How I know a saddle fits, triangulated: i. First off, the most comfortable saddle for hours-long rides is not *necessarily* (in fact, rarely) plush and comfortable as soon as I sit on it. My favorite saddles (B68 for upright, B17 Champion Special for when less than upright) feel just OK when I get on the bike, and my sitbones are in the 13cm range, and I weigh around 165lbs. Raced bikes in the 70s and 80s; now I stop and smell the flowers.
ii. Because it fells just OK, I'm led to think "should I be trying out that other saddle someone else recommended"? Then I remember I've tried just about every major brand out there in the past several decades, and then, after an hour or so, I completely forget about the saddle. iii. After the ride - shortly thereafter, and the next day following a several-hours long ride: no latent issues - no discomfort, chafing, whatever. Just nirvana of the nether region. I always give a new saddle at *least* a few weeks of riding before judgment. Say, a minimum dozen good rides. I keep an Allen key magnetically attached to the frame for quick and easy tip/tilt adjustments while on a ride, and experiment with extremes! My B68 tilt looks pretty much like the photo on the RBW site for the same saddle, maybe angled just a bit more. Agree with all that an objective bike fit peer review is not a bad idea. Hope you can find someone who understands bike fit from a not necessarily racy bike shop, unless it's racy you want! Cheers Chris On Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 4:45:12 PM UTC-7 Wesley wrote: > On my most comfortable saddle, I generally start noticing irritation of > the skin over my sit bones after about 5 hours. Obviously, that's only an > issue on long rides. This is a well-broken-in Brooks, but it was fairly > comfortable since new (I worked some flex into the sit bone areas by > massaging it with mink oil.) I am not expecting to ever have a saddle that > is painless no matter how long I ride, and I generally don't wear padded > shorts. > -Wes > > On Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 1:00:24 PM UTC-7 Emily Guise wrote: > >> Hello folks, I come to the group with a dilemma. I've never had a saddle >> that I could ride for longer than 20 miles comfortably. I've always ended >> up with sore sit bones, numb soft tissue, or both. This has really limited >> my ability to go on longer trips and after my five day ride on the C&O >> canal trail last Sept, it was more apparent than ever I need to find a >> saddle that won't hurt. >> >> I've tried dozens of saddles over the last 15 years- leather, plastic, >> cutouts, no cutouts, wide, medium, softer, harder, you name it. :( Most of >> the saddles that have stayed on my bikes for longer than a month have a >> central cut out, are on the wider side, and plastic. They're good for >> around town, but that's it. I've never had my sit bones measured. >> >> It occurred to me recently that because I've never had a truly >> comfortable long-distance saddle, I have no idea how one feels. So I >> figured I'd ask the group. How did The One saddle feel for you? Did it >> "disappear"? Was it love at first sit? Did it need to be adjusted a lot >> before finding the ideal position? Is there a certain amount of miles you >> ride before it becomes uncomfortable? >> >> I'd love to hear the group's collective wisdom so I know what to look for >> in the next saddle I try out. Thanks! >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/eebe123a-6c77-4350-a68f-18e50694acccn%40googlegroups.com.
