Generic Touring Thread

Baguettes, ridiculously-sized cheese wheels and danglemugs, obvs

In my case it was a ridiculously sized tartes aux pommes that fell off when I hit the cobbles. Still tasted great though!!

Pastries would never last long enough for me to strap them to the bike :)

In terms of nice pastries that can survive being stuffed in a handlebar bag for a couple of hours, and you're in Germany, I highly recommend the Rosinenschnecke.

My fave was the Streuselschnecke

Is there a thread in this bit on touring saddles? I've done a search but couldn't find one. I'm definitely in the market for one after the standard saddle that came with the bike didn't cut much except my perineum.

What's the consensus here? I know all arses are different, etc., but have any of you tried 'comfy' saddles/extra soft/extra padding and, if so, did they make a difference. I was doing no more than 30 miles a day and, over rougher roads and bumpier tracks, my saddle was literally a pain in the arse.

Cheers.

I like touring saddles to have a little bit more padding than race saddles. You tend to be more upright so being a bit wider at the back seems to work. But generally I keep the stuff pretty similar shape to what I'm used to. The odd issue for me is going from pronged ISM saddles back to 'normal' saddles for touring and off-road.

This is the bakery in question in Landas. Two ancient ovens. Hand loaded through a small door. It’s pretty much the same config as the one I volunteer at in Sussex. Not sure they use the same fuel, I suspect it’s gas. In non-covid times I’ll go back and ask for a tour.
https://www.lepaindenosancetres.com/

Have you considered a spring or leaf seatpost? The leaf post on my Canyon is very good at smoothing the road, it’s definitely not full suspension by it makes things a little gentler.

I like Selle Italia Sport Gel Flow on my drop bar touring bike (Croix de fer)

Other saddles I have tried:

Charge spoon: fine for round town, not so great long distance
Brooks C15: Too narrow
Brooks c17: nice width, pretty comfy, but lacks padding
Fabric Scoop: fine for around town, not so great long distance.

I don't ride with padded shorts.

IME extra padding is a BAD thing.
For the budgetminded I recommend the Velo Orange Touring Microfiber saddle. And if you end up liking that i might want to upgrade to a Gilles Berthoud Aspin.

Get a proper leather saddle and never look back. My preferred choice is Gilles Berthoud. Spendy, but worth it in my opinion.

An old bike I bought years ago had a Brooks on it and frankly it felt like I was sitting on a sharpened bit of well-seasoned mahogany.

My Little Pony My first track bike came with a Brooks. Fucking worse saddle ever. Got rid of it asap.

Well I did say a proper one.

Don't let 'proper audaxers' hear you :P

I think the only reality with saddles is to try and gather a list of dissenting opinions, and then try each one of them out to see what works best for you. Start with the cheapest one that you think might work.

I used the following lists to get some candidates:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/saddle-comfort-for-cyclists-the-best-bicycle-touring-seats/
https://bikepacking.com/gear/best-saddles-for-bikepacking/

@ketsbaia If you're in London, there's a library of saddles you can try... Not tried it myself as I'm not in London anymore but remember it being mentioned somewhere on here.
https://www.lbk.org.uk/saddle-library

Saddle: Sit on a big piece of clay, bring your ass shape to a bike shop?
Or go to a shop that has a high tech version of piece of clay.
I liked turbos before doing longer distance, bought a SMP that had a similar width, very happy since.
Something else concerning bottom happiness while touring, ditched the padded shorts and have quick drying odlo shorts now. In summer, constant moist chamois was causing trouble.

Those toothbrush tablets are a good idea, will get some again.
And thanks to everyone for the different routing strategy tips, need to ditch komoot.

After trying ten billionty saddles including Brookses, SMPs, saddles with cutouts, saddles without cutouts, padded saddles, hard saddles, weird saddles, a Gilles Berthoud Aspin has been the least awful for my chamois-hating arse.

Gilles Berthoud Aspin

Posh Brooks? They look like they have a better shape than the wedge Brooks I used to have.

More like top quality rebuildable brooks. Leather is a least twice, if not more, as thick as brooks. Build quality is second to none imo.

It did look a lot thicker in the closeups. Maybe one to try when I quit my aerobar habit :)

Theres a narrower version called Galibier as well - and you can get all of them with Ti rails to save a bit of weight.

That looks a bit too phallic. I need to destroy the saddle collection I already have first. Actually need to decide what to put on the Kinesis. I might do a longer ride on that later in the year and it currently has an SLR on it which I don't really like that much any more. I'll probably just put the ISM back on it but I did use the Specialized Adventure saddle on it when we did An Turas Mor.

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m18b0s204p2685/GILLES-BERTHOUD-Galibier-%28Titanium-rails%29