Which saddle for London to Paris

I would guess not many can ride for 4 hours without some sort of discomfort in the seating area

Depends, innit. Three years of Dunwich:

1) Ludicrous folding bike (Dahon Helios SL). Arse in agony, nerves in hands shot such that I can't feel a thing in my little and ring fingers for weeks.
2) Orbit Photon steel audax frame, carbon forks, Koobi Xenon saddle. No actual agony, but definite tenderness. Hands fine (but frozen because it rained all the bloody way).
3) Custom 631, carbon forks and seatpost, Koobi Xenon saddle. Really, genuinely not a twinge. Tired the next day, but blissfully free of pain.

Same (£20 Altura) shorts every year.

I don't know about shorts. but I'd go for a Brooks B17.
Anne Mustoe rode round the world twice (and more) on hers.

What bicycle do you ride, and is it still the same one?
Yes, it's still the same old faithful, though it looks different because it's been resprayed and is now bright orange instead of sea green. Parts of it have been updated over the years, as cycle technology has advanced. But what I shall never update is my wonderful Brooks leather saddle. All those thousands of miles and I've never once been saddle-sore!

The bike is a Condor, (Condor Cycles.com) built specially by Monty Young and his team for my first journey round the world in 1987. It's light, but very strong, and I love it.

Specifications:-
Frame Reynolds 631 Mixte, butted tubes
Transmission Shimano Deore. Front 28-38-48. Rear 13-15-17-20-23-26-30.
Wheels Deore LX hubs
Mavic TS19 rims
DT stainless steel spokes
Tyres Continental Top Touring 2000
Handlebars Humpert Pro Bars
Pedals Shimano M324 SPD
Saddle Brooks B17 STD
Mudguards SKS
Pannier Rack Blackburn Ex1

http://www.annemustoe.co.uk/faqs.htm

the woman I lent my bike to for the same event just got on it and rode it there- Selle Italia Turbomatic, mind you, she had a lovely arse

I have a lovely arse.

Hippy its just the rest of you....

I with DJ, how can people know that Assos shorts are a waste of money if they've not tried them? I suggest the naysayers do a 10 day, 1200 km ride through the high mountains in a pair of £20 shorts. You'll have a gooch like steak haché by the fourth day, unless you invest in some decent shorts. [I][/I]

Assos shorts ftw!

I was a skeptic and then bought a pair for about £65 (I don't use bibs).
I now have 3 pairs and use them for long rides only. Chamois cream for uber-long rides only.

Fair enough, looks like you have got a good dura arse on you :-)

fixed, though are there not big price rises on dura arse equipment now?

The comment I made was "need 100 quid shorts if you want to ride for very long rides in comfort" I think that shows an understanding of the word need. You could easily ride in lesser shorts but for max comfort need better ones.

And an article in a magazine proves this does it? Couldn't possibly be a biased source, could it? An individual's personal experience couldn't possibly be more valid than the Gospel words of a cycling magazine, oh no.

And an article in a magazine proves this does it? Couldn't possibly be a biased source, could it? An individual's personal experience couldn't possibly be more valid than the Gospel words of a cycling magazine, oh no.

On this forum an individuals personal experience (unless you know them outside of cyber-land) is no more valid than that of a magazine. In all honesty I'd believe a magazine before I believed a randon internet forum user (assuming of course that I make my buying decisions in this way, which I do not) especially when the forum concerned is a fixed-gear and single speed one.

On this forum an individuals personal experience (unless you know them outside of cyber-land) is no more valid than that of a magazine. In all honesty I'd believe a magazine before I believed a randon internet forum user (assuming of course that I make my buying decisions in this way, which I do not) especially when the forum concerned is a fixed-gear and single speed one.

That's not my point. My point is that a magazine review is not proof that something is as good as it's made out to be, and it's no more credible than anecdotal evidence from everyday cyclists.

Companies don't pay cyclists for advertising space, so cyclists can pretty much say whatever they like about their products.

If you think you need £100 shorts to be comfortable on a long ride, then maybe you do need them, psychologically.

I ride in £100 shorts for the same reason I drink Crystal.

Because Kanye West does... ; )

I think the issue is more that people pass judgement on products that they have never tried.

If you loiter around here for long enough it becomes clear which of the users are experienced riders and are clued up.

Also the LFGSS is probably not the best forum to post questions regarding long rides, there are probably other places where a higher %age of the users have a great deal more experience of that kind of cycling.

