You are reading a single comment by @El_Diablo and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@El_Diablo
my now long gone Aunty wanted a bum cast taken in eg plaster of paris, so she could take it to the bike shop and get a saddle that was her shape- it was good thinking on her part!
The design of men's saddles was generally longer than women's and narrower across the sit bones area, although the width aspect is now covered by Specialised in various sizes. The idea being to take account of the differing pelvis shapes men vs women (although that may be based on someone's stereotypical thoughts).
Observation- Gill Reynolds of many Time Trial wins etc rides a Turbo mostly, I've known other women go for a Terry's men's saddle over their women's specific one, Janet Birkmyre -triple World Masters Track rider etc etc more recently moved to a "cushion" with a hole in it, another rides a Selle HDP now many years old.
So we have "all the shapes, all the sizes", but a significant fact is women sit on a bike different to men- shorter reach and higher bars, and if that's not taken into account, its likely cycling will be an unpleasant experience. (And it can be equally for men too with wrong positions)
A good thing is some shops now do the loan of saddles to try out- I have a stack of saddles still after the searching out "my shape" and that requirement differs for long rides to short ones too.
Another factor is what bike shorts you wear, if you wear them for short rides at all, I know my bum cringes if I ride down to the shops in jeans etc. Bike shorts can make a huge diffence to what is otherwise an uncomfortable saddle.
Maybe the answer is to go back to nappies...........