women's saddles

[tch]

OK, OK, Ok, I know we've been down this road and eventually it comes down to "whatever fits YOU", but I need somewhere to start. My wife is ready to give up. She does not ride lots -- perhaps 2 25-mile rides a week, with some weeks of nothing. So perhaps she is perpetually in the break-in stage. But she needs a saddle. Originally had a Cannondale woman's saddle that came with the bike -- it is soft and she liked it for the sit bones (she is a soft saddle person apparently). But it had no cutout and the soft tissues suffered. So we tried a Performance woman's saddle with cutout. She likes that feature a lot -- but the seat was so firm and/or hit her so wrong that she got bruises on the sit bones.

So...we're looking. Recommendations? I think we need fairly soft, wider rather than narrower, with cut-out.

[flydhest]

my wife likes Koobi saddles. AU Enduro
http://www.koobi.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2

I guess it's not all that soft, but they have a gel version. Plus they have a money-back guarantee where you can try it for a month for the cost of shipping.

[Bruce K]

I would start with Terry saddles. Their website is: www.terrybicycles.com

Let her see what they offer.

They are a women's oriented cycling company run by women who cycle.

She should be able to find something there.

BK

[flydhest]

Bruce has a good point. My wife hated her Terry saddle, which shows only that it's a personal thing, as there are tons of people who love them. As I recall her Terry saddle (the liberator, I believe) was fairly soft. A lot more shops carry Terry than Koobi, so it should be reasonably easy to try one out. I think you want to make sure the test ride is long enough, though.

Does she have good shorts? Does she use chamois cream? These could also help the transition to the right saddle.

[spiderman]

the firmer hammock for the buttock
is the only way to go for medium and long distance...
...my wife liked her brooks finesse saddle so much
i bought her one for the tandem
...$78 on ebay...
and it's in great shape!
we did a 30 mile tandem ride in k.c. on memorial day
and she was pain free and wishing we had time
to ride further/longer!
she also really likes the d-series saddle purse!

[dave thompson]

I wonder if a nose up/down saddle adjustment might be of help? Particularly down. Try lowering the nose a tad (while you're looking for a new saddle) and see if that helps. If so, try a little more.

[DollarBill]

Comfort Plus for women. They are very comfortable and inexpensive - about $40.00

[Tailwinds]

The Terry Butterfly is a very popular women's saddle -- doesn't work for me, but lots of women I know swear by it. I prefer a hard Flite saddle to support my sit bones, but I ride lots. I started out on a softer saddle, but that got uncomfortable the more I rode. I tried tilting the saddle down a tiny bit once, and I HATED that. My neck, shoulders, and arms ended up taking too much of the pressure then. Saddle tilted up didn't work for me, either.

The most important place to start is a good bike fit, of course, or no saddle will feel right.

[RABikes2]

The Terry Butterfly is a very popular women's saddle -- doesn't work for me, but lots of women I know swear by it. I started out on a softer saddle, but that got uncomfortable the more I rode. I tried tilting the saddle down a tiny bit once, and I HATED that. My neck, shoulders, and arms ended up taking too much of the pressure then. Saddle tilted up didn't work for me, either.

The most important place to start is a good bike fit, of course, or no saddle will feel right.
I double what Tailwinds wrote (except regarding the Flite saddle, didn't work for me.) Soft is usually not better since it takes the 'problem' areas and squooshes it to another place, thus causing another problem to deal with. With the saddle tilted down, that caused me more pressure on the soft tissue. I've been through numerous saddles already this year, but have been riding on the Aliante for approximately two months. It's the best I've tried so far (no holes and firm), but I haven't rode 100+ miles with it yet. Time and distance on it will tell, although I've felt with the longer rides one small area on the left sit-bone area that starts to feel pressure. When I have time later this year, the Brooks recommendations (from Smiley :) ) are going to get a good tryout.

Try to find a shop that will let you try a saddle out and return if it doesn't work. Some do/some don't.
RA

[wasfast]

I spent all last summer getting a comfortable seat for my wife. Still haven't found one but I'll tell you what I've learned so far:

Firmer is better ultimately. However, this can be a phased in process. The Terry Liberator is one of the most popular for a "soft" saddle.

