On 7/28/2018 2:48 PM, Joerg wrote:
On Friday I talked to a woman who rides very little because
the saddle causes her pain after a short time. Most likely
this is a combination of factors, the hardness of usual road
bike saddles plus the fact that road bikes have no
suspension whatsoever and hard tires.

MTB saddles are often a little cushier. Then there are
thud-buster type systems but that's more for hard MTB riding
which she doesn't do. Maybe there are similar systems for
road bikes?

Are there recommendations what could be done without
breaking the bank and without switching to a slow beach
cruiser?


There are no snappy answers.

Although, as you suggest, saddle shape and padding* or lack
thereof can be significant, my experience is that rider
position is a first order variable and overshadows all else.

Once you spend a few minutes analyzing her position and
correcting as needed then listen to what she says about the
saddle itself.

For me, without changing anything else, a Cinelli #5 or
Turbo is great but the beautiful sleek Concor (which may be
'the same shape' to the casual observer) is a torture
device. When I was young my favorite saddle was an Ideale
90IR, completely and utterly different from the (unrideable
for me) Brooks Pro. YMMV and hers will too.

* With normal road bars, padding is less important. With
hi-rise bars, the weight shift and change in pelvis angle
indicates a much wider and squishier saddle, AEBE.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971