Seats

Seats

Don't get the saddle your friend recommends. If your rear end hurts you may need more padding. Or, you may need a narrower, harder saddle. Everyone has different bone structure, and the soft saddle that works for your friend may not work for you.

Consider the way you ride. If you are going out for a light jaunt along a country road, you can ride a wide saddle with spring or elastomer shocks. Take this same saddle on a serious ride and you'll find yourself begging for a hard saddle. Why? Soft doesn't necessarily mean more comfortable. Fit is everything. If you ride aggressively, get an aggressive saddle with extra padding only where it is needed, which is right under your sit bones. In general, women need a wider saddle than men. And again, a groove or cut out will help relieve the perineum.

Don't kick the tires. You've probably pushed on a saddle with your thumb to test the way it compresses. Unless you regularly sit on your thumb, this isn't the best strategy. To truly test a saddle, you have to put it on a bike and ride with it. Most stores, if they don't have the exact saddle you want mounted and available to test, will have something comparable that you can try. Get on it and ride. Try various positions, hit some bumps, do a wheelie. Really put the saddle to the test.

Check out the rails. A little known fact about saddles is that the rails (those two bars that help attach the saddle to the seatpost) can have a significant impact on the ride. Most rails are made of chromoly, which is excellent for almost all uses. But if you want high performance, titanium rails are stronger and more flexible, providing longer wear and a smoother ride.