Saddle questions

In article , Ken Marcet says...

Does an one know of a economically priced saddle that will let me ride more
than a couple of miles without the need for padded cycling pants?

Forget the saddle, just ride frequent shorts trips. You will toughen up and in
time be ready for this:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html

wrote in message
oups.com...
A new Brooks is over a hundred bucks. In fact I've seen
used ones
sell for that
much.

Try $50-60 for the b-17 standard. The expensive ones are a
bit lighter
is all

I've managed to equip multiple bikes with used Brooks saddles.
My first one came on a garage sale bike that I bought for
$10 -- I got a Brooks saddle, a pair of pedals, front and rear
derailleurs and levers and a couple of other random parts off
that bike. The other used Brooks I've bought have been in the
$30 range. (one at Urban Bikes in Chicago, just to name one
good place for stuff like this.)

I also got one by reading a posting from a guy disparaging
Brooks saddles. Sure enough, he had one and was happy to sell
it to me cheaply.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 16:33:32 -0600, John Thompson wrote:

the Turbo is no longer available


Nashbar's got a few on sale from vintage stock right now. I also saw a few
Rolls as well. Ohh la la! Nothing like perforated white leather. I
think the asking price was less than thirty bucks.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 20:26:16 -0600, Mike Kruger wrote:

The other used Brooks I've bought have been in the
$30 range. (one at Urban Bikes in Chicago, just to name one
good place for stuff like this.)

Are they still around? I used to LOVE that place. They only had a pair of
vintage and frighteningly hard Ideale saddles when I was there last.
[Shivers]

I got my Brooks Champion Flyer this last spring for $50 on sale on-line.

It's a heavy beast and I don't care. :P

Ken Marcet wrote:
Does an one know of a economically priced saddle that will let me
ride more
than a couple of miles without the need for padded cycling pants?

First, asking others to recommend a saddle is probably a bit of a long
shot. It's like asking everyone "Which shoes would fit my feet best?"
Everyone's feet are different. Ditto for everyone's bottom.

But as one response said, the shorts aren't so much for padding. They
prevent fabric from wrinkling up where you sit and chafing you. (If
that weren't so, they'd just put that much extra padding onto the
saddle.)

Or is this
just a dream of mine?

Riding without cycling shorts is not just a dream. I think most people
are more comfortable in cycling shorts - IOW, they _do_ work - but I've
done many, many miles in ordinary clothes. One trick is to avoid
underwear with thick seams.


I was browsing nashbar and they have some in the $30
to $40 range that look as though they have a bit more padding than a
"stock"
read "cheap" seat.

I can't recommend saddle shopping by mail, unless you already know
exactly the make and model you need. As someone said, the critical
dimension is width; you must have your seat bones supported by the
saddle. People with wider pelvises have problems with too-narrow
saddles. But catalogs don't tell you the width.

I don't believe degree of padding is directly related to price. And I
don't believe you want too much padding. IMO, you need enough so
you're spreading the load a bit on your sit bones, not getting
theoretical point contact, as it were - but you don't want so much
padding that you sink into it and cut off circulation. It's an
individual thing - shorter rides can stand more padding. Longer rides
need a bit less to keep circulation from being cut off.

FWIW, Brooks saddles don't work for me - and believe me, I've tried. I
do better with a gel saddle, or with one of Terry's offerings. But
again, it is a very individual thing.

Measure your sit bone distance, then get into a bike shop and let them
help you.

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 03:04:03 GMT,
,
maxo wrote:

Mike Kruger wrote:

The other used Brooks I've bought have been in the
$30 range. (one at Urban Bikes in Chicago, just to name one
good place for stuff like this.)

Are they still around? I used to LOVE that place. They only had a pair of
vintage and frighteningly hard Ideale saddles when I was there last.
[Shivers]

I've always preferred Ideale to Brooks. The arched top fit's my
anatomy better than the flat assed British saddles.
--
zk

Roy Zipris wrote:

Someone once described the feeling of a Brooks B-17 as riding while
sitting in a hammock. Got it pretty right, in my experience....

For a real hammock seat:
http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/costin/Monky1.jpg.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth

Tom Sherman wrote:
For a real hammock seat:
http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/costin/Monky1.jpg.

Or perhaps http://www.pedersenbicycle.dk/history.html
--
Darin McGrew, , http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
Web Design Group, , http://www.HTMLHelp.com/

"I'd love to make time, if only I could find the recipe."

Ken Marcet wrote:

Does an one know of a economically priced saddle that will let me ride more
than a couple of miles without the need for padded cycling pants? Or is this
just a dream of mine? I was browsing nashbar and they have some in the $30
to $40 range that look as though they have a bit more padding than a "stock"
read "cheap" seat.

I prefer sling-mesh seats with a foam pad. You could inquire at
Lightning Cycle Dynamics since they make such a seat, but I expect their
seat is more in the $300-400 range.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth

The cautions about saddles being a matter of personal choice are
correct, as are the cautions about mail order. But, as I said earlier,
Wallingford has a great return policy that makes it worth considering
if you are thinking about a Brooks saddle. This is from the Wallingford
web site's warranty page:

6 Month UNCONDITIONAL SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - new BROOKS saddles.
Return your new saddle at any time within six-months of the ship date
for a full refund of the price of the saddle. Shipping will not be
refunded unless there is a manufacturing defect issue that would make
the return a factory warranty issue.

Around here, a six month test would just about take you through an
entire season of prime-time cycling. --Roy Zipris