaf, thanks for the hints, I'll check that out. I did actually put a different saddle on today that was wider, tilted it slightly forward, but I ended up sliding to the front of the saddle anyway.

I just need to figure out how to sit closer to the handlebars, i think Im too small for my bike but its a great bike and honestly i cant afford a new one, so I got to make this one work!

I don't really know the names of the parts on my bike, but I'm assuming I can get a stem that brings my handles closer, and a seat post that extends towards the front of my bike a bit...? At least I hope so!

[lph]

Yup, stems come in different lengths and can change your position on bike quite drastically. They are easy to switch. Be careful about buying a very short stem, it can make your bike feel very squirrelly. How long is the one you have?
Seatposts can come with "setback" which in fact gives you the opposite, bringing the saddle further back. You can also slide most saddles back and forth on the rails quite a bit to adjust the fore-and-aft position. The rough rule of thumb however is that the saddle should be positioned so that the front of your knee should be directly above the pedal spindle when the pedal is in a 3 o'clock position (google KOPS and bike fitting). But if your knees don't hurt, I wouldn't worry too much about this being accurate.

[Melalvai]

I don't really know the names of the parts on my bike, but I'm assuming I can get a stem that brings my handles closer, and a seat post that extends towards the front of my bike a bit...? At least I hope so!

My old bike was too big and too small at the same time. Eventually I made it work, by doing the things you're trying. A new seat post took care of "too small" and I was able to get the seat height right without being in the "do not raise above this line" range.

On my new WSD bike, I felt that the handlebar was too low. The great thing was, my bike mechanic put a taller stem on but wouldn't let me pay for it until I'd ridden on it for a couple months, made a million other tiny adjustments, and he was sure that it was the right stem for me!