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

[gocard]

I'm finally getting my fitting this weekend and I'll see how the seat works for me after that. I am also all about buying new bike stuff and have been holding myself in check fairly well up until now, but a new seat is worth it to me!

I do think that as my ride gets longer I start shifting more due to the discomfort in the front. I naively thought that was just something that we have to live with when we sit on bike seats for a longer period of time. However, from everyone's responses it sounds like there IS something better out there. My LBS only recommended the Butterfly to me and I might try it out, along with the Specialized seats which they don't carry. The Specialized ones look so sleek and would look great on my bike! But only if it fits well.

[amnesiac]

I have a Butterfly on both my road & MTB.

[ny biker]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet -- make sure the saddle is level. If the nose is tilting up, that could be the cause of your problems.

[gocard]

Yep, I've checked to make sure my seat is level. I'm wondering if I ought to angle it down just slightly but I'll see what happens with the fitting this weekend. Problem is, my friend really wants me to ride the 120 km Tour de Cure in about 3 weeks and I really don't see how I could survive that with my current seat. Slight discomfort is tolerable on a 30-40 mile ride, but any more than that and I am probably going to be thinking only of my seat and soft tissues! I'll try to demo this weekend as well.

[lgibster]

I had this problem espically on longer rides. I put up with it until yesterday when I knew I was going to want to ride 60 miles in prep for a 68 mile charity ride in two weeks. I lowered the nose of the saddle just slightly after 15 miles and the pain/numbness was all but gone. My form suffers the longer I ride so nosing the saddle down about a half turn really helped me.