Women's saddles

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Permalink Reply by Josh Boggs on February 10, 2010 at 8:38pm

Fizik has a new women's specific saddle called the Vesta, which looks like it's going to be popular. It's not too bulky like the popular Terry Butterfly, but seems to have a little more cushion than some of the lighter weight racing saddles for women. From recent sales experience, Specialized has a variety of women's saddles with different widths and levels of padding, all which have been pressure tested to prevent soft tissue damage.

I'm planning to do a segment with Specialized's lead saddle designer regarding issues like this very soon for my ProBikeWrench Area of the site or on the VeloReviews Podcast.

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Permalink Reply by Plochman on February 10, 2010 at 8:44pm

Good subject Guys, My wife would ride longer and harder with me if I could find the right seat for her, she starts going numb after about 10 miles and is ready to quit when I'm just getting warmed up. I'll keep an eye on this post and an ear to the podcast waiting for new info.

@Plochman

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Permalink Reply by Jan Valencia on February 10, 2010 at 9:01pm

The saddle of choice for most of the Velo Club Monterey ladies is the Specialized womens, it comes in different widths Specialized Dealers have fit system. My wife have done hundred centuries on her's and never complains.

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Permalink Reply by VeloReviews on February 10, 2010 at 9:13pm

Hey Nick, in addition to the great feedback you will certainly receive form the community, might I suggest you read our reviews? http://reviews.veloreviews.com/x/s?N=4294730073&D=x&extra=a...

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Permalink Reply by Josh Boggs on February 11, 2010 at 4:38am

Being a student of the science of bicycle fit, I'm going to go ahead and interject that even if she tries different saddles but is not properly fit on her bike, there will be uneven pressure on one or more contact points on the bike. If she's got too much pressure on the saddle, then she may not have a good balance on her hands and feet, the other two contact points. When properly fit on the bike, the pressure in those areas balance out and she completely forgets about the bike. The only pain she feels should be her muscles from exertion while riding.

Let me go back to the pressure testing I mentioned earlier... Pressure is important. In addition to just having a cut-out in the saddle, the sit bones (ischial tuberosities) need to be supported properly. If they are not supported properly and a cut-out design is implemented, it can put even higher concentrations of pressure in those soft tissue areas, sometimes causing irreparable nerve damage.

Like Jan mentioned (and I'm trying not to be biased here), Specialized has a saddle fit tool that measures your sit bones and identifies your riding position to determine your correct saddle width. Fizik has started adopting different saddle styles for different positioning on the bike, but they don't take into account the neutral position of the sit bones, and they don't have a wide range of saddles for women. Trek/Bontrager has their new Inform saddles, but it seems to me like they're taking the Specialized BG Technologies and putting a different spin on it to avoid being slapped with a lawsuit. Looks like their saddles are a "domed" shape, which once again, which wouldn't support the rider properly and puts pressure on areas it should not.

Hate to ramble, but I enjoy bike fit related topics.

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Permalink Reply by Piet van der Velde on February 11, 2010 at 8:33am

Hello saddle lovers.


Here at Specialized we develop all types and shapes of saddles as you all may know.

I regards to your questions about (our) woman's saddles I would like to add that next to the size and special designed woman's cut and foam densities there are two other very important factors involved here and those are FIT and a proper saddle shape choice.

FIt obviously is key in order to choose the correct "shape" saddle, knowing one persons flexibility and riding style/position. This gives the fitter/dealer the knowledge to advise the correct shape and size. It takes commitment and a wide range of models to do this properly though. This is where you see most brands try and fail, because of the commitment.

Blood flow testing, Real time pressure mapping, 3D motion capture just a few tools we use to determine our shapes and FIT direction together with Roger Minkow and Andy Pruitt we have arrived where we are today in concerns to product and Fit.

Thx
Piet

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Permalink Reply by Jo Polkinghorne on February 22, 2010 at 6:37pm

Josh,

You sound like you know a bit or two about being fitted on a bike. I thought maybe you could help me a bit. I'm a 45 year old woman, doing somewhere between 220 and 300 kms a week including some hill work, efforts and a longer ride when I can. I don't suffer from any injuries specifically but I do get very sore glutes which limit my ability at moving generally, at going at speed and hills when chasing the big guys of our club. I think the problem stems from my lower back and massage does help but after reading your piece it occured to me that my riding position might be causing me the grief. I know from talking to my bike buddies none has the same issue as I do. They complain of sore thighs (I never complain of this) and sore hammies and behind the knees (so do I but manageably so). I am currently upgrading my saddle to something far more comfortable and more padding but perhaps I need to alter my riding position too. Any suggestions? Thanks, jo

Josh Boggs said:

Being a student of the science of bicycle fit, I'm going to go ahead and interject that even if she tries different saddles but is not properly fit on her bike, there will be uneven pressure on one or more contact points on the bike. If she's got too much pressure on the saddle, then she may not have a good balance on her hands and feet, the other two contact points. When properly fit on the bike, the pressure in those areas balance out and she completely forgets about the bike. The only pain she feels should be her muscles from exertion while riding.

Let me go back to the pressure testing I mentioned earlier... Pressure is important. In addition to just having a cut-out in the saddle, the sit bones (ischial tuberosities) need to be supported properly. If they are not supported properly and a cut-out design is implemented, it can put even higher concentrations of pressure in those soft tissue areas, sometimes causing irreparable nerve damage.

Like Jan mentioned (and I'm trying not to be biased here), Specialized has a saddle fit tool that measures your sit bones and identifies your riding position to determine your correct saddle width. Fizik has started adopting different saddle styles for different positioning on the bike, but they don't take into account the neutral position of the sit bones, and they don't have a wide range of saddles for women. Trek/Bontrager has their new Inform saddles, but it seems to me like they're taking the Specialized BG Technologies and putting a different spin on it to avoid being slapped with a lawsuit. Looks like their saddles are a "domed" shape, which once again, which wouldn't support the rider properly and puts pressure on areas it should not.

Hate to ramble, but I enjoy bike fit related topics.

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