A few weeks back I wrote a blog post about a long bike ride and how it had been uncomfortable. The upshot of that ride was a decision to buy a new saddle, and I promised to provide some feedback on my purchase. I am very happy to report that it is working well.
The saddle I purchased was a BiSaddle, which is fully adjustable. After tweaking the seat a few times, I think I have found a very comfortable position. The BiSaddle allows for three different adjustments:
- Front width
- Rear width
- Saddle curvature
When you add in adjustments to saddle height, forward/backward positioning and tilt, you end up with six separate factors to ‘play with’. Adjusting with all these variables might sound complicated, but I didn’t find that to be the case.
The recommended process was to start with a position and geometry that is very similar to your existing saddle, and start from there. After my adjustments, I ended up making the seat a little wider in both the front and back. I also used the provided ‘wedge’, to make the saddle a little flatter. I didn’t change the height, tilt or position relative to the cockpit, much at all.
This past weekend, I rode my bike twice for a total of ten hours, and while I cannot say there was zero discomfort at the end of each ride, I can say I was an order of magnitude more comfortable than on my old saddle. I will probably try some additional very minor tweaks, to try and improve comfort yet more, but overall I am very happy with my purchase.
