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Women's bike saddles
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My training partner and (lucky me) girlfriend is in search of a new saddle for her tri bike. I did a search on the topic and didn't come up with any recent discussions.

Any female triathletes or bike fitters have a recommendation?

David
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Re: Women's bike saddles [glider] [ In reply to ]
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Don't even get me started on this. Oops. Too late.

First off, saddles do not recognize gender or genital configuration. Once body weight is pressed down onto the saddle the tissue orientation is very similar male to female.

A better question is: What is a good basic saddle?

Another annoying phenomenon of so-called "women's" saddles is that they are sometimes only 25cm long. If anything, a woman's saddle needs to be longer since, in general, females tend toward shorter torso lengths and therefore face challenges finding a short enough reach.

Perhaps one of the best saddles for females may be the new Arione since it is 30cm. long.

Most "women's" saddles are a pathetic, gimmicky marketing ploy to pander to the "female specific" market. I wish women would recognize this as condescending and demand better from manufacturers, instead of flowers, girl power and "comfort slots" on little dainty saddles that don't work and make it impossible to fit anyone.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Women's bike saddles [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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One question Tom...do you normally sit on your penis when you bike??? There is a distinct difference between men and women and what they need in a saddle.
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Re: Women's bike saddles [Becca] [ In reply to ]
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My wife can attest to that. Its one of the reasons she doesn't ride a bike.
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Re: Women's bike saddles [glider] [ In reply to ]
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Regardless of what Tom says....

Boyz Sella Italia: HATED IT

Tri bike: Serfas women's pro saddle. LOVE IT

Road bike: Terry Butterfly Ti or whatever it's called. LOVE IT

Switch saddles between the bikes, I don't think I'd like them so much.

clm

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: Women's bike saddles [Becca] [ In reply to ]
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That's the standard line the industry uses to sell women's saddles, and as we can see, it works.

Problem is, saddle comfort is a combination of factors of which the saddle design is actually only one factor. The best saddle comfort comes fro the least radical, most neutral design.

Also, while I certainly don't intend to be inflammatory, being a male doesn't disqualify me from being able to comment on female saddle comfort. That argument has never held water (unless you have a lot of female saddles to sell, in which case, it is the only argument).

The elite level female cyclists and triathletes generally do not use "female specific" saddles. A few do, but they tend to be the newer members of the ranks.

Count the number of saddles in the Tour de France with holes in them- Either none or almost none.

Count the number of saddles in the Tour de France Feminin (Women's Tour de France) with holes in them- about the same.

That speaks volumes.

Look at a "women's" saddle from underneath when a rider sits on it. Wow, the hole closes up! Amazing. As a matter of fact, these designs tend to localize pressure (undesireable) rather than disperse it.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Women's bike saddles [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
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This is going to sound a lot like a sales pitch but... I [bicyclesports.com]make a tri seat for women that has a pretty high success rate. I agree that almost all womens seats are to wide in the rear and to short in the nose for any forward position riding. I believe all those seats were done thinking about Hybrids or recumbundts.
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Re: Women's bike saddles [John Cobb] [ In reply to ]
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So where might one get one of those tri saddles? I definitely ride pretty far forward.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: Women's bike saddles [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
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I have seen John's saddle on two bikes and the rider's reported very favorable results. The design of the saddle actually made sense as opposed to just being hype.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Women's bike saddles [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
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Cathy, when the Terry butterfly on your road bike breaks down and the sides of the comfort spot become hard edges, take an Avocet AirO2 out for a spin on your road bike.

I do a lot of bike fits for female triathlete friends when they decide their second bike should be a road bike. For tri-bike, most women love the Terry Butterfly. But on a road bike with the weight distribution being more of a tripod than just on the front, the majority of my friends have thought the AirO2 more comfortable.

But what would I know, I'm just a guy who laughs at other guy friends riding comfort spot saddles. Extra accessories down there we don't know about? With good bike fit, I think plastic cyclocross saddle is comfortable.
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Re: Women's bike saddles [John Cobb] [ In reply to ]
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For what its worth-I bought one of John's saddles last year and I definitely find it a lot more comfortable than the saddle that came on my p2k.

I know TDF riders do not use saddles with a cut out-but they also do not ride in bars with a swimsuit on either :)

As for me-I like it!!
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Re: Women's bike saddles [glider] [ In reply to ]
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To add on to Cathy's praise on the Butterfly - Terry also makes an awesome saddle called the "Damselfly". It's a slightly slimmer version of the Butterfly - after trying the Butterfly, I found that it was just a little to wide and *squooshy* for me, but the Damselfly was the perfect adjustment. Good luck!
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Re: Women's bike saddles [John Cobb] [ In reply to ]
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Speaking from experience - the saddle that John makes is the ONLY one that I will ride. I've tried many (men's and women's) saddles. Personally, I do need a cutout - a saddle without one just doesn't work for me. John's includes the cutout, gets rid of the extra width in the back and is long enough for use on my tri-bike in aero position, but works great on my road bike too.

Kristi McEneaney

P.S. - John, do you have any in stock? I need another one!
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Re: Women's bike saddles [Kristi] [ In reply to ]
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I just made another batch of them so we have plenty in stock.

Thanks
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