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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00:00 If you've ever experienced numbness or pain down below when riding your bike, then this is the
00:06 video for you. Today I'm going to talk you through all the different types of saddles and what
00:11 exactly they mean for your comfort when riding your bike. And I'm especially going to focus on
00:16 whether you need to consider getting a cutout. There's so much information out there available
00:28 on saddles, so we've partnered with Specialized to help explain the differences and the design
00:33 principles between different seats. Thanks to its body geometry design principle, Specialized has
00:39 become a global leader when it comes to saddles, and this is for a good reason. Body geometry is
00:45 informed by thousands of bike fit data sets, and this allows Specialized to identify problems that
00:52 riders are having and then design solutions for them, and those solutions are these saddles.
00:57 Now in today's video I'm going to focus on the Specialized Power Saddle, the Specialized Roman
01:02 Evo, and the Specialized Phenom, and that's because these three saddles encompass a very
01:07 broad swathe of saddle design, and all of them demonstrate different design principles that help
01:13 riders become more comfortable. Before we jump into exactly how different saddles affect your
01:24 riding experience and whether you need a cutout or not, we actually need to understand what all
01:29 the different parts of the saddles do. This is because all the different parts have quite a
01:34 determining effect on how comfortable you'll feel and on your riding experience. Now I often hear
01:40 lots of riders say that saddle looks so uncomfortable because it's hard and thin.
01:45 Now I can promise you that there are many determining factors in a saddle's comfort,
01:50 not just its squishiness. Starting at the back you have your saddle's flare, and this is how far the
01:56 sides drop off and how steeply they go down. Now saddles can have more flare or less flare,
02:02 and we have examples of saddles here that have both. Then there's the shelf, this is what your
02:08 sit bones sit on. Now saddles come in a variety of different widths, everything from 130mm all the
02:14 way through to 155mm, so there really is a seat for everybody's bottoms. The upper of a saddle
02:21 is usually made from a foam or a gel with a varying level of density. However recently brands have
02:27 started doing something which is really cool and 3D printing the upper of the saddle. Now this,
02:33 the Specialized Power with Mirror technology, is a great example of that and it allows brands to
02:39 sort of tailor the saddle that bit more to a rider's fit. For example, the front of the saddle
02:44 can be squishier to add comfort in the soft tissue area, whilst the area where the sit bones sit,
02:51 the shelf is that bit denser to provide more support. Then there's the cutout or lack of cutout
02:58 as the case may be, but it's common for most saddles to be available in EZ designs. And then
03:04 you need to consider the nose as well. Some saddles have a very long nose and some saddles
03:08 have a much shorter nose and this can have a big impact on how comfortable you find a saddle.
03:14 Then the final piece of the puzzle is the saddle's profile. Now saddles can either be
03:21 completely flat or they can have a curve. This is known as a kickback and you can see
03:26 that this Roman Evo has a good demonstration of that here.
03:30 To work out exactly what type of saddle you need, you need to ask yourself a couple of
03:40 different questions. The first one revolves around your position on the bike and how long you ride
03:46 your bike for. Whilst the second one, you need to ask yourself, do you already experience any
03:51 saddle discomfort? Because that can help you pinpoint exactly what's going wrong. Ask yourself,
03:57 what is your preferred position on the bike? Is it being tucked in on the drops and in a really
04:03 slammed position or is it riding on the hoods or the tops in a slightly more relaxed one?
04:08 Then take a note of how far below your saddle height your handlebars sit because this will
04:13 determine how far forward you have to roll in which to access your preferred position.
04:18 And this will apply pressure from the saddle. Now this will be increased or decreased depending on
04:25 your position with more pressure being applied when you get onto the drops and less pressure
04:29 being applied when you're sitting on the tops. Sometimes riders find that when they assume this
04:35 position, they kind of have to move around quite a lot to get comfortable or they can't hold it for
04:40 a very long time. And then when they do hold it, they find they start to experience numbness down
04:46 below. For this reason, the power saddle is a very popular saddle amongst amateurs and world
04:52 tour pros alike. And if I compare it to the Roman Evo here, you can actually see just how much
04:58 shorter the nose of this saddle is. Now having a short nose, people find that comfortable for quite
05:05 a few reasons, but the main one is that if you have a long nose, you can sit on it when you roll
05:11 forward and it can inhibit you from finding your preferred position or even apply pressure when
05:17 you're tilted or rotated forward. Whereas when it's chopped off, that's not there to apply that
05:22 pressure. So it works as a really useful pressure relief. However, not all riders like to have a
05:28 saddle with a short nose because you might be the type of rider that likes to move around on their
05:32 saddle when they're assuming different positions. In this case, you're going to need to look for a
05:37 saddle range which has a high amount of variety because you'll want something with a long nose,
05:42 but also with a cutout to relieve pressure when you assume that forward position.
