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

[Owlie]

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

[TigerMom]

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

Agree with wise Owlie.

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

[OakLeaf]

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.

[Sky King]

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.

[ny biker]

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.