Numbness

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My wife has complained off and on over the years that cycling is desensitising her cliteris. I never really took this seriously but yesterday after a four hour ride, she was complaining again about a sore vagina and I thought it was about time one of us did something about this. She doesn't seem motivated and I feel more than partly responsible. The trouble with saddles is, there's such a lot of conflicting opinion and it's difficult to try one out and know for sure whether it might help of not until it's been sat on it for a few hours. That could be an expensive business, if it's the wrong choice.

My wife's an 'upright rider' - sit up and beg style. She's smaller than average sized. A long ride for her might be four to five hours duration. I wondered whether any of the following saddles (all of which I've seen recommended) might help with her specific problem and what general opinion was from female cyclists on their merits or otherwise. They only seem to be available mail order where we live and although I would be happy to buy all three rather than be the unwitting continuing cause of cliteral paralysis, I don't want to throw money around like confetti if it can be avoided.

SELLE ITALIA Lady Gel Flow

Hamoc Saddle

E3 Form saddle

My wife has complained off and on over the years that cycling is desensitising her cliteris. I never really took this seriously but yesterday after a four hour ride, she was complaining again about a sore vagina and I thought it was about time one of us did something about this. She doesn't seem motivated and I feel more than partly responsible. The trouble with saddles is, there's such a lot of conflicting opinion and it's difficult to try one out and know for sure whether it might help of not until it's been sat on it for a few hours. That could be an expensive business, if it's the wrong choice.

My wife's an 'upright rider' - sit up and beg style. She's smaller than average sized. A long ride for her might be four to five hours duration. I wondered whether any of the following saddles (all of which I've seen recommended) might help with her specific problem and what general opinion was from female cyclists on their merits or otherwise. They only seem to be available mail order where we live and although I would be happy to buy all three rather than be the unwitting continuing cause of cliteral paralysis, I don't want to throw money around like confetti if it can be avoided.

SELLE ITALIA Lady Gel Flow

Hamoc Saddle

E3 Form saddleSounds like the saddle is adjusted too far back for her and the nose needs to be tilted down a little more.

Try the link below, my wife swears by the Terry Butterfly CroMo. Good Luck,

http://www.terrybicycles.com/product.html?c=Saddles&sc=Women%27s+Best+All-Around

Lw

Many upright ladies prefer the Serfas RX Ladies, if they have had no success with the Selle Italia Ldy. The Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow is more a road bike saddle.

One of the problems of these good saddles is getting the rider to place the sit bones on the gel pads, they tend to slide into the middle of the saddle. Check her wrists as well when riding, forearm and back of the hand a nice straight line, no bend in the wrist therefoe no numbness of the hands. These symptoms indicate bad bike fit.

I've got a Terry with a cutout and though I would be willing to try another brand of saddle I will never get one without the cutout again.

I completely agree with Eden, after getting advice from her as well as other ladies here I sent for the Terry butterfly gellissima (also with a cutout which I now also consider a must). It's like a lounge chair compared to the one I had! A little gel in the right places goes a long way! Google search Terry Precision Cycling. You will come up with a page of saddles and recommendations for the best ones for various types of cyclists. Hope that helps!

Thanks, everyone, so far. I'm still hoping someone will have experience of the Hamoc or the E3 but they are relatively new, I think. Meanwhile, I'll check on availability of the Terry here in England. First of all, though, I'll tilt the nose of my wife's existing saddle down and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks, everyone, so far. I'm still hoping someone will have experience of the Hamoc or the E3 but they are relatively new, I think. Meanwhile, I'll check on availability of the Terry here in England. First of all, though, I'll tilt the nose of my wife's existing saddle down and see if that makes a difference.
Check out this site for Terry. I'm fairly certain they ship everywhere:
http://www.terrybicycles.com/product.html?c=Bicycles
Best of luck! Nothing's worse than an uncomfortable saddle.:(

Check out this site for Terry. I'm fairly certain they ship everywhere:
http://www.terrybicycles.com/product.html?c=Bicycles
Best of luck! Nothing's worse than an uncomfortable saddle.:(
Dodman, there is a link to UK resources on the Terry Bicycle site .

