How to Choose a Bike Saddle

You’ve more than likely encountered saddle pain of some sort during your time riding a bike, whether it’s been 20 years or just a few days. Most people’s first thought is to buy something that has more cushioning and padding to prevent hot spots on your sit bones, but the seating position of most bikes will not agree with that saddle type. The more experienced riders reading this will know that padding is more detrimental than helpful. There are plenty of articles and videos out there already going over different saddle types and what bikes they are best used on, so we won’t touch on that aspect. Instead, we will dive into how to make the saddle work for you.

The Fit

The position of your saddle and the setup of your cockpit will be a huge factor in getting a comfortable feel on your bike. Without going into too much detail about bike fitting, you want the setback of your saddle rails far enough back so that you aren’t putting too much weight onto your hands, but not so far back that you feel like your feet are reaching forward to push the pedals. Next, you want to keep the saddle as close as possible to being level, but if you are sliding forward all the time, try tilting it back slightly. If you are getting a lot of pressure from the nose of the saddle you can tilt it very slightly downward; this is only common in very aggressive riding positions. Saddle height is also, more often than not, set too high as riders feel like they can get more power through the pedals. In reality, this will cause a person to subliminally sit off to one side a bit causing the other side to stretch and potentially lead to saddle sores. When in doubt, drop the height 5-10 mm. You would have to run it extremely low to cause knee problems.

Road Saddles

One of the most common complaints riders have on their road bikes is issues with numbness in their sensitive areas after sitting in the same place for any extended period of time. The number one thing to look for in a saddle for this type of bike is a cutout or a pressure relief channel in the middle. If you have this, then many times you can make a saddle work for you with the proper setup on your bike. If you have a decent size cutout and are still having numbness, then your reach or drop to the bars is too great which is causing your pelvis to roll forward into that soft tissue area. Your aerodynamic position won’t help you get faster when you can’t even sit on your bike!

Another common problem with road saddles is choosing one that is too wide for your pelvis. Even though you may be 6’2” and 240lbs, it doesn’t mean that your bones are wide (but more often than not, naturally larger people are wider.) If the saddle is too wide, then your legs catch the sides of it and push you forwards onto the nose. Too narrow of a saddle is less common, but it will feel like your bones are wrapping around the side of it.

Mountain Saddles

With the more upright riding position that mountain bikes bring, it is generally a bit easier to find a saddle that works for you. This is an area where “the sit bone test” generally will give you a rough idea of which saddles are going to fit. The test involves measuring your ischial tuberosities by sitting on a piece of corrugated cardboard or aluminum foil to see what width your bones are at when seated leaning slightly forward (there are plenty of articles about this.)

Again, some sort of pressure relief channel helps with comfort, but the biggest consideration is the profile of the seat from front to back. If you have been assessed in some way as being quite flexible, then a flat saddle may be more comfortable as your pelvis doesn’t tilt forward very much when riding and you can move around into different positions easier. A waved saddle will cradle you more and suit different bone shapes better than a flat saddle, but there is essentially only one position that you can sit in. The best way to know if one fits you is to test it out for a minute or so on your bike and see how it feels. If it hurts right away, then it won’t work. If it remains comfortable for that amount of time, there’s a good chance it will be okay with the right setup. If a saddle is only giving you issues after 20-30 minutes of riding (and your rear is used to cycling) then it’s more than likely caused by a bike fit issue. Try lowering the seat and see how that changes things!

If you are confused about all the different types of saddles, how they differ, and which one might work for you, send us a message or drop by the store and we can help you find something that will keep on the bike longer. As one of your main contact points on a bike, this is definitely worth investing in and having a saddle to move to new bikes.