- The most important difference between bike seats is what gender they are designed for. You may have noticed that pelvis structure differs significantly between men and women after the onset of puberty. The female pelvis is wider, and needs more support. Any woman who plans to ride for very long should purchase a female bike saddle for greater comfort. They are designed to support wider hips and to distribute weight more evenly than male bike seats, which