Best seats for Road bike

Slitsee
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Best seats for Road bike

Postby Slitsee » Wed May 13, 2015 2:06 pm

Hi there,

can anyone suggest the best seats for road bike as my wife is struggling to find good feedback other than advertised reviews.

Cheers

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Lizzy
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby Lizzy » Thu May 14, 2015 3:26 pm

Lack of guidance could be because there is no right or wrong answer to this one - its an entirely individual thing. I am actually noodling around for a new saddle myself, user reviews on Wiggle seem to indicate above-average satisfaction with the various Selle women-specific saddles. But there are like a hundred different models and I personally have no idea how I'd choose one other than gut feeling (or I suppose, butt feeling, really ...)

Ya, not helpful I guess; but I will be watching this topic with interest :) Good luck.
“Lexa”: 2012 Trek Lexa S; "Hannelore": 2019 Kalkhoff, "Teal Cecile" Reid traino shuttle

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Mulger bill
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby Mulger bill » Thu May 14, 2015 7:12 pm

Is your GLW already riding? If so, what problems is she having? What current saddle?
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marinmomma
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby marinmomma » Thu May 14, 2015 7:31 pm

There is a thread in here somewhere, however the saddle question is a personal quest, one persons dream saddle is the next ones nightmare.

Things to consider are, bike fit, saddle, and good Knicks.

May sure that your partner is on the correct bike, that it fits her properly.
Try some test saddles less expenses
Good Knicks, generally you do get what you pay for!

I use and will continue to use a Specialized saddle on my road bike, I have something different on my TT and Track bikes

Hth and good luck with the search
Last edited by marinmomma on Thu May 14, 2015 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lisa

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isabella24
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby isabella24 » Thu May 14, 2015 7:47 pm

This was my saddle search thread from a few years ago:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=51200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I ended up with an SMP Glider, and now have 3 - 1 for each bike! But saddles are a very individual choice and just because this one suits me, does not mean it will suit anyone else.

I found a few bike stores in Sydney where I live that were willing to lend me saddles before I purchased one. This helped a great deal and I would highly recommend trying to find a store that will let you try them first.

A good pair of knicks will also go a long way to help with comfort on the bike. I found that my Assos bib knicks were far superior to the cheap no-name ones I started with.
80s Ken Evans / 2011 Trek Madone / 2013 Vivente World Randonneur / 2015 Lynskey Helix

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biker jk
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby biker jk » Thu May 14, 2015 7:53 pm

The better half has Selle Lady Gel Flow saddles on all three bikes. Loves them.

Slitsee
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby Slitsee » Thu May 14, 2015 7:57 pm

I reallocate like that idea. I might go and hunt around a few of the local stores and see if any are will to trial. We have all intention to buy so hopefully they will

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outnabike
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby outnabike » Thu May 14, 2015 8:07 pm

Hi Slitsee ,
I went to a LBS for my wife's saddle and he sold me a saddle that he guaranteed she would like. My wife rode with it for two hours and hated it, as it made her really sore. Then the saddle that he guaranteed, the LBS would not take back and refused to get another one in to make a swap.So be careful of these places and ask them their return policy.
Anyway we went to Anaconda and picked one out with a centre cut out and all is well. Anaconda said they would swap for another saddle, but we would have to settle on one as there was no refunds.

I won't mention the store in Dandenong as it is now out of business.....Don't know why.... :)
Vivente World Randonneur complete with panniers

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isabella24
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby isabella24 » Thu May 14, 2015 8:10 pm

Slitsee wrote:I reallocate like that idea. I might go and hunt around a few of the local stores and see if any are will to trial. We have all intention to buy so hopefully they will
Good luck Slitsee!

In my experience, the shops I went to often asked for a deposit which was about the same price as the saddle, but was fully refunded when I returned the saddle to them. In the end I did buy a saddle from the shop, rather than going for a slightly cheaper price online, so it was worth their while too.

The shops I went to were willing to lend the saddles out for a week at a time, so I had plenty of time to get used to each one and make an informed decision.
80s Ken Evans / 2011 Trek Madone / 2013 Vivente World Randonneur / 2015 Lynskey Helix

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isabella24
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby isabella24 » Thu May 14, 2015 8:13 pm

outnabike wrote:Hi Slitsee ,
I went to a LBS for my wife's saddle and he sold me a saddle that he guaranteed she would like. My wife rode with it for two hours and hated it, as it made her really sore.
Thanks for sharing this outnabike, it is a perfect example that shows that everyone's butt is different and what is a dream for one person is a nightmare for another, no matter what the bike shop experts might say!
80s Ken Evans / 2011 Trek Madone / 2013 Vivente World Randonneur / 2015 Lynskey Helix

moosterbounce
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby moosterbounce » Thu May 14, 2015 11:00 pm

And then there are people like me who have 3 bikes and use a different saddle on each of them!! SMP Stratos on the roadie, smp evolution on the TT bike, and a cobb plus on the cx bike. I sit in different positions and for different amounts of time on all bikes so this suits. But I might just be odd :)

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Bunged Knee
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby Bunged Knee » Thu May 14, 2015 11:19 pm

Check for sit-bones width before purchasing saddles. Women have different sit-bones widths, so not one saddle do fit all women.

More info in http://www.artscyclery.com/learningcent ... width.html

http://gebiomized.de/biomechanik/bikefi ... d/?lang=en
ID please? What ID? My seat tube ID is 27.2mm or 31.6mm depending on what bikes I ride today.thanks...

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queequeg
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Re: Best seats for Road bike

Postby queequeg » Fri May 15, 2015 1:57 pm

When I did my bike for for the new bike, the owner says to me "I can see you're sliding back on the saddle (that came with the bike). Let's get you on the box over there...", pointing to the sit bone measuring gizmo. Turns out the saddle on the bike as supplied was too narrow for my backside. swapped it for a wider one (155 vs 143) and I am so glad I did.
I going to put the same saddle on my commuter bike I think, as I now know why I get saddle sores with certain Knicks, but only on the commuter bike.
'11 Lynskey Cooper CX, '00 Hillbrick Steel Racing (Total Rebuild '10), '16 Cervelo R5, '18 Mason BokekTi

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