One thing to add/suggest to help for your saddle trials. Make sure you have measured your sit bones. it’s far from obvious in terms of body shape. It might be that a wider saddle suits better.
None.
There was a lot of trial and error with different saddles. Settled on the f30c eventually. Just rode 13 hours on it yesterday with no discomfort. Have done several 16-30+ hour rides on it with no discomfort.
Saddle preference is heavily impacted by things like how much your pelvis rotates in your on bike position, as well as what bibs you’re wearing.
Anecdotally, these were far larger factors for me than sit bone width. I actually found almost no correlation between saddle width and comfort, outside of some extremely narrow ones being problematic, and ones that were too wide on the nose rubbing my thighs.
Chamois with too much padding up front just leads to that padding getting crushed into your taint, causing issues (because I rotate my pelvis a fair amount).
For me, a flat saddle that is quite narrow on the nose is ideal.
For those who tend to sit upright, or at least don’t rotate their pelvis much, it seems they often really like things like the classic Brooks ones. I tried one and it was terrible for me.
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How much have you played around with changing the tilt of your saddle in very, very small increments?
I’ve found that now I’m very sensitive to saddle tilt in combination with bar drop & reach to the hoods, especially on the trainer. When I started cycling / racing I was able to easily adapt to different saddles / positions - I went from a Selle San Marco Rolls to the original Flite because I thought the Flite was cool looking - and just setting up my position by eyeball. Now? Not so much. It takes me time to really dial in a position so that it feels comfortable.
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I’ll chime in to say that I would bet there is a solution for you out there. When I first started riding again, I couldn’t last 45 minutes on my saddle. I thought - oh, I’m just getting used to it, I’ll toughen up… But the discomfort was bad enough that I didn’t want to ride and it didn’t seem to be getting better over several weeks. I read everything I could find and measured my sit bones (by sitting on a piece of corrugated cardboard) and discovered that while I am a woman and have wide hips, I do not have wide sit bones. So I got a narrower saddle, which was at least a step in the right direction. The thing that ended up helping me the most was a bike fit where the guy had a “BikeFit Saddle Changer Fit Tool” and after doing most of the fit (so I’d been on the saddle riding for a while already) he put the saddle-changer tool on my bike and started rapidly switching out saddles. He kept them all behind me so I couldn’t see which saddle was going on the bike. I was able to sit and say Nope! Not that one… or maybe, etc until we got to one that seemed to work. Then he switched back and forth a few more times in a continued blind test and, for me, there was a clear winner.
At that point things were so much better that I thought it was probably as good as it could get. But I just had another bike fit (for other issues) a couple of weeks ago and was flabbergasted that raising the seat and lowering the handlebars made the same saddle more comfortable. He also tilted it a little more so that I don’t feel as much like I’m sliding forward. I now feel like I am sitting solidly, but without painful pressure. I am not riding as long as you are yet, so I’m not sure my experience is entirely relevant, but wanted to offer it up, just in case.
My theory is that it is not only the width of the sit bones, but also somehow the shape of the pelvis that makes a difference. And for me it wasn’t numbness or a mild ache, but once the pain started up it was more of a stabbing pain, which has made me wonder whether some saddles cause the bones to be pressed apart or some strange thing like that. So anyway, if you have a fitter nearby who has one of these BikeFit tools, I would encourage you to give it a try. I really think it was what made the difference for me. And because the shop had a good supply of different kinds of saddles, it was a relatively quick process to test through them.
I hope you find a solution!!
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I used to have a ton of discomfort, but with time/training, and some fit tweaks, I’m a lot better now.
I think it’s partially fitness and partially fit.
By fitness, I mean that if I unrealistically increase my hours per week (or if I do an unusually long ride), saddle discomfort is the result. I think this is because of a lack of core strength. Eventually, I start to ‘slump’ and sit on the saddle in a way that results in pinching, sores, etc.
By fit, I mean that I have a weirdly-shaped body: a peculiarly-shaped spine and bow legs. My arms end up effectively having different reaches and I sit in a twisted manner.
To deal with this, I use a so-called ‘bisaddle’ (pictured below) and I use a dual-position seat post that I can move forward and up when I want to get more aero. It’s a fact that when I shift to the aero bars (or even the invisible aero bars) without moving the saddle, it stresses the soft tissues in the seat area. I use a snub-nose saddle on my bisaddle, but I also have a regular-shaped bi-saddle that also seems to work fine. The bisaddle is completely adjustable (and has a cutout) which lets me get a bit of an asymmetrical fit and somewhat compensates for my reach irregularities (in addition to letting me get my sit-bones right where I want them).
On the indoor bike (where I virtually never exceed an hour and a half) any normal hard road saddle is fine. On my single-speed commuter bike, the cheap $15 padded saddle is also fine since I’m not on it very long.
This picture comes from slow twitch:
Here’s a picture of the redshift dual-position seat post, it’s a godsend for comfort in my opinion:
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Thanks so much for this. Very heartening to hear. Some fitters have basically said, “yeah, discomfort is normal…” and I’m glad to hear stories of others who have continued to try to tweak and tinker to get things dialed
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Outdoors, the answer is a clear none, and should be none. This isn’t normal. You wrote you went to several bike fitters, but not how many saddles you have tried.
Here, the frustrating thing is that saddles are so personal. Plus, saddle fit may change from bike-to-bike. I hated my current saddle on my previous endurance road bike. Now I have a very race-y aero road bike, and I love it. No issues. I’d start trying out different saddles from different brands. ISM makes very unusual looking saddles that some people with comfort issues have had success with. (Many find them fugly, but you won’t see the saddle while you are riding …) You should also try saddles with different amounts of cushioning. In my experience, harder saddles are more comfortable on long rides than softer ones. Some stores have special tryout saddles in hideous color schemes. Try each for 1 week at least.
Yes, your body is surely to blame. Why don’t you get a new one? 
Seriously, perhaps there is some truth to that, but what choice do you have? Accepting it is not the solution.
None! I put up with saddle discomfort for almost 3 years thinking it was normal. Similar to you I’d start feeling discomfort after about 90 minutes - tried different bibs and bike fits but since I have found two saddles that actually work for me (Specialised mimic and power pro) I feel no discomfort on the trainer or outdoors after any length of time and it’s such a relief.
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Ha - there are a bunch of things I’d love to upgrade for my new body! Unfortunately haven’t found a place to get one
Thanks for this, though. I’ve tried ~8 saddles at this point (specialized power, power mirror, WTB Silverado, Pro Stealth, Fizik Antares and Argon….probably a few more I’m missing). As you note, though, a challenge is that you’re not trying a saddle in isolation but rather trying a saddle on a bike set up in a given position….so if you change your position on the bike, you are also impacting what other saddles might have felt like…
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Also take into account that different saddles have different positions that work with the saddle. That is: saddle shape will impact seat height slightly, fore /aft, handlebar drop, etc. Which is why once you find a saddle you think is comfortable, it still might take time to tweak all aspects of your position to really dial in a comfortable position
It’s really strange for me to hear about people who seem to have little to no issue (or history!) with saddle discomfort. Having major discomfort after 1-2 hours has always been an issue for me, and I’ve sometimes thought it was as much of a limiting factor in how long I can ride as my fitness (though it’s obviously hard to develop fitness to ride more than a couple of hours if you can’t stay comfortable long enough to manage training for it).
I’ve probably tried 15-20 saddles and had several fit sessions over the past few years. There have been improvements, but they are relatively small and incremental, e.g. maybe I now ride for 2 hrs without discomfort whereas a year prior it was 1.5 hrs. Maybe that means I just need to keep trying different things, but I’ve kind of gotten to the point that I don’t think it’s possible, and I’d rather spend the time doing other things (rather than tinker with fit, saddles, positions, etc.) and just enjoy my 2-3 hour rides as best I can, and assume that’s as good as it’s gonna get.
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I don’t believe that an uncomfortable saddle is healthy for you, maybe you should change a saddle
Try using pressure sensors to see what saddle would have less hot spots? Fitters – gebioMized
I have had this same thought. Thank you for sharing it.
I’m curious what your takeaways from this thread are.
So far, I think mine are that the discomfort we are experiencing is common and stinks. And, we should probably continue trying to tinker to make it better. I think another takeaway for me is that position matters a ton - not just saddle - and thus one saddle could be bad in position A but great in position B. I think my biggest challenge will be finding a bike fitter who will have the time and patience to see this through. To date, my experiences are that they are super booked and don’t have the capacity to really dig in
This thread is just further embedding my belief that even though some think they have, most people have never experienced what those of us with real issues go through. You can say, “I’ve tried 10 different fitters and 20 different saddles and spent thousands of dollars with no relief” and the most that people can offer is “this isn’t normal, you should try another saddle” or “you should pay a good fitter”. I’m convinced it’s just not fixable. I’d love to hear from someone who has been through years of issues, saddles, and fitters, but eventually found a solution.
I hear you on this.
I’m taking solace from what @rebeccamcshane @JulianFishtown and @BethK shared above. I suspect there were others who had similar experiences.
There are certainly some of us that have this harder, but hoping it’s still possible. As I was saying above, I am finding it hard to find someone who is willing to help through that process, though….
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I self diagnosed my various saddle issues myself before finally seeing a fitter. I’ve ended up going up from a 143mm to 155mm (i think that was the size, I dont have it to hand to check) saddle width and that has helped.
My saddle fitting during the bike fit found I was on the verge between the 2 sizing’s. I still experience discomfort but cures for me are standing during short hills, loose weight & assos bib shorts.
My fitter said ‘your carrying excess weight, there comes a point where that will be a factor’. I’ve since lost 8kg’s from then and I can tell a difference.
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There is no “normal” amount of discomfort because it is so highly individual. Any bike fitter will probably tell you about clients who can feel every mm of change and then those who wouldn’t notice a difference between MTB and road bike.
I never had issues with chafing, blisters etc (good bibs, shoes and fit should solve those) but that “deep discomfort” is there. I don’t feel it straight away, I’m comfortable when I start riding but it comes eventually. I did get ability to endure it for longer during the last couple of years but I’m still more prone to discomfort than some other people and I avoid really long rides because of that (I prefer to keep it <3-4h outside, <1.5h inside).
Better saddle, great shoes, shorter cranks all helped me, but I managed to fix all those things myself. When I went to bike fitter, we did all the measurements, joint tracking etc and changed nothing, his conclusion was that from the outside my fit is perfect, there is nothing wrong, no clear pressure points, uneven movement etc, it’s just some inner wear and tear during a ride that causes discomfort. Each body is different, with more practice you might become more durable and it’s ok to actively search for solutions but ignore everyone telling you it’s not normal and that “there must be a fix” because every legit bike fitter will tell you straight tell you that there is no universal solution for each body and sometimes there just isn’t a solution.
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I just tried different saddles until I found one that worked
This. Saddle tils plays a critical role for me. I use the “Measure” app on my iphone to make sure that my knock off Specialized Power saddle (EC90 - 30 bucks) is tilted nose down 6 degrees. This is VITAL for me. I had a fit 12 years ago and he said specialized saddles were meant to be tilted nose down (he was not a RETUL or spec fitter so take this with grain of salt for yourself)
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