As noted above, many like the Terry Butterfly. My wife rode it 2 times and returned it.

The best seat for her perch bones was the Fizik Vitesse (NOT the CP model which was terrible). She also like the Alliante of mine :-)

Her biggest issue was the pinching of her "lips". A Trico fully split saddle fixed that (the version with the adjustable width) but is still not comfortable for longer rides.

I bought a Koobi AU Enduro used recently and she's ridden this a couple times this year. She's been very sick since last fall and hasn't been able to get out of bed, let alone ride this year.

While men prefer a levelish saddle position, women usually prefer a very slight downward tilt for the "lips" issue.

Contrary to all the presentation of womens saddles being better for them because of the width of their perch bones, many prefer men's saddles, especially if they ride quite a bit.

[Ken Robb]

my wife likes her Bontrager women's model better than her B-17

[Spinsistah]

I have a Terry Butterfly and I like it. I previously had a Specialized Ti Dolce, it was a nice saddle as well, actually patterned after the Terry. I'm going to try something a little different with the new ride, a Terry Firefly. Basically a Butterfly, but a little firmer. These saddles are expensive if you pay MSR, maybe $110, but you can get them on eBay and some of the internet sites for a lot less.

[bfd]

A very nice wide saddle that works well for men too. Grant Petersen at Rivendell says if you can't ride a Brook, then get this one. An excellent saddle, comes with either ti or cro-moly rails:

http://www.avocet.com/saddlepages/saddlespecs.html#anchor181086

[Ginger]

Please be careful about tilting the nose of the saddle down. This will do as RA says, pressuring soft tissues, *and* it can cause your wife to slide forward on the seat. This can put extra weight on her wrists and strain on the shoulders that shouldn't be there. Tilting the nose down to be more comfortable also leads to scooting back to a comfortable place for the sitbones. Over time this unessesary but unavoidable moving about leads to saddle sores.

I ditto the proper shorts and chamois cream comments.


On bruises on the sitbones: If you haven't been riding for years, that's going to happen. I know people who won't tolerate it at all, but over time, those ease and she won't get them anymore.

Has she been fit on the bike yet?


I'll state my standard line: Go to an LBS with lots of different women's seats and try them out at the shop. It's a lot of hand work. Saddle on, ride, saddle off, saddle on, ride, saddle off, etc etc etc. if she finds a saddle she likes, please buy it from the shop! That's a lot of time they'll put in to you getting a saddle she likes.

Right now, I have a Terry Butterfly on all my bikes. That's not because I think it's the perfect saddle, it's just the best I've found since they stopped making my Selle San Marco (concours?) that I love...

[flydhest]

after MaryAnn's post, I'm dreaming of being a saddle

saddle-on, saddle-off, saddle-on

wheeeewwwww.

[Smiley]

Fly , get with the the program , The Rider formerly known as M_A , Ginger to us now :banana:

[Rapid Tourist]

I'll second what's been said about a firmer saddle being better. I went through nine saddles in three years, and it took me that long (and a lot of dough) to figure out that a firmer saddle is what I needed. I am right now riding a brooks finesse and it is far and away the best of all the saddles I 've tried. Two 25 mile rides a week is not infrequent riding--I would try something firm.

I tried the Terry Butterfly and that did not work for me. I tried the AU Enduro from Koobi (and another Koobi) and while I liked the firmness of Koobi's saddles the platform on which you sit was not wide enough for me and i felt like I was falling off it.

My advice would be to go wide and firm with a flat platform to sit on and GOOD LUCK!!

[deechee]

my gf got a fizik pave vitesse cp3 - she says its the most comfortable saddle ever.

[sc53]

After a few years on the Butterfly, I am trying the new Terry "Zero X" on my new bike. It seems firmer and is definitely longer in front. Has a cool embossed leather polka dot pattern in black on the top, which is a somewhat darker black. Still has the all important (for me) cutout. Same price as the Butterfly--you might want to try it out.