Women: What's your favorite saddle?

I've been riding on the Specialized "jett" model for about two years now but have recently tried out two other saddles - to my detriment. The cut out is our friend. But is the jett, or the alias as it's called for men (it's just a fucking color difference, that pisses me off!) my main option? What do you girls ride and how did you get used to it if there isn't a cutout? Did you have to get used to anything? My bits weren't happy with them and I can't imagine why men don't seem to have any problems with regular saddles.

My girlfriend seem to have complete love for Brooks saddle, normal B17 and B67.

she also find the Charge Spoon to be surprisingly comfortable (as well as the girl who I sold my old bike to did).

not sure, but i think the female version is shorter....my gf uses it as there aren't many saddle narrower than the jett...

Selia Italia Ladies Gel Flow, several women on here ride them and swear by them (myself, Hops, Sol) I went through 5 saddles until i settled on the Selle, now I have one for each bike.
Full hipster colour set too! :-)

My girlfriend loves her b67. She doesn't commute on her bike though, just a weekend / sunny day bike

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...........

jayloo, you'd have to ask someone to borrow the odd saddle, you could go through loads until you find the right one, which could be rather expensive. or not.

I ride a slightly gel-y san marco. I also wear woman specific padded cycling shorts. It took a few days to get used to them, now I totally love them. And over a skirt they look like any other legging.

I ride a Terry Butterfly (womens) one, so comfy. I had a Charge Spoon on my other bike, and I've had to give up riding that bike because it was so uncomfortable. It hurt bad. The Spoon has now been donated to my boy's polo bike. I'll replace it with a Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow, I reckon, since Hops and Clefty have both recommended them so highly.

Yeah, Murtle, I've been trying diff. saddles. Only reason I was going to change at all was that the middle size is proving to be slightly too narrow for me (it's not stereotyping, that's how they tell the sex on years' dead skeletons) but the 155 looks HONKIN' BIG!

I hadn't thought about the men's version being longer, good to know. And now I'll check out all the others mentioned. Thanks, girls & guys!

Selle Italia SLK Gel Flow (different to Clefty's etc..). I really like it, quite hard but very comfortable (took me a couple of rides to get used to it) and don't need to wear padded shorts but haven't done very long rides with it yet. I am planning to go to Westies this week, you can have a little ride on it if you want.

[quote=El_Diablo;607422]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!

:D And this cracks me up. When I was fitted for the Specialized they had me sit on a gel thing & measured the marks my sit bones made. That's how I was told to ride the 155 but think it looks to big (am probably the only one to notice). I don't know if that's specific to Specialized or if your better LBSs should all have that.

I think I'm going to have to give up on having a skinny saddle, I've tried the Spec. Toupe (I know some of the guys on the forum ride them) b/c they were just too hard, but my Jett is just fine for me day to day. On those 20+ mile days I do get pain in my bones but that's not what I was mentioning when I started this thread.

Generally I don't wear padded bike shorts, I gave up b/c I didn't find I needed to with the Jett, overall. Plus, I think I left them in NYC. Bah.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brooks-B17-IMPERIAL-Saddle-BLACK-Leather-B-17-w-Cutout_W0QQitemZ300303738022QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCycling_Parts_Accessories?hash=item300303738022&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177#ebayphotohosting

Oh man, you guys, look what I found! Sucks, b/c w/o the cutout I've been seeing these go for around £40 on eBay.

.

Make a list of saddles that people have recommended and just keep buying and returning for a refund until you find one that suits. I recently went through 6 or 7 doing this and may still send the current one back (trying a fizik aliante next).

If you do this, be careful not to scratch the rails for when it's returned and make sure it is set up in the correct position or you may disregard a saddle that is perfect for you.

Consumer rights for the wins

i like this one

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Selle_San_Marco_Aspide_Glamour_Arrowhead_Gel_Ladies_Saddle/5360036094

there's saddles I really like the look of, but my bum doesn't when I ride them, I've found I have to vote with my bum, rather than what looks really good on the bike.

There is a point that when starting out in cycling, saddle comfort is a big thing as you put most of your weight on it, but as you get more proficient at pedalling your saddle needs change to only needing slight support, and it feels like gliding along.

There's more....- lots of padding on a saddle means lots of bum bounce when pedalling briskly- just like a full suspension MTB does- the Zebedie effect, so inefficient/ineffective/and causes a lot of wear to the downstairs dept.

Auriel Forrester swears by cream and says you girls should just get on with the pain..............I'm not sure she has many female cycling friends though.....

at the moment i've got a rolls on my bike, and i find it pretty comfy! it took me a little bit to get used to, but i found it was more a problem with getting it set up right, than the saddle. it's alright in jeans for busting about town, but for longer rides i've gotta watch for seams! but i've found those swerve jeans are fucking awesome.

Obviously [not owning any], I assume the cut out is for the lady flappy bits, all well and good. Can see the reasoning etc... Why don't mens saddles have a cut-out for our danglies?

Obviously [not owning any], I assume the cut out is for the lady flappy bits, all well and good. Can see the reasoning etc... Why don't mens saddles have a cut-out for our danglies?

Our bits are more mobile and adjustable than their bits.

I have a female specific saddle and it changed my life! However I don't think those holey bits do anything, its all about the width of your seat bones (and firmness, I think the harder the more comfortable,personally). I thought I may have quite large seat bones because I'm tall but it turned out they're not, you just never know I suppose!....I think if you are anywhere near sitting on the more delicate areas :) and already have a female specific saddle that you've had fitted, then you maybe need to look at other areas of your bike that aren't perhaps fitting you right in other ways. I found playing around more with the length of the stem and handle bars to be far more critical, as it allowed me to roll back and sit on my seat bones rather that stretching too far forward and then being uncomfortable. They seemed like minute changes, but made a huge difference.

The cutouts in saddles are designed to relieve pressure on a blood vessel which we all have, I think it's somewhere between the genitals and anus (hah!), pressure on it is thought to be more dangerous for guys as this blood supply is an integral part of our reproductive organs, rather than just near them. Or something.

I have been considering cutting one of these 'fertility gaps' into a Brooks, guess I need to do one as a test to show people before they'd commit to letting me loose on their saddle.

Maybe time to talk to brooks about getting some stock...

wow, ages since I saw marmet post.

yeah those specialized saddle / seat bone measurers are a bit debatable.. not sure of their accuracy for saddles in general after seeing how it works. Saying that I've now seen that specialized are at least trying to take the whole saddle/sit bone thing seriously, so props to them for that.

wow, ages since I saw marmet post.

Genital convos always drag out the lurkers.

i don't suppose I could de"rail" this slightly by asking if anyone has a saddle they've done a happy and more or less pain-free 60+ miles on? At the moment sore seat bones and ass pain are the only things hampering my long rides and I'd like to do the Dunwich ride this year without being in agony. Is it all about the air flow cutout? Has gel got something to do with it? I ride an old, worn, leather Bio Turbo which has been the best I've ridden on for ages but, as I say, gives me nuff gip once I've been riding for a couple of hours..