At times I wonder how many companies have identities on various forums that either endorse their own products or denigrate their rivals.

+1

This is exactly what I was trying to say.

Dancing James = Eloquent James

He's talking sense! Get him some booze stat!

The comment I made was "need 100 quid shorts if you want to ride for very long rides in comfort" I think that shows an understanding of the word need. You could easily ride in lesser shorts but for max comfort need better ones.

Ian Hibell rode 100's of Thousands of miles around the world in very tough conditions. He used a traditional leather saddle yet I dont think he wore any form of cycle specific shorts at all. Let alone £100 ones.

He was an adventurer/traveller , took his time to explore. He was not in a race so I am pretty sure he rode comfortably.

Do you *need *£90+ cycle shorts to ride in comfort from London to Paris?

No.

It might help, but I think being comfortable on a bike is a lot more to do with how physique, posture, bike setup, attitude and experience riding.

There are men called homosexuals who can comfortably put a penis in their arse, does not make it right for everyone.

I admit that this is barely a point.

Love that second image

Lots to think about, cheers guys.
Ive just been to 'Up and Running' in East Dulwich and they stock Ariones as they do lots of triathlon stuff. They guy in there said he was pretty sure they were able to give people a weeks tryout with a saddle before they bought it......hes going to check it and get back to me. Really nice bloke, he also was trying to convince me to do the Paris ride fixed. I actually hadn't seriously considered it before!

Lots to think about, cheers guys.
Really nice bloke, he also was trying to convince me to do the Paris ride fixed. I actually hadn't seriously considered it before!

I wouldn't do it on fixed - I thought about doing it on fixed and was so glad I took a geared bike when I rode from Paris to London in 2006. The climbs were OK on the whole (although I really suffered on the climb up Holly Hill near Birling with 39x23 as my lowest gear and would probably have used a 24" gear if I'd been riding fixed) but what would really hurt would be not having a chance to enjoy some of the really excellent long swooping descents in France where the roads allow you to go over 40mph quite safely.

By the way, I used a Rolls. V happy with it. For longer rides, however, Ive found my B17 even better.

And an article in a magazine proves this does it? Couldn't possibly be a biased source, could it? An individual's personal experience couldn't possibly be more valid than the Gospel words of a cycling magazine, oh no.

Of course it could be biased. But I have had the same experience as have a few others on here. You will never know how much more comfort you get until you have tried them. How many times have you worn Assos shorts exactly?

shit sorry. i think that a decent pair of shorts will help you out a bunch getting to paris without a ruined bum crack. the first time (2years ago) i ever got onto a bike i got a pair of 20quid dhb shorts. i caught the train to lancaster and rode back to preston (about 25 miles) my arse killed.
i spent about 65 quid on some assos shorts and started to build up the miles, no arse pain since, same seat.
i now put in 100mile+ training rides in one of a few pairs of sugoi shorts (i dont pay for) that cost around £120. no problems as all. i would really suggest getting some shorts of decent quality.

in my opinion.

shit sorry. i think that a decent pair of shorts will help you out a bunch getting to paris without a ruined bum crack. the first time (2years ago) i ever got onto a bike i got a pair of 20quid dhb shorts. i caught the train to lancaster and rode back to preston (about 25 miles) my arse killed.
i spent about 65 quid on some assos shorts and started to build up the miles, no arse pain since, same seat.
i now put in 100mile+ training rides in one of a few pairs of sugoi shorts (i dont pay for) that cost around £120. no problems as all. i would really suggest getting some shorts of decent quality.

in my opinion.

+1
evryone likes different things, i agree with the nice shorts.
It may be possible without, but it's a lot nicer with.

I think my decent shorts are well worth the money in terms of comfort.

what's all this palava about the price of shorts ?

anyway, im really interested in this thread cos i would like to know what people use for the longer rides, since my arse is very sore on the Specialized centre cutout saddle after 20+ miles. it has a dip in it so i can't really vary the position which is really annoying.

Interestingly the most comfortable saddle so far has bee then plastic Brooks Vitesse i had that i had to throw away cos it cracked down the middle. only cost me £1 but it allowed me to shift fore and aft whilst riding.

I compensate with lots of talcum powder which works wonders, but if i could avoid all that and get a comfortable saddle to begin with it would be great.

The B17 and the Arione seems to be the ones,
but blimmey are they expensive to buy without knowing if they will be good or not.

So if there was a store of test seats to try out would be an excellent idea.