Michael J. McNamara II said:Hello,
I'm a newbie mountain biker.
I'm 6' 2" tall and 295lbs. I'm riding a Cannondale Gemini 900.
I'm not athletic enough yet to keep raised out of the seat for prolonged periods of time and
my "nether region" is going numb (until I raise out of the seat and it hurts like hell). The
anatomical seat on my brother's Specialized Rock Hopper seems better, but not what I would
call comfy.
Are there any larger folk (or formerly larger folk) in my size range who have found and can
recommend a more comfy seat suitable for mountain biking?
Enjoying the trail regardless -
Mike Mc
The stock Cannondale seats are pretty bad -- actually, most stock seats are pretty bad -- I've heard
that since everyone swaps-out the seat, they just put something cheap on. Don't let it keep you away
from a mountain seat -- a wide comfort road seat won't let you get back when you need to on the
trail and you'll endo -- I know, I made that mistake
🙂. I started riding when I was 300 lbs and figured that I needed that
width and support (I'm down to 230 now and still slowly losing). But, getting a good fit on a
narrower seat was even more comfortable (and I could do those steep downhills with my butt an inch
above the back wheel
🙂).
Most bike shops will let you try their seats. If you're having problems with numbness, look for one
of the ones with a channel or an hole (I need the hole, a channel isn't enough). Soft is not
necessarily comfortable -- it lets you sink in more which sometimes just spreads the pain. You want
to find one that hits your sit bones in a comfortable way. For me, too wide or too narrow a saddle
puts the pressure on them from the wrong angle and hurts. I need a narrower saddle that hits the sit
bones from an angle, but not so narrow as to miss 'em -- I tried A LOT of saddles. I also need a
narrow nose or I get compression sores.
Seat adjustment can also change a great seat into a torture device. 1-deg of tilt is all it takes.
So try different set-backs and tilts. I need the nose down slightly over most people -- but you
may not 🙂.
A wider saddle that might work is the Sel Italia Max Flite. (This was too wide for me).
If that's too wide, try the Terry Men's Fly (or the Fly TriGel which is what I finally settled on).
David
