Women: What's your favorite saddle?

They're usually a little longer in the nose and considerably narrower in the seat. Comparing my Spoon to my Ladle, they're both almost the same length, but the Ladle is more squat towards the rear and begins to flare out sooner.

Women sit on their saddles differently to men as their hips and pelvises are configured differently, with men generally being narrower and straighter, and women being wider and having a bit of an offset where the thigh meets the hip. The wider geo of the ladies saddles supports the particular biomechanics of how the female contact points interact with the bike.

If you've only tried bloke's saddles until now and haven't found one that you like, then you might as well go for a women's one if you're buying something new - at worst you'll just have another saddle that doesn't really fit, but you'll have at least tried the alternative anatomy.

I had a Rolls and went for a roll with a load of boys and once we hit about 20 miles I could barely sit down without wanting to wince. Pootling round town with it was fine though!

Have recently invested in a ladies selle-italia gel flow and it was worth every penny! Having said that I've got a Charge Ladle that I was more than happy with at £20 - fine for commuting and distances!

Bothwell, good point - worst case scenario is I need to try another saddle. Time to try a ladies one. It just annoys me that they all seem to have LADY embroidered on them, or some kind of pink flowery swirly thing, I suppose to avoid any chance of confusion as to the gender or the rider.

Poots, although I'm sorry to hear you were in pain I'm glad I'm not the only one! A lot of people said it was really comfy, and it's such a pretty saddle :( Ah well, I can always just swap them over for different uses. A lot of people seem to like the selle italia gel flow so I think I'll probably give that one a shot.

I'm with you on the Rolls - looked lovely on my bike, certainly better than what's on now but lawks...!

Hey Guys,

I am in need, and very happy to find this thread!!
On my second saddle which at first was great but im now doing 18miles a day commuting and need something that doesnt leave me in pain. I have had a quick scan through the thread but would love some guidance??

It's really hard to give any advice on saddles.
Best way to start is to try out few to determine which shape works for you best.
I've tried something like 20 saddles in the last year - mostly borrowing test saddles from bike shops or from friends.
I'm also not getting on with womens saddles (too short and too wide) so i'm proabably not the best person to give you advice here.
If you let us know which saddles you've tried and what you didn't like about then maybe it'll be easier to point you in the right direction.

@kag: come to next ladies' drinks, or another forum beers, and try a few saddles out!

I've found it's a total dark arts Kag - what works for lots of people, what works on a short ride, what works on a long ride, what works with padded shorts...! It's taken me about 2 yrs to find a saddle that fits and works for me. I've got a
Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow now that I love!

Borrowing a saddle is a great idea which reminds me of a thread I was going to start...are you in Ldn Kag? Like Ada says, come to some ladies drinks soon!

I've found it's a total dark arts Kag - what works for lots of people, what works on a short ride, what works on a long ride, what works with padded shorts...! It's taken me about 2 yrs to find a saddle that fits and works for me. I've got a
Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow now that I love!

Borrowing a saddle is a great idea which reminds me of a thread I was going to start...are you in Ldn Kag? Like Ada says, come to some ladies drinks soon!

A weird thing happened to me the other day. I've been off the bike for 2.5 weeks due to stupid illness and when I rode my polo bike for the first time again, the saddle (a Charge Ladle) gave me incredible pain which it has never done before. I was wearing my Rapha padded shorts too as I was planning to ride quite far to polo, play all day and then ride home but I ended up leaving my polo bike locked up at a friends and getting the bus home, that's how bad it was! I've never experienced a saddle suddenly being that uncomfortable before. Anyway, now in the market for a cheap resilient black saddle for polo...

#csb

I had the same thing with the Ladle! Literally overnight it went from hero to zero - oddness....

#css

Fixed?

@hoefla @pootsmanuva in London indeed. When are the next drinks? and where? sounds great : )

right... I am having severe saddle problems. I know it sounds silly but it's affecting me so much! I do an hours riding to get to work, so two hours of pain during what should be the best part of the day has now become the worst and I need some help and advice!!

I think that I have abnormally sharp sit bones. I'm not kidding. So what ever I need, needs to be pretty soft.

I used to ride on a Charge Stool(http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-stool-saddle/), but then I borrowed Katie-Coo's Breeze saddle(http://www.evanscycles.com/products/madison/womens-breeze-mtb-saddle-ec027279?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle) and realised the difference it makes using a women's saddle which allows the sit bones to be properly supported.
But that was too hard on my precious parts, although it gave me amazing posture. So then I tried the Specialized Women's Riva Saddle (http://ftp.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/womens-riva-saddle-ec033709) and the cutout was amazing! But the part where the sit bones go was so hard that I actually got bruises. But the shape of it was amazing, albeit it's a little long.
I then panicked and bought a sofa: http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=CVAV0001KP
It's ok, and it can get me to work and back without crying, but it's too wide where my inner thighs are and the stitching is badly positioned so after about an hour I can start feeling it. But the shape of it(on the sit bones and the precious bits)and the padding is good. No bruising. But it makes my bike look like a Boris bike... and really in the long run it's not right, I doubt touring on it would be any good...
So because of previously having read the entirety of this thread I then finally caved and bought the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (http://www.selleitalia.com/se_it3/prodotti/offroad/pagina_lady-man/). WORST MISTAKE EVER! Although the padding where the sit bones are is just about ok, it hurts in every other way possible. Weirdly although there's a cutout it feels more like the opposite, so my delicates are in agony which makes me tilt and hunch my back, so now my back aches. And I'm very very sad.
So I've spent about £90 and have had nothing but pain.
I've had my eye on the Specialized Ariel(http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/womens-bg-ariel-comp-saddle-ec034173)because it's the same shape as the Riva, but I'm hoping that cos it's for MTB it might be softer. Anyone know?

OR does anyone have any spare saddles that I could test for a while?

Incidentally I will also be selling the above (will get around to posting properly - but in the mean time if anyone's interested):

Riva - £20
Selle Italia - £50
Charge Stool: £10 (I have about three to sell)
and at some point the sofa...£8

I can't believe how hit and miss/dark arts trying to find a saddle is! I LOVE my Selle Italia that I finally caved in and bought - haven't done any major distances but a few months in, it's still making me happy - can't believe it's giving you so much jip!

I've got a spare Charge Ladle Ladies saddle you might like to have a go on? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-ladies-ladle-saddle-2011/ Let me know!

nelaii, do you wear padded shorts or do they not make a difference?

I hesitate to suggest any other saddle given the money you've already spent. I've gone through a few saddles myself and am now happy with my SMP TRK for commuting. It's very padded compared to the Dynamic I use on my road bike and it's curved instead of flat. It costs about £37 last time I checked and it's good whether I use padded or boxers.

I've used it on a ride to Southend and it was fine too. Good luck with your search.

@poots - thanks, i tried the Ladle some time ago and it was too hard for my pointy bones :( thanks tho!

@cafewanda - oh I had actually looked at the SMP TRK, good to know it's padded, I was just a bit confused but the downwards pointing nose. I might give that a go, looks like something I might be able to work with, thanks for suggesting!

I ride without padded shorts - I need to find a saddle which won't require me to wear paddeds, far too much of a faff imo. Only at the velodrome.

OR does anyone have any spare saddles that I could test for a while?

I've got a Selle Italia Diva that has a dip but not a cutout in the middle that you could try. I found it quite comfortable but now find the fizik ones even better. Also, Bon Velo in Herne Hill and Condor (?not sure) have fizik saddles that you can have for a while for testing.

hmmmm.... I think Selle Italia's just aren't right for me, thank for offering though!

Yes, I was just thinking about Bon Velo's purple fiziks for loaning, I tried one some time ago which was not my friend. I don't get on with Fiziks. But I was just wondering if there were any other places that loan out saddles, specifically women's?

But I was just wondering if there were any other places that loan out saddles, specifically women's?

You've just hit on an amazing idea for a really creepy shop run by really creepy guys.

Have you tried a Brooks yet? The ladies ones are wide enough to support the bones and a properly-broken-in one should deform when you poke it with your pointy bits. A few of the women here are selling them, IIRC - can't hurt to try one out.

I ride without padded shorts - I need to find a saddle which won't require me to wear paddeds, far too much of a faff imo. Only at the velodrome.

I don't think that this strategy will be successful, Alex. Your commute is an hour each way, and I have no doubt that this discomfort is caused by your lack of padding, not by an unsuitable saddle. It's not really a lack of moulding to you that's usually the issue but the chafing you get from sliding around on it while riding. You may get lucky finding a saddle that fits you well, but I'd first consider wearing padded shorts under other trousers or shorts or skirts that you wear, or to get trousers or shorts with padding built into them. Fair enough if you don't like padding, but don't expect as comfortable a ride as with it.

Alex, long time no see!

I feel your pain(!), I love my brooks B17 on my geared teaching bike but its just not suitable for my polo or racey bikes. Have a womens Ladle on the polo machine and not 100% happy, same kind of pains as you and the fixed has had so many different saddles I've stopped riding it altogether! I would be interested in the Riva/Selle if you still have them by payday though...

Hi

@jess - yes you can have the Riva, it's on my track bike at the moment, and I'm away the next two weekends so it will be a while before I can get a hold of it, if you're happy to wait a few weeks then consider it yours.

@oliver - I hear what you're saying about pads, but I have to disagree I'm afraid. I have tried riding with padded shorts and it made everything a million times worse. I'm trying to de-faff my life and I don't believe that putting things around me to protect me will make me stronger. In the same way that I don't want my mits or gloves to have any padding. I believe that the right saddle is out there. I haven't really found chaffing to be much of a problem (and when in the saddle for more than an hour I do wear lycra or something more appropriate), my problem is my weirdly pointy sit-bones...

As for Brooks, I've tried one which I didn't like, I also don't want a saddle which requires more maintenance than my own daily routine...

But thank you all for your comments. It's good to hear what other people are experiencing and to come across saddles that I might not otherwise think of.

Hi!

I've been using a Sportourer X race for about a year and I love it!

The guys I ride with gave me a bit of a hard time in the beginning because of the design, but that stopped after a few rounds and now some have even asked to try it.

Last Saturday I was in a 100 km race and the day after I was a bit tender, but not at all too much to be able to bike again.Of course I used padded lycra for the race, but still - it's really comfy (and quite cheap).

The only thing with the design is that the hole is, ehm... not-so-nice if riding when it's raining. It tends to get muddy in places that I'd prefer to stay dry. However, since I'm also using an AssSaver the hole is covered enough by it! Highly recomended!

--> AssSaver
http://ass-savers.com/

Oh. They have changed the design a bit... hm.. Should still work though.

I tried to add a pic of the ass saver but it didnt work... hm