Womens touring saddle?

A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

Suggestions?

On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:26:58 +0200, Walter Mitty wrote:

A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

Her hoochiechoochie?

Terry saddles are quite universally liked, but see if your LBS will let
her test ride a few saddles.

Agree with the "see if your LBS will let her test"! One way in which
women are like men is, if the saddle is shaped like their butt, it's the
world's greatest. If it's shaped otherwise, it's worthless.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of variation in the population...

maxo wrote:
On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:26:58 +0200, Walter Mitty wrote:


A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.


Her hoochiechoochie?

Terry saddles are quite universally liked, but see if your LBS will let
her test ride a few saddles.

Walter Mitty wrote:

A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

Suggestions?

I think there's a greater variation over total population than gender --
IOW, it's a trial and error process with "woman specific" saddles no
more likely to make her happy.

I had a Brooks B17 which gave me numnutz even on short rides, traded it
with my sister for her Selle Italia which she hated, I did a 250 mile
ride in comfort (well, relative comfort) soon after, and she was happy
with hers, too.

My wife, after several rejected saddles, found she really liked a WTB
saddle on her MTB, I bought her an identical one for her road bike and
she never complains about saddle discomfort any more. Funny thing is I
took one of the rejects, a "woman specific" MTB saddle and put it on my
beater and find it quite comfortable -- for her, it was so uncomfortable
she couldn't ride it for even short distances. The WTB was perfect for
her, mildly uncomfortable for me.

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message
...

OTOH, if it's her sit bones, first thing that needs tb done is measure the
distance between them by sitting on something that will take an impression
and
measuring.... Specialized even has a kit to do this.

Then, when shopping a new saddle, make sure that the usable width of the
saddle
is within that measurement.



I think this is good advice, but there's more to consider than just where
the sit bones go. If the position is upright at all, even a road bike with a
higher bar position, and the rider isn't going to be riding very hard all
the time, there is just going to be too much weight on a narrow racing
saddle to be comfortable, even if it's wide enough for the sit bones.

Peter

In article ,
says...
Walter Mitty wrote:

A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

Suggestions?

I think there's a greater variation over total population than gender --
IOW, it's a trial and error process with "woman specific" saddles no
more likely to make her happy.

I had a Brooks B17 which gave me numnutz even on short rides, traded it
with my sister for her Selle Italia which she hated, I did a 250 mile
ride in comfort (well, relative comfort) soon after, and she was happy
with hers, too.

My wife, after several rejected saddles, found she really liked a WTB
saddle on her MTB, I bought her an identical one for her road bike and
she never complains about saddle discomfort any more. Funny thing is I
took one of the rejects, a "woman specific" MTB saddle and put it on my
beater and find it quite comfortable -- for her, it was so uncomfortable
she couldn't ride it for even short distances. The WTB was perfect for
her, mildly uncomfortable for me.

My wife also has settled on old style WTB's for both her touring bike and
her MTB. It is angled just a few degrees further down than normal. She
used to use an odd banana shaped saddle on her touring bike which she
liked but it did look like she was getting more than just bike riding
thrills.

Per Walter Mitty:
She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

If it's her parts getting rubbed against the saddle, I'd suggest a micro
adjustable post and trying to tune the saddle angle.

You'd want to depart from the traditional flat or nose-slightly-up setting by
moving the nose down a couple of degrees at a time.

Even if that doesn't work and it really does turn out to be the saddle, a
slightly-wrong angle can make even the "right" saddle wrong in that respect.


OTOH, if it's her sit bones, first thing that needs tb done is measure the
distance between them by sitting on something that will take an impression and
measuring.... Specialized even has a kit to do this.

Then, when shopping a new saddle, make sure that the usable width of the saddle
is within that measurement.

You'll understand "usable" just by turning the average saddle over and looking
at the construction. Some areas will obviously be made to sit on, others (i.e.
the edges...) will be made to maintain the structural strength of the saddle.

--
PeteCresswell

In article , lid
says...
OTOH, if it's her sit bones, first thing that needs tb done is measure the
distance between them by sitting on something that will take an impression and
measuring.... Specialized even has a kit to do this.

sit on a piece of letter size paper on carpet (works well enough)

Two saddles my wife finds comfortable:

Selle Italia LDY Trans-Am (no longer seems to be a current model though)

Brooks Countess
(http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddl...-countess.html)

Nick

"Walter Mitty" wrote in message
...

A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.

Walter Mitty wrote:
A friend is looking for a womans saddle suitable for long distance
touring. She complains that most saddles she has used have "hurt" - you
can guess where.
Suggestions?

Yes. Get her bars closer to her shoulder - up and in.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971