If you’ve ever experienced numbness or pain down below when riding your bike, then this is the video for you.
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00:00If you've ever experienced numbness or pain down below when riding your bike then this is the video
00:07for you. Today I'm going to talk you through all the different types of saddles and what exactly
00:12they mean for your comfort when riding your bike and I'm especially going to focus on whether you
00:17need to consider getting a cutout. There's so much information out there available on saddles so we've
00:29partnered with Specialized to help explain the differences and the design principles between
00:34different seats. Thanks to its body geometry design principle Specialized has become a global leader
00:41when it comes to saddles and this is for good reason. Body geometry is informed by thousands of
00:47bike fit data sets and this allows Specialized to identify problems that riders are having and then
00:53design solutions for them and those solutions are these saddles. Now in today's video I'm going to
00:59focus on the Specialized Power Saddle, the Specialized Roman Evo and the Specialized Phenom and that's
01:04because these three saddles encompass a very broad swathe of saddle design and all of them demonstrate
01:11different design principles that help riders become more comfortable.
01:21Before we jump into exactly how different saddles affect your riding experience and whether you need
01:27a cutout or not we actually need to understand what all the different parts of the saddles do.
01:32This is because all the different parts have quite a determined effect on how comfortable you'll feel
01:37and on your riding experience. Now I often hear lots of riders say that saddle looks so uncomfortable
01:43because it's hard and thin. Now I can promise you that there are many determining factors in a saddle's
01:50comfort not just its squishiness. Starting at the back you have your saddle's flare and this is
01:55how far the sides drop off and how steeply they go down. Now saddles can have more flare
02:01or less flare and we have examples of saddles here that have both. Then there's the shelf. This is what
02:08your sit bones sit on. Now saddles come in a variety of different widths everything from 130mm all the way
02:15through to 155mm so there really is a seat for everybody's bottoms. The upper of a saddle is usually
02:22made from a foam or a gel with a varying level of density. However recently brands have started
02:28doing something which is really cool and 3D printing the upper of the saddle. Now this the
02:34specialised power with mirror technology is a great example of that and it allows brands to sort of
02:39tailor the saddle that bit more to a rider's fit. For example the front of the saddle can be squishier
02:46to add comfort in the soft tissue area whilst the area where the sit bones sit the shelf is that bit
02:52denser to provide more support. Then there's the cutout or lack of cutout as the case may be but
03:00it's common for most saddles to be available in easier designs. And then you need to consider the
03:05nose as well. Some saddles have a very long nose and some saddles have a much shorter nose and this can
03:11have a big impact on how comfortable you find a saddle. Then the final piece of the puzzle is the
03:18saddle's profile. Now saddles can either be completely flat or they can have a curve. This is known as a
03:25kickback and you can see that this Roman Evo has a good demonstration of that here.
03:30To work out exactly what type of saddle you need you need to ask yourself a couple of different
03:41questions. The first one revolves around your position on the bike and how long you ride your
03:47bike for. Whilst the second one you need to ask yourself do you already experience any saddle discomfort
03:53because that can help you pinpoint exactly what's going wrong. Ask yourself what is your preferred
03:59position on the bike? Is it being tucked in on the drops and in a really slammed position or is it
04:05riding on the hoods or the tops in a slightly more relaxed one? Then take a note of how far below your
04:11saddle height your handlebars sit because this will determine how far forward you have to roll in which
04:17to access your preferred position and this will apply pressure from the saddle. Now this will be
04:23increased or decreased depending on your position with more pressure being applied when you get onto the
04:28drops and less pressure being applied when you're sitting on the tops. Sometimes riders find that
04:34when they assume this position they kind of have to move around quite a lot to get comfortable or they
04:39can't hold it for a very long time and then when they do hold it they find they start to experience
04:44numbness down below. For this reason the power saddle is a very popular saddle amongst amateurs and world
04:52tour pros alike and if I compare it to the Roman Evo here you can actually see just how much shorter
04:59the nose of this saddle is. Now having a short nose people find that comfortable for quite a few reasons
05:06but the main one is that if you have a long nose you can sit on it when you roll forward and it can
05:12inhibit you from finding your preferred position or even apply pressure when you're tilted or rotated
05:18forward whereas when it's chopped off that's not there to apply that pressure so it works as a
05:23really useful pressure relief. However not all riders like to have a saddle with a short nose
05:30because you might be the type of rider that likes to move around on their saddle when they're assuming
05:34different positions. In this case you're going to need to look for a saddle range which has a high
05:39amount of variety because you'll want something with a long nose but also with a cutout to relieve
05:45pressure when you assume that forward position. So going back to that second question we need to
05:52ask ourselves is are we already experiencing any pain or discomfort from our saddle because actually
05:57identifying and isolating that pain can be a really useful diagnostic tool in helping us understand
06:04exactly what shape and design saddle suits us the best. For example if you are experiencing numbness
06:11you should definitely try a saddle with a shorter nose and with a cutout. Now cutouts help relieve
06:17pressure down below in your soft tissue area and most importantly help improve blood flow so they
06:23should really work quite nicely to remove some of that numbing feeling you might be experiencing.
