I need help with my saddle. I'm at the end of my rope.

[nanaterry]

Thanks for all the input. I have a correction, the saddle is the B68S imperial, which is the women's version and the rails are shorter so the saddle is back as far as it will go. I tried my husbands saddle with it still on his bike. I just looked at it and it is marked B17. However, I got a ruler and measured the metal plate on the underside of his saddle and it has 5 inches between the metal. So I know I was hitting it.

ny biker, trust me it was pure grit and stubbornness that got me this far, along with a lot of tears and frustration. I went to the bike store a couple of times when I first got my bike and they just kept saying my sit bones needed to just toughen up, so I just thought I was being a baby. I just keep thinking when I get the right saddle for me I will be so happy. Maybe I could do a century ride! Wouldn't that be nice! My longest ride is 75 miles and that night I cried because my bottom hurt so bad.

Thanks again for all the advice. I will try anything to have comfort while riding.

[hulagirl]

Nanaterry - I feel/felt your pain. I think finding the right saddle is a very difficult thing and worst part is that it changes as your fitness level changes!

I had the same rubbing issues that you do…right along the panty line area. I went through quite a journey finding a saddle that didn't bug me - you can read the Saddle Battle entries in my blog linked in my signature if you want. Needless to say, after years of searching I am on the Cobb Plus on both my tri bike and my Pro Cross (more upright). I also find that the right bike shorts make a huge difference. I cannot use shorts with a lot of padding and the seems need to be lower down the leg for the chamois attachment. The De Soto 400 mile shorts were my savior in that regard!

Good luck. I have a link to an excellent write up on the "in's and out's" of women's saddles written by Cobb on my blog. It really helped me out and the fact that I measure 160mm c-c o my sit ones, yet I'm very comfortable on a saddle that is 135mm only goes to show you that there is NO one way to fit a saddle. Trial and error seems to work in many cases. Hopefully you have a LBS that lets you try out saddles?

Denise

[tulip]

I hope you get the proper saddle. The Terry Butterfly has always been my go-to saddle. The Brooks B-17 was no fun at all and I sold it and went back to the Butterfly.

Just a though since you mentioned "panty line," I hope you are not wearing underpants under your cycling shorts. Doing so just adds fabric and seams in all the wrong places.

[Wahine]

Sky King and Murienn have covered most of what I would say, but I just want to emphasize that (as Murienn said) you likely need a saddle with a narrower transition area, that is, less pear shaped and more T-shaped. And I agree, if you measure at 140, you really shouldn't be on a super wide saddle, unless you are very upright in your posture.

[nanaterry]

Tulip, I don't wear underpants while cycling just the cycling shorts. I just used that term to let you know about where the saddle sore area is at. Wahine, I do ride in an upright posture. I would say my handlebar is about 1 inch above my saddle. I believe both saddles I have tried are too wide also, so I will be looking this weekend for a smaller saddle. It seems like the LBS here doesn't allow trying out saddles. Does anyone know of a good LBS in the Kansas City area? We had an REI open in the Kansas area this fall, (about 80 miles from my home) so I thought maybe they would have something that I could try and return.

Thanks again.

[ny biker]

I went to the bike store a couple of times when I first got my bike and they just kept saying my sit bones needed to just toughen up, so I just thought I was being a baby.

They are wrong!!

It is common to be a bit sore around the sit bones when you first start cycling, or after you've taken a break from cycling for a while. But for the distances you ride, that soreness is the not the issue.

In addition to the chafing, do you have other problems with pain? For example, soreness (feeling like you're bruised) in front of your sit bones or between your legs (I think that's the pubic bone? Wahine is that right?) can indicate the saddle is too narrow (unlikely in your case) or that it's too far back, so that too much of your weight is on the nose of the saddle. Feeling numb/too much pressure can indicate that the saddle is too padded, the chamois is too thick or the saddle is too high.

[TigerMom]

I love my Selle ITalia Max SLR Gel flow saddle which is 143mm wide and has one of the biggest cut-out on the market. I use this saddle on both my road and mountain bike. Be careful, Selle Italia has a lot of names that sound similar to the saddle that I like but are NOT that saddle.

If you can get demo saddles before you buy at your local bike shop, I would recommend that first.

[Wahine]

I love my Selle ITalia Max SLR Gel flow saddle which is 143mm wide and has one of the biggest cut-out on the market. I use this saddle on both my road and mountain bike. Be careful, Selle Italia has a lot of names that sound similar to the saddle that I like but are NOT that saddle.

If you can get demo saddles before you buy at your local bike shop, I would recommend that first.

The Selle Italia line is quite nice, and yes, you have to be very careful about model names. They also change frequently with the company often dropping a model entirely and replacing it with something similar under a completely different name.

In addition to the chafing, do you have other problems with pain? For example, soreness (feeling like you're bruised) in front of your sit bones or between your legs (I think that's the pubic bone? Wahine is that right?)

Yes.

Does anyone know of a good LBS in the Kansas City area? We had an REI open in the Kansas area this fall, (about 80 miles from my home) so I thought maybe they would have something that I could try and return.

How close are you to Emporia? Astonishing as it may seem, they seem to have a very nice shop there with people who are familiar with distance riding because of this event.

[nanaterry]

NY Biker, I don't have any other pain with the B68S, just the chafing. With the Riva I did have a pressure pain along with the chafing. Maybe the Riva was too padded along with being to wide?

Wahine, Emporia is about 150 miles away. Just a little to far to be trying to exchange seats.

[Boudicca]

Could you order online from REI, and then return by mail if it's not comfortable? The cost of the postage is probably less than what it would cost you in gas. Also look at Performance for the same idea. You probably have a pretty good idea of what you want.

For my first Terry Butterfly (my go-to saddle) I bought it just ahead of a week-long bike tour and got the tour company to fit the saddle to the rental bike. I figured that if it didn't work, I would take the saddle back at the end of the week.

It worked.

[Sky King]

Most of us "online" bike stores offer six month return on saddles. We find most riders know within two weeks if a saddle is going to fit well enough to hold onto.