05:47 So going back to that second question we need to ask ourselves is, are we already experiencing
05:54 any pain or discomfort from our saddle? Because actually identifying and isolating that pain can
06:00 be a really useful diagnostic tool in helping us understand exactly what shape and design saddle
06:06 suits us the best. For example, if you are experiencing numbness, you should definitely
06:11 try a saddle with a shorter nose and with a cutout. Now cutouts help relieve pressure down
06:18 below in your soft tissue area and most importantly help improve blood flow. So they should really
06:23 work quite nicely to remove some of that numbing feeling you might be experiencing.
06:27 If you're experiencing pinching, you should consider getting a saddle with a greater amount
06:33 of flare. This is how steeply it falls away from the top of the saddle. Now this supports your body
06:39 as it goes away rather than creating a shelf which perfectly flat saddles can do, which can pinch your
06:45 skin. Also, if you're experiencing lower back pain when you're riding your bike, consider getting one
06:51 with a greater amount of kickback. This is because if you're riding a flat saddle and you've got back
06:57 pain, your glutes actually have to tense up to support your back rather than being able to put
07:02 out the wattage you require when you're cycling along. By having a kickback, that does the role
07:08 that your glutes are currently playing and supports your lower back, not only making you more comfortable
07:13 but giving you access to some more watts. There's a reason Peter Sagan loves the saddle with a high
07:19 amount of kickback. Finally, if you feel discomfort through your sit bones after a couple of hours of
07:25 riding, it's a sign that you're potentially not being supported enough by your saddle. In this
07:31 case, you might want to look at going for a wider option. Now, specialised ranges all have a massive
07:37 variety and this Phenom that I'm holding in my hand here is a really wide 168mm, so there is
07:44 truly something for everyone. The place to start however is to measure your sit bones. Now there
07:49 are guides to this online but your best bet is absolutely going into a store and asking for some
07:55 help because it is a little bit tricky. A lot of time has been spent discussing saddle soreness
08:07 amongst men and for that reason saddle technology has advanced as a solution. However, solutions
08:13 like cutouts to relieve pressure aren't necessarily going to work as well for women. Now I'm absolutely
08:20 not best placed to discuss this so I'm going to hand over to Michelle to help explain the ins and
08:26 outs of it. I've yet to lead a beginner women's ride or be part of a women's cycling Facebook or
08:32 WhatsApp group where conversation isn't at some point dominated by talk about saddle discomfort.
08:38 Former British cycling physio Phil Burt put it very, very well when he said to me
08:43 there are more varied presentations of soft tissue among women than men and as a result it can be
08:50 harder for women sometimes to find the right saddle. That doesn't mean that it is impossible,
08:55 there are very many women's saddles out there as well as some unisex saddles that some women will
09:00 find very comfortable. As an example the Specialized Power Saddle was initially developed with Evelyn
09:06 Stevens when she was riding for Bell's Dolmans. It was a saddle designed to help her get into an
09:11 aerodynamic tucked position with a forward rotation without soft tissue discomfort. It just so
09:18 happened that many men found they also got on with that saddle which is how it became known as a
09:23 unisex saddle. For some women the cutout can become a problem however and this is predominantly caused
09:30 by the harsh border of the edge of the cutout. Now recognising this as a problem Specialized
09:36 uses body geometry data and it developed what it calls Mimic Technology. This is a soft insert which
09:43 mimics the biological entities of soft tissue. This layer is designed to provide the comfort of
09:50 a pressure relief channel or cutout without the danger of falling into the recess. So all the
09:56 principles that Rupert already described earlier in this video, listening to your body, working out
10:01 where you're currently experiencing pain and using that as a tool to inform your future saddle
10:06 choices applies. If the saddle cutout feels that it's not roomy enough look for a cutout that is
10:12 much wider. If you're finding that you're falling into it then something like Mimic Technology might
10:18 well be the answer for you. One other thing that women should be aware of is that because of the
10:23 basic biological requirements of childbirth in general women have wider hips and also wider
10:29 sit bones. Now the reason that you want to have a saddle that is wide enough at the rear is that
10:34 you want to provide enough support for your sit bones. If there isn't enough support for your sit
10:39 bones what can happen is the pelvis twists very slightly and this can create issues that would
10:44 effectively mimic a leg length discrepancy which means that one leg is having to stretch further
10:49 to reach the pedals than the other and that can have a ricochet effect throughout your bike fit.
10:55 To find out if your saddle is wide enough for your sit bones many local bike shops will have a tool
11:00 that allow you to measure this and then choose the saddle accordingly. So there you go those
11:05 are the things I think are really important if you are considering buying a women's saddle or
11:09 looking for one that will help you alleviate pain you're experiencing. So do you need a cutout saddle?
11:17 Well as this video has probably shown you there's a lot at play when it comes to finding the right
11:22 saddle for your riding. However I hope this video has helped you determine exactly what type you
11:29 need and whether you do need a cutout saddle. If you have any further questions do leave them in
11:35 the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer them for you and if you have found this
11:39 video useful give us a thumbs up and do subscribe to the channel it really does help us out. Now
11:45 I'll be back soon with some more great tech content and I'll see you then.