Hate my saddle...help please

[gr8lakesgurl]

I am finally getting used to my bike and have discovered that I hate the saddle, I think it's too big for me (it's the one that came with the bike)
I ride a rockhopper comp (15", not wsd) and have been looking at specialized saddles.
Does anyone have a recommendation for which one would be best, or maybe another company is better?

[Dianyla]

I'm fond of the Specialized Body Geometry saddles, but don't listen to me. Really, a saddle is very individual to your own anatomy so you really need to go down to a bike shop and try on a bunch. Most good shops will let you try on several on a trainer, also they should have a 30-day or similar return policy in case issues don't show up until you've gone on a long ride.

[DeniseGoldberg]

You might also want to take a look at the Favorite Saddles discussion forum (if you haven't seen that yet, you can get there by scrolling down from the main TE discussion forum page, you'll find Favorite Saddles under Gear and Accessories).

There are quite a few discussions there, including some that are very recent. I suspect you'll find some ideas there.

My favorite saddle is the Fizik Vitesse, but as everyone else has already pointed out, each of our preferences relative to saddles can be very different.

--- Denise

[CorsairMac]

saddles are like shoes or hairstyles, what works for me may not work for someone else. That being said, I use the Specialized BG MTB sport on 2 of my bikes and the Specialized BG road sport on the other 2 and love them. You might see what the return policy is at your LBS and then try out some saddles and be sure and try out several different brands, Specialized may not work for you...........and good luck - let us know what you end up with because we're always interested in what saddles work for us.!

[gr8lakesgurl]

Thanks for the advice, my lbs does not carry many women's saddles so I might just have to order a bunch and return them!
I will let you know how it goes!

[CorsairMac]

Don't be afraid to try mens saddles - you might actually find one that fits you well.

[gr8lakesgurl]

yeah...noticed the entire subgrouping of saddle talk about 2 minutes after I posted...doh!

[mtbdarby]

Ahhh, the dreaded saddle issue. I recommend getting your sit bones measured - either by your lbs (you sit on a foam pad and they measure) or sit on a piece of white paper on the curb and measure. A lot of women seem to have sit bones further apart then men and "standard" saddles can be too narrow.

Like everyone has mentioned it is a very personalized item. I finally found the Specialized Dolce saddle to work for me and use it on both my road and mtb (it's considered a road saddle). Best of luck to you!