Comfortable men’s saddle for commuter bike?

January 30th, 2010

I plan on purchasing the Marin Kentfield, I took it for a test ride just yesterday and really enjoyed the light ride that it provides.

Whats more, I would purchased it had they been able to offer me the sale price in advance, unfortunately they told me I could purchase it now and get in store credit later.

As tempting as this may sound I didn't want to purchase anything without knowing that I'd spend that much in accessories.

ANYWAY, The bike was a real nice comfortable ride, except that I feel I most likely am going to have to replace the seat.

Anybody have a suggestion as to what I should look to purchase? or suggestions about features I should look for?

Or is this one of those feel and see situations?

Thanks in advance.

There is only one kind of seat to buy. Everyone else is wrong!

A hard leather seat, narrow, no springs is the MOST comfortable seat you can get!

Sound ridiculous? It’s not.

Hard leather feels awful for the first two or three weeks of constant riding but once you break it in you WILL NEVER ride anything else. Why do you think top end used cycles always get sold without the seat (or the pedals, but that’s another story)?

A normal. plastic (or whatever) shell with padding will always have hot spots–places where your bones press down at a point. Padded shell seats cannot prevent this completely. A leather seat eventually molds itself to the uneven contours of your backside and acts like a hammock supporting your butt evenly across the entire length of the seat. No hot spots.

Narrow is better to prevent chafing. The difference in support between a fat seat and a narrow one is insignificant. Chafing, on the other hand occurs if the seat is even slightly too large. A blister down there is…………slightly unpleasant.

Springs do nothing but add weight. The first significant bump and they ALL bottom out, which is the same as no springs. HARD leather rebounds naturally (it has to be hard to support all your body weight) and cannot, by definition, bottom out (ouch! no pun intended there).

This is all predicated on wanting to ride. If you only ride 5 miles each, three times a summer, then get a Spenco gel cover for your normal seat.

If you ride up to or more than three weeks total, an hour each time per season then it is worth it to get a real leather seat.

So, they take a long time to break in and they are insanely expensive: you can easily spend $200 on a Leper, or an Ideale or a Brooks. Is it any wonder they aren’t exactly popular? But the good news is that with the least amount of care they last forever. And if you look carefully you can pull a really sweet Brooks saddle off a thirty year old, $100 Raleigh from a yard sale.

I guarantee if you get one, new or used, and break it in right and take care of it, you will move it from bike to bike until the day you stop riding.
from the specs i found that bike it ready to roll… maybe add water bottles and cages, and a rear rack youll be ok…. start here…..
Seat selection varies very much from one person to another. What’s important is that the seat "fits your meat" rather than the amount of padding or springs. Start with the seat that comes with the bike. You might grow to like it, especially if you wear a decent pair of cycling shorts. If not, then investigate a new seat. You don’t have to spend an outrageous amount of money.

One of the classics, and the seat that I use is the Terry Liberator. Take a look at it’s features. Of course, YMMV.

HTH