Wacky, where is your Avatar ? You're running around here naked today. :D

Dodman, there is a link to UK resources on the Terry Bicycle site .

Wacky, where is your Avatar ? You're running around here naked today. :D
What do you mean by that?

What do you mean by that?I noticed today that some peoples Avatars are not showing up and it might just be my browser but I just get the red X under your name, where your avatar normally shows up.

I noticed today that some peoples Avatars are not showing up and it might just be my browser but I just get the red X under your name, where your avatar normally shows up.
I'm sorry to sound so ignorant but what does this mean?

I'm sorry to sound so ignorant but what does this mean?Deirdre, you're not ignorant and I apologize for taking this thread off topic. It appeared to me yesterday that your Avatar was broken, underneath your screen name "wackydeirdre" I was getting the MS Explorer graphic can not be displayed error which is a box with a Red X in the top left corner. I noticed in another thread under "Road Racing" that "Catabolic-Jones" had the same MS Explorer error and I thought something was wrong with the forum server or some of the User profiles. So it appeared to me that you were posting on the forum 'without' your Avatar.

Sometime later I went back to the "Road Racing" thread and found that " Catabolic-Jones" Avatar was working. I later responded to your post on this thread and found the same error with your Avatar but that started to get me thinking..... What if the broken looking Avatar is actually Wackydeirdre's Avatar.... How clever I thought.


I apologize for the confusion.



Lw

Deirdre, you're not ignorant and I apologize for taking this thread off topic. It appeared to me yesterday that your Avatar was broken, underneath your screen name "wackydeirdre" I was getting the MS Explorer graphic can not be displayed error which is a box with a Red X in the top left corner. I noticed in another thread under "Road Racing" that "Catabolic-Jones" had the same MS Explorer error and I thought something was wrong with the forum server or some of the User profiles. So it appeared to me that you were posting on the forum 'without' your Avatar.

Sometime later I went back to the "Road Racing" thread and found that " Catabolic-Jones" Avatar was working. I later responded to your post on this thread and found the same error with your Avatar but that started to get me thinking..... What if the broken looking Avatar is actually Wackydeirdre's Avatar.... How clever I thought.


I apologize for the confusion.



Lw


Thanks for letting me know. The really odd part is I don't use MS Explorer, I use Firefox. Do you know what I can do to correct this problem?
~Deirdre

Thanks for letting me know. The really odd part is I don't use MS Explorer, I use Firefox. Do you know what I can do to correct this problem?
~DeirdreOne of the guy's in my dept. uses Linux\Firefox and is a memeber of an off-road forum that uses the same interface as this forum. I will ask him for suggestions and get back to you.

Mountain Pro has also helped others with similar problems.

One of the guy's in my dept. uses Linux\Firefox and is a memeber of an off-road forum that uses the same interface as this forum. I will ask him for suggestions and get back to you.

Mountain Pro has also helped others with similar problems.
Thanks! Much appreciated!

Back to the topic of saddles ;)

This was posted over at the Team Estrogen forum by a woman with a new Selle Italia Strike Lady saddle

"Did inaugural ride yesterday and the jury is still out. Soft tissues are VERY HAPPY! It's wide at the back and cuts in gradually, so the back of my legs are really rubbing against that part of the saddle. I'm thinking the men's version might be better, but I'm going to give myself a chance to get used to it. LOVE the cutout, though. You can practically get your whole hand through it. The winkie is happy."

http://www.albabici.com/selle/lady/strike-lady-mp.htm if you want to check it out. It does have a very large cut out indeed - looks comfy!

I agree. That does look like an extremely comfy saddle!

Thanks Eden. That saddle looks like it has a serious cut out! By the way, do you know what the poster means by "the winkie"?

I did a quick google search and "winkie," it appears, "is, in British slang usage, a male sexual organ". I can't say I knew that, and I'm a British male. Might she mean her cliteris, or would it be more general than that?