What is the one thing on your bike that negatively impacts your ride? If after 40 miles or more, your butt is screaming for relief, you wouldn’t be alone. This is even if you wear shorts with a dense chamois and use a high-quality saddle.
The truth is that cycling saddles, especially on road bikes, were not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to offer support and to place you in a proper position to ride efficiently. But it’s hard to do that if you experience discomfort. A new product from the company BiSaddle intends to correct that.
Sit Bones and Bicycle Saddles Don’t Go Together
Major advances have been made over the years in the technology that goes into bicycle saddles. Still, no one in the cycling industry has been able to address the problem that human sit bones and cycling saddles don’t work together.
While bike saddle manufacturers may use the best lightweight materials, such as carbon and titanium rails, center channel cutouts, and padding under a leather or synthetic cover, the problems of discomfort and numbness in the crotch continue. And this problem affects both male and female cyclists.
In the manufacturer’s eyes, the solution to these comfort problems isn’t with the saddles themselves. Instead, they suggest there is a break-in period for the use of bike saddles. The resolution, as they see it, is just to ride a lot and your body will adjust to the feel of the saddle after 5 to 6 rides, invest in shorts with a good chamois, drop some weight, or have your bike fit adjusted.
Bike Saddle Science Explained
All the above-proposed solutions place the blame for comfort problems squarely on the shoulders of cyclists. The truth is that just like humans, our sit bones are not all the same.
Without a good understanding of the science behind cycling saddles, we buy bike saddles that won’t fit correctly no matter how many of them we try. That means we end up investing hundreds of dollars in saddles that are too narrow, too soft, or the wrong shape. In other words, the ergonomics are all wrong.
The end result, according to SQ Lab, is if you are using the wrong saddle for the reasons stated above, you are forced to make your sit bones acclimate to the saddle. As soon as you start pedaling, the process of “shearing” occurs. That means the pressure you feel as you sit on the saddle and go through the pedal rotation increases.
How BiSaddle Addresses Bicycle Saddle Discomfort
Saddles with an open center channel to reduce numbness in the crotch area have been around for many years. While that works for many cyclists, it doesn’t address the soreness caused by bike saddles in general. BiSaddle directly addresses that issue with its saddles.
Unlike saddles on the market with the center channel cutout, BiSaddle allows a saddle to be customized to a rider’s preference to fit their sit bones. The nose and rear of the saddle can be adjusted by sliding or pulling either part of the saddle to the left or right so that a cyclist can get a perfect fit.
The ability to adjust and personalize a cycling saddle can save cyclists hundreds of dollars. A BiSaddle also spares cyclists from the discomfort and frustration that comes with searching for the right saddle.
After a series of rides, a cyclist can dial in his comfort with the BiSaddle. With traditional cycling saddles, if the saddle doesn’t work out, it has to be removed from the bike and returned (if that is even an option).
Who Are BiSaddles Built For?
The company builds saddles that can be used by either men or women. Currently, it offers eight saddles. BiSaddle makes saddles for time trial riders, gravel riders, and mountain bikers. However, the saddles would probably work just as well for the everyday road cyclist.
According to its website, Bisaddle’s founder and owner tried over 20 saddles in his testing. They all caused him pain. But after “years of development (the company has been around since 2015), countless reiterations, and relentless testing from 100’s of athletes, BiSaddle was born.”
BiSaddle’s Commitment to Bike Saddles Through Testing
The company’s level of commitment to its products is not driven by a single viewpoint. Not only does BiSaddle use in-house testing, but it relies on “customer feedback, athlete feedback, and our own experience competing in triathlons, gravel racing and MTB cross country competitions…”
The company says it also tests the durability of its saddles by hitting them with sledgehammers and running over them with cars. This sounds a bit facetious but I get the point. Maybe that is why their saddles are so expensive. Its least expensive saddle starts at $239.00 and goes up to $399.00.
The only traditional element the company takes from the bike saddle industry is that its saddles use carbon and titanium rails. But it tries to be sustainable by building the saddles in its St. George, Utah facility and using vegan leather covers.
Last Thoughts
If you are having discomfort or numbness from your bike saddle, then your cycling is compromised. You can’t enjoy your long training rides or expect to be successful in a race situation. BiSaddle is a company full of cyclists making a high-end cycling product for the casual cyclist or the hardcore bike racer.
I really hope the cycling industry discovers BiSaddle because a change in bicycle saddle tech is sorely needed. Discomfort and numbness eliminated (or at least addressed) could mean more bike sales and more people on bikes and that is most certainly a good thing.
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