Niezgoda Fitness Systems Articles

Choosing a Bike Saddle

Choosing a comfortable bike saddle is one of the most important things a cyclist can do to make his/her ride more enjoyable. No pair of bike shorts or gel cover can fix a poor saddle.

First off you body comes in contact with the bike in 5 places, your 2 hand, 2 feet, and your sit bones. The most important of those contact points is your butt.

The most important aspect about saddle comfort is fit! Buy shoes too small and your feet hurt, buy a helmet too big and it will not sit on you head properly, well the same goes for a bike saddle. The narrower your hips are the more narrow you want a saddle, many women and some larger guys will need a larger saddle.
OK, I'm a smaller dude so I know I should use a narrowish saddle so what do I look for next? Think them bones, them bones, them body bones, more specifically the Ischia tuberosities or sit bones. These are the bones you'll notice when you sit on a hard bar stool. These sit bones need to be supported by your saddle. If the saddle is too narrow then you'll have what they call numby nuts (a term coined by a friend of mine, Rich Clark). This is because the saddle is pressing on the soft tissue between the sit bones. If you pick a saddle that is too wide, you are looking to get saddle sores and chafing from the saddle rubbing on your legs. This problem will be compounded if you like to spin a high rpm. In other words if you plan on spending on real time on a bike stay away from the saddles you’ll see on the bikes in a fitness center.

The next most important to look for in a saddle is saddle flex. Think of it this way: What's more conferrable, sitting in the plastic seats (that flex slightly) at the ball game or sitting on the hard aluminum bleachers that don't flex?
When you are looking for saddle flex the most important thing you can do is to turn the saddle upside down and look at the saddle rails. Where do the saddle rails connect to the saddle? They should connect at the farthest reward point of the saddle and at the very tip. Also make sure that they are not connecting all the way to the outside edge of the saddle or too narrow. The rails should be twice as far apart from each other than they are from the edge of the saddle. Look at the diagram below:

Outside edge of the saddles tail - (
Rail - |
Outside edge of the saddles tail - )
( | | )
\ /

By having the saddle rails connect to the saddle shell in this way the manufacture is insuring saddle flex.

Saddle shape is another thing to look at when trying to find a saddle. Most triathletes like a saddle with a pretty flat shell. This is why the SLR, Aspide, Azoto and Airone are so popular among triathletes.

Padding is the least important aspect in finding a conferrable saddle. This is why buying padded bike shorts don’t help very much. They do aid in comfort, especially on rides longer than one hour. But it doesn’t matter how much padding you add to a pair of cycling shorts, they are not going to make a poor saddle conferrable.

For the recreational rider a soft padding is fine and most people who don't ride very much like will love soft saddles. People who ride will want a more dense padding, one that will give me support as they ride. With that said lets look at gel saddles. They are becoming very popular among triathletes.
All gel is not created equal. The traditional gel saddles are made for the recreational rider, it's very soft, and squishes easily when compressed. If you choose to use a gel saddle look for one that is firm and has the gel strategically placed. For a triathlete more gel in the nose of the saddle is a good idea. But some companies such as Koobi make some of the best saddles often put a thin layer of gel on the top of their denser padding. This also works well, but I would avoid a saddle that uses gel exclusively to pad the shell.

Cutaway Saddles are another way to go and have come a long why from their early days. The early cut out saddles would actually pinch the soft tissue that is located between the sit bones because the padding would get shorter and wider when as it compressed. This would cause you go numb very quickly. Most quality modern cutaway saddles eliminate that problem. Because there is no material making contact with your soft tissue some people find the cut away saddles very conferrable, other don't. Will a cut out work well for you? Trial and error is the only way to find out.

Saddle position and set up are also a very important aspect of comfort. Once you choose your saddle, make sure you get fit by a quality bike fitter or a USA Cycling Coach with fitting experience. Below are some tips for saddle comfort:

• If your saddle is too high you'll be rocking from side to side this can irate your soft tissue and cause chafing. Plus, you will be losing power and wasting energy.
• Saddle tilt is important and very personal, however, the rule is never tilt your saddle more then 3 mm up and never more than 3 mm down. A downward tilt may take pressure off of the soft tissue; however, some prefer the saddle tilted up. Make sure you try both as well as dead level.
• Some find that it may be helpful if you move the saddle to the left or the right instead of aligning it parallel with the top tube. Most women hate this and prefer a saddle parallel with the top tube. Many men however love this.
• Many saddles need a break in period before you find out if they will work well for you.
• Saddles tend to be their most uncomfortable when you are on a trainer so this is a good way to test them.
Not all saddles will work for everyone, so try many and buy the one's you like. If the shop you are looking at will not let you try a few out skip them and move on to another shop.

As a triathlete, some good saddles to look at would be the:
Koobi Tri saddle
Fizik Airone (and the tri version)
Selle San Marco Aspide Triathgel, Azoto and SLR
Terry Liberator - if you like to sit on a sofa