Your bike seat, or saddle, can be a literal pain in the rear. In addition to a sore bottom, your bike seat can chafe or cause discomfort in your legs, knees, shoulders and hands. While your bike seat's fit and adjustments are often to blame, sometimes pain that seems to come from your seat is not a seat problem at all.
When It Is Not the Saddle's Fault
Before you blame your bike saddle for any pain you have, cycling expert Sheldon Brown recommends that you first look at your own fitness. Sometimes pain that seems to come from your seat is caused by fatigue, particularly if you take a long ride after being off your bike for some time.
When It Is the Saddle's Fault
Three main factors lead to bike saddle discomfort, the Bikesport Michigan website reports: heat, moisture and pressure. Heat comes from the friction and trapped air between your body and the seat. Moisture comes from your seat. Pressure builds up both from your body on the saddle and bumps in the road. A comfortable, breathable pair of bike shorts helps with the friction and moisture, as does avoiding excessive padding or gel pads on your seat. A seat's fit and adjustments takes care of pain from pressure.
Fit
Since everyone is built differently, there is no magic formula for the proper size of bike seat. Your main concern is making sure the saddle is wide enough to accommodate your sit bones but not so wide that it chafes your thighs. Another myth is that adding padding to your seat is the answer to your seat pain problems. It's not, Sheldon Brown writes on his website. If your seat is the wrong fit, no amount of padding is going to make it any more comfortable.
Adjustments
Three seat adjustments are its height, angle and forward-back position. The proper saddle height is one that leaves your front leg bent at an angle of 25 to 30 degrees while your back leg is extended straight on the pedal, "Fitness" magazine reports. The proper angle is horizontal. A seat angled too low in front can cause pain in your shoulders and wrists. The ideal forward-back position of your seat is one that leaves your knees directly above the pedal spindle when the pedal cranks are in a horizontal position.
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