06:28If you're experiencing pinching you should consider getting a saddle with a greater amount of flare this
06:34is how steeply it falls away from the top of the saddle. Now this supports your body as it goes away
06:40rather than creating a shelf which perfectly flat saddles can do which can pinch your skin. Also if
06:47you're experiencing lower back pain when you're riding your bike consider getting one with a greater
06:52amount of kickback. This is because if you're riding a flat saddle and you've got back pain your glutes
06:59actually have to tense up to support your back rather than being able to put out the wattage you require
07:04when you're cycling along. By having a kickback that does the role that your glutes are currently playing
07:10and supports your lower back not only making you more comfortable but giving you access to some
07:15more watts. There's a reason Peter Sagan loves the saddle with a high amount of kickback.
07:22Finally if you feel discomfort through your sit bones after a couple of hours of riding it's a sign
07:27that you're potentially not being supported enough by your saddle and in this case you might want to look
07:32at going for a wider option. Now specialised ranges all have a massive variety and this phenom that I'm
07:39holding my hand here is a really wide 168 mil so there is truly something for everyone. The place to
07:46start however is to measure your sit bones. Now there are guides to this online but your best bet is
07:52absolutely going into a store and asking for some help because it is a little bit tricky.
08:04A lot of time has been spent discussing saddle soreness amongst men and for that reason saddle
08:10technology has advanced as a solution. However solutions like cutouts to relieve pressure aren't
08:16necessarily going to work as well for women. Now I'm absolutely not best placed to discuss this so
08:22I'm going to hand over to Michelle to help explain the ins and outs of it.
08:28I've yet to lead a beginner women's ride or be part of a women's cycling Facebook or WhatsApp group
08:33where conversation isn't at some point dominated by talk about saddle discomfort. Former British
08:40cycling physio Phil Burt put it very very well when he said to me there are more varied presentations
08:46of soft tissue among women than men and as a result it can be harder for women sometimes to find
08:52the right saddle. That doesn't mean that it is impossible there are very many women saddles out
08:58there as well as some unisex saddles that some women will find very comfortable. As an example the
09:04specialised power saddle was initially developed with Evelyn Stevens when she was riding for Bell's
09:08Dolments. It was a saddle designed to help her get into an aerodynamic tucked position with a forward
09:14rotation without soft tissue discomfort. It just so happened that many men found they also got on with
09:21that saddle which is how it became known as a unisex saddle. For some women the cutout can become a
09:27problem however and this is predominantly caused by the harsh border of the edge of the cutout.
09:34Now recognising this as a problem specialised uses body geometry data and it developed what it calls
09:39mimic technology. This is a soft insert which mimics the biological entities of soft tissue.
09:47This layer is designed to provide the comfort of a pressure relief channel or cutout without the
09:52danger of falling into the recess. So all the principles that Rupert already described earlier
09:59in this video, listening to your body, working out where you're currently experiencing pain and using that
10:04as a tool to inform your future saddle choices applies. If the saddle cutout feels that it's not roomy
10:11enough look for a cutout that is much wider. If you're finding that you're falling into it then
10:16something like mimic technology might well be the answer for you. One other thing that women should
10:21be aware of is that because of the basic biological requirements of childbirth in general women have
10:27wider hips and also wider sit bones. Now the reason that you want to have a saddle that is wide enough
10:34at the rear is that you want to provide enough support for your sit bones. If there isn't enough support
10:38for your sit bones what can happen is the pelvis twists very slightly and this can create issues
10:43that would effectively mimic a leg length discrepancy which means that one leg is having
10:48to stretch further to reach the pedals than the other and that can have a ricochet effect throughout
10:53your bike fit. Now to find out if your saddle is wide enough for your sit bones many local bike shops
11:00will have a tool that allow you to measure this and then choose the saddle accordingly. So there you go
11:05those are the things I think are really important if you are considering buying a women's saddle or
11:09looking for one that will help you alleviate pain you're experiencing.
11:14So do you need a cutout saddle? Well as this video has probably shown you there is a lot at play when
11:21it comes to finding the right saddle for your riding. However I hope this video has helped you determine
11:27exactly what type you need and whether you do need a cutout saddle. If you have any further questions
11:34do leave them in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer them for you and if you
11:39have found this video useful give us a thumbs up and do subscribe to the channel it really does help
11:44us out. Now I'll be back soon with some more great tech content and I'll see you then.