After completing my wife’s bike and taking it out a couple of times it is very clear that I need to find her the right saddle.
She really disliked the initial seat I gave her (an old one that I did not like) and did not care for the Terry that I replaced it with. She is now riding my Arione Road and likes that the best yet but is still complaining more than I would think is appropriate even for a beginner.
Any thoughts on the Fizik Vitess Wingflex HP (or even the older versions of this saddle)? it seemed to be along the same lines as the Arione with a little more padding, and softer padding in the right places.
chances are the seat is flexing too much and hitting the area where she is most sensitive. I use a specialized seat that has virtually no padding, and it’s been the best seat I’ve ever owned. Other than the fact that it takes your butt bones to get used to it (because of it’s lack of padding), it has cleared up all other crotch pain issues.
Make sure seat is level and firm. Or try that noseless seat by Blackwell. I think CLM has one.
Please bear in mind that this is a women you are dealing with!
Chances are the dislike of the saddle had very little do with the saddle and more like something else that you did wrong. Save money on a new saddle and just keep apologising, the saddle situation should then sort itself out!
Is it the seat? I have found that less padding in my bike short helps, to much padding just gathers up in wrong places. I tend to use a triathlon short or bike short with minimal padding. The Terry Bike forum page has some discussions on this subject, it may help.
Jenny
The first was a gel flow, and it was so bad that she dismissed it during the first 30 sec of her fitting (I understood as it took me about this long to chuck that thing too). the Terry that she had was too hard along the cutout and not supportive in the right places. She commented that the Arione was leaps and bounds better, but still too hard in the wrong places. I agress with the less is more when it comes to seat padding (riding the Road Arione on my Tri and the Carbon/Carbon Road Arione - stiffer yet - on my road bike).
I’m just afraid to take her to a minimalist seat because If she does not like it she is going to think I’m trying to torture her!
Terry has a lot of choices for saddles. Since it was too hard along the cutout, perhaps you should try the Butterfly Tri Gel saddle? I like Terry because you can ride them for 30 days and return them if they don’t work for you.
Road bike or Tri bike? I agree with a previous poster that more padding is not usually the answer.
For the road, keep in mind that women in too aggresive a position will place too much pressure on the front of their saddle, and it will be difficult to make anything feel comfortable. Check reach and saddle to bar drop first and foremost. Bringing her back and up a bit could make a world of difference.
After that, Terry’s are okay, but certainly not the end all. The Selle SMP line of saddles are very popular with women as long as the width of the nose is appropriate - if so, they disappear underneath you. Blackwell’s Flow saddle has recently shown itself as a popular choice in our shop, but the Adamo just seems to be too wide. Fizik’s seem to rarely work all that well, but if she’s very thin, the Arione might work for her.
Believe it or not, Felt’s OEM saddle on their FW bikes seem to be extremely comfortable for women of all abilities and sizes - it’s a “magic” saddle. The only complaint we sometimes hear is that it’s a bit too soft, but complaints are very rare.
Hi there
Suzette from fi’zi:k. I will attempt to not sound biased. As everyone knows, saddle fit is a very individual thing and I would never venture to say, “Brand xy or z is the best.” What’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander.
However, there is one comment in this thread to which I feel compelled to respond. The comment was, “fi’zi:k’s seem to rarely work well.”
Based on the official saddle count at Kona last year and slightly differing from the figures on the homepage of this site, fi’zi:k came in #2 overall in the saddle count (all Kona participants counted - Selle Italia was indeed #1, San Marco #3, and Terry #4) and was #1 among Pro women at 34%. Fi’zi:k led the Pro men’s category at 47%.
The current most popular fi’zi:k saddle among female triathletes is the Arione Tri 2. Please note that I am NOT saying the current most popular tri saddle on the market of ALL brands. There are a lot of great products out there and as mentioned, what works for one, may not work for another. Often times and unfortunately for the wallet and butt, it is trial and error.
In October, we introduced the Vitesse Tri. This saddle is a combination of the ladies Vitesse and the Arione Tri. This might be worth taking a look at. However, if your wife likes the Arione road saddle to some degree, likes the shape or length, my suggestion would be for her to try the Arione Tri 2 which offers the same shape (uses the same base as the Arione) but with slightly more padding, distributed evenly across the top and through the nose.
Lastly, and this is not rocket science - proper bike fit makes all the difference in the world. Clearly, I ride fi’zi:k saddles. But I can honestly say that there have been times when I’ve had to change out my saddles for testing, have messed w my fit, and in the end, have transcended that very fine line between comfort and pain. Good luck.
I’ve tried the women’s Specialized saddles, but found the men’s Toupe to be awesome. Have her go to a bike shop and see what size saddle she should use too.
Best option is to find a store where she can sit on the trainer and try lots.
Personally, I have a ProLink Trans Am on my road bike and I can ride that thing for 300 miles with only my legs getting sore.
same here, the toupe is awsome, i am a guy, but went through 5 saddles before i came to this, and i love it (on a tri bike). took a little getting used to, and the first three rides it actually sucked, but would not trade it now.
also was on a bontrager before and really liked that, just the right amount of padding, just a tad wide for my little ass.
just put a new Fizik Vitesse on and LOVE it- no break-in needed- padding in the right places, not bulky- had a San Marco cut out and that saddle took forever to break in and it still hurts my sit bones when I first start the year out
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