A thread dedicated to complaining about saddles! Plus other related topics such as cycling shorts, chamois cream, improper bike fit, and weather. Enjoy :-)
I'll start. And I'm going to go with, weather. Hot. Humid. Leave-you-dripping-in-sweat. Weather. I've had Brooks C17 on my two bikes for the last 15 months. After initially installing the saddle and sitting upon it as I went 20 feet from my driveway I was like "this fits me well, it's supportive, yet I can still sink into it a bit, feels good when I'm pedalling". And it really has been great, with only a few hiccups since then. One thing I don't like about it, the surface is rough. The brown is rougher than the black, to me at least. The black is on my Salsa Fargo. I don't think I have one complaint about that saddle on that bike, but then I only ride that bike up to 1.5hrs at a time, on trails, where I'm off the saddle a lot (similar to mtb). I have the brown on my Roadini and it looks good. I even have a back-up for when it wears out. Enough about that, on to my complaint! The last time I rode in heat, like where I'm wearing s/s shirt, shorts, helmet and gloves and no extra layers, was October 2024. I put the year after October as it was so long ago it's now strange writing or saying October, without qualifying - 2024. Riding in cool weather so often means I'm really acclimated to it, plus I'm generally not a fan of doing anything outdoors when it's hot. Yesterday I had the day to myself as the family was working. I usually ride within an hour of waking up and I wake up early, but yesterday I waited for my daughter to leave for work so we can have breakfast together. This was going to be a long ride, adventurous with a new route, connecting two rail trails, lots of gravel paths and roads, and very little traffic. Stopping a lot to smell the flowers. And it would have been great, if not for some discomfort. Oh, and I had legs, and felt great. I headed out around 9:30 and it was actually quite pleasant, and wasn't really getting very hot, but to me, hot enough. I have three brands of bib shorts. I opted for the one yesterday that fits me the best (I mean it really stays in place, doesn't ride up or anything, including the chamois, with the outer layer apparently taking any friction as it moves and the bib doesn't). Sounds good, good marketing, but I learned that when you're hot, have been pedalling for over 3 hours on gravel roads, trails; lots of pedalling in the saddle, having to remember to stand up every so often; that a bib glued to your butt so-to-speak, getting all hot and sweaty (sorry, TMI), isn't all that good. About 2.5hr into the ride I can feel the friction on the sit bones. Stopped a lot, but could never maneuver myself or the chamois, like on long descents, I couldn't get any air in there. Long story short, got home and had a couple of saddle sores. Nothing awful, but it did have me questioning the saddle, shorts, and riding in the heat. I mean these shorts are great under winter rights when the temp is -10C, but now I've learned, not so good for hot days. This morning I went for a short trail ride, different shorts, and that riding style on that bike meant lots of out-of-the-saddle time, plus it was cool. Was a fantastic ride, albeit short. What have *you* got!? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/89b58923-30ee-4403-aed5-88a2f36435e5n%40googlegroups.com.
