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Hello All
Need some advice I’m struggling to find a saddle that doesn’t cause pain. Any advice on how to get to the bottom of this ? I’ve tried various saddles thankfully for free and havnt really had much joy.
thanks
tom
Where is the pain? Sit bones or perineum?
You might need a different angle on the seat or a wider one or one with a cutout.
Hmm yeah sit bones I can’t sit down after down after a while it hurts and also a funny pain at the back of my left leg.
Funny pain at the back of the leg sounds like sciatica perhaps from having your pelvis at a funny angle?
Wider flatter saddle?
Someone needs to look at how you are sitting
Are you new to cycling? Might have to just toughen up
Been cycling on and off since I was a kid. I do suffer with sciatica so maybe this is an issue. I might pop upto my local bike shop see what we can sort out.
I'm also interested in this, for years thought riding just gave me a sore arse, measured my sit bones early in the year and bought a 150mm wtb rocket which was amazing for a couple of months total gamechanger, now it's giving me pain in my gooch and some numbness, what's worse is if I don't lather up in sudocrem I find the pressure and motion of cycling is actually splitting the skin down there which I can tell you, isn't fun.
Feel like I need a 150mm seat with a good perineum cut out but I haven't been able to find one
How did you measure you sit bones ?
some bike shops do it - by sitting on a bit of corrugated cardboard when I did it. various guides on the net as well
Eatmorepizza - sounds like either your saddle needs to go nose down, reduce the height a bit or move forward a bit
You can get them measured in some bike shops, however I done mine with the foil and towel method.
Get a towel and double it over, lay some foil flat over the top and sit on it with a forward leaning bias so that the pressure is on your sit on bones and not your general backside.
Carefully stand up and get a tape measure to measure the distance between the two sharpest indents, you can also use a few drops of water in each indent to be more specific if you're having a hard time finding it. Also make sure clothing is minimal.
I had a hard time getting a good indent in mine so had to do it sans any garments on the bottom half, much to the amusement of my wife coming downstairs and seeing me at the bottom in half my birthday suit, legs lifted up body leaning forward on a piece of foil 😂
There's a world of things that can cause it and sadly it's not always the saddle.
There's a bit of a consensus amongst the Youtube fitters (yeah I know, hardly authoritative experts) which is that one-sided saddle pain probably isn't the fault of the saddle.
I spent a long time chasing what I thought was chafing at the top of thigh/bottom of glute because it was a sort of hot/friction type pain, but it turns out this was more likely impingement of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis, as someone mentioned above.
Sit bone pain is a funny one though as that's more likely a weight distribution thing, are your bars really high or seat really far back, putting more weight on the sit bones? I think this is one of the reasons (other than marketting) that e-bike saddles are wider and more padded as the presumption is that e-bikers pedal less hard and thus there is more weight on the saddle than on the pedals (I'm not saying that's true, not trying to start a flame war! 😂).
Another way to take weight of sit bones is a curvier saddle that cradles your bum more and spreads the weight over a bigger area, I think that's the premise behind those really curved SMP saddles with the beak, the curvature is supposed to fit the curve of your sit bones so that the weight is distributed more evenly. I'm not convinced as it sounds like luck as to whether the curve of the saddle matches the curve of your sitbones well enough.
One thing I've confused with sitbone pain is pain at the top of the inner thigh muscles (adductors). My right adductor gets quite tight because my right hamstring is a bit lazy, and that tightness translates to a pain where the adductor connects to the pelvis, right up at the top of the thigh. It's very easy to confuse with sitbone pain and I think I might have sold on some very nice saddles in the past (RIP carbon railed Prologo 😭) because I confused it with a saddle pain.
Basic leg strength like lunges/glute bridge etc. helps.
As others have said try to get an idea of width for a start if you can't get to anywhere that does pressure mapping or a bike fit.
I'd also say regardless of anything else get one with a decent cut-out anyway, I don't think it's ever a bad thing.
One sided pain could be saddle too high, but as others have said could be a range of fit issues. I get achillies issues if mine is just a touch too high.
I suffered quite a bit until I had a bike fit and realised I needed a wider saddle than the standard supplied. Cambium all weather carved C17 works fantastic for me, but not everyone.
Thinking more about it the entire pain the OP is getting could be sciatic pain - it can manifest in the glutes as well
Basically to many possibilities to diagnose in a few words
I find the pressure and motion of cycling is actually splitting the skin down there which I can tell you, isn’t fun.
Surely the saddle is too wide? The only time I've had broken skin was a saddle that was too wide.
Purely anecdotal, but I had awful saddle pain, tried 4 different saddles. In the end bought one that matched my sitbone width to baseline things, then through trial and error found that I NEED a moderate tilt on the saddle. To check I went back to horizontal and immediately flaired up again.
Also, a leg length discrepancy can cause pain on one leg/glute only, I need to shim one leg as a result.
So I’ve measured my sit bones using the cardboard method and I have 13.5cm and I believe the rule of thumb is to add 2-2.5cm on to this measurement. Basically both saddles I have tried one is far to wide and the one is 145 so a touch to small. Maybe I’ll try a saddle that is right for my sit bones and start from there. Any particular makes anyone recommend? Obviously don’t wanna spend a fortune yet as it’s a trial thing
As above I'd recommend the Brooks carved all weather cambium of appropriate size. Me and my wife use the C17, my friend the C15 (more aggressive roadie position).
You can find deals for around £70, so it's maybe still a gamble you don't want to shell out on.
Obviously don’t wanna spend a fortune yet as it’s a trial thing
Look for 2nd hand, eg my wife went through 10+ saddles looking for the right one, I sold them all for bugger all on FB marketplace as they were cluttering up the place. A lot of them had been bought 2nd hand on Ebay etc. Endless cycle of saddles being trialled for fit!
<p>Yep I think I’m gonna search on eBay get some second hand ones and have a bash. Especially now I have an idea what my sit bones dimension etc. </p>
Are saddles with a cut out better or not ? Can’t say I’ve ever had a saddle with one.
Are saddles with a cut out better or not ?
Personally a cutout certainly helped me with alleviating perineum pain & with pins & needles /numbness in the todger so depends what you're suffering without a cutout.
Very trial & error process as you know: I've settled on needing a very flat saddle with a cutout, setup with a slight rise on the front so i don't slide forward when riding and with relatively low bars so I'm not sat up too much with all my weight on my backside....taken a long time to get that right