So, I'm kinda brand new to biking (started again after several years of not) and I've been using it for commuting. this is my first geared bike, and I've only been using her for a few days, so it is entirely possible that this is an issue of my own creation. however, I only ride her for about 15 minutes at a time for twice a day, and my ass bone feels like it is bruising when I ride her. It seems to compound upon itself the more I ride her, and is painful for hours afterwards. I did notice when I went to take the photos that the seat was several inches to the side, so I think it's safe to say that as I pedal the seats moves a little bit, so I'm wondering if this could be the reason? I've tried tilting the seat forward by an extreme angle, by a less extreme angle, and then flat, but I haven't tried tilting the seat back yet, that was going to be my next move. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for what I could try to fix this, or if this is normal and my body will just adjust.
thank you!
by melodic-rhythms
5 Comments
It most likely isn’t adjusted correctly to fit you, on another note that seat doesn’t look to be the best. The wider seats can actually be more uncomfortable for some people.
I feel sharp, soul crushing pain followed by absolute numbness in my balls from just looking at that seat.
These saddles are for people who don’t ride bikes to think it’s comfortable. Most normal saddles are harder because they’re designed to support your body at the bones and not make you sit on soft tissue.
First things first, get some cycling shorts. Yes, I know. Lycra. Spandex. Ew. They make a huge difference in comfort and support for your undercarriage, and you can change out of them as soon as you get to work or wherever and no one will know. Cheap ones off amazon will be fine. Don’t wear underwear with them.
Ideally you want your seat to be pretty close to level, with maybe a very slight (1 to 2 degrees, not 10 or 20) downward tilt.
Your seat is also too low. It should not be slammed down into the seat tube like that. If you want a quick and dirty fit test, get your bike, get in a doorway so you can hold yourself up on your bike and **pedal backwards with only your heel.** If your bike seat is too low, you’ll have a bend in your knee at the lowest part of the stroke. You want to raise your seat up until you are *just* starting to have to reach with your heel to continue a smooth stroke.
Your seat being too low means that you are entirely supporting your body’s weight on your butt, when you really want a decent split of support between your arms and your butt.
As someone else said (and many others will say), your bike seat flat out sucks. It generally looks like you’re riding a cheap wal-mart bike anyway, so you can only expect to do so much for riding comfort. You can get a nicer seat, but I think you should hit craigslist/fb marketplace and try to find a used road bike. Nothing mongoose, or huffy, or schwinn. Nothing you would find at a walmart or target. Look for specialized, trek, cannondale, bianchi, lemond, surly, etc. These bikes will be lighter, more comfortable, and they’ll likely come with a better bike seat (saddle) than what you currently have.
But to start, raise your saddle and keep it level. If you really want a nicer saddle, take your seat tube and saddle completely out of your frame and take with you to a reputable bike shop so that you can make sure that whatever seat mount your seat tube has will be compatible with what you buy. You don’t want anything with extra cushioning and springs and whatever else. You want something firm and slim. Spend some money because you can always take your saddle to the next bike.
And no matter what bike seat you use, there will be an initial “break in” where you gooch just… hurts. It’s part of cycling, but it only lasts a week or two.
Wider seats work better for upright posture bikes. Hence why I have a Brooks B67 sprung leather saddle. But if the saddle is the right height and you’re leaning forward, a narrower saddle is better. I get on my wife’s bike with wide cushy saddle and feel pain almost immediately. But my road bike has a much narrower saddle and I’m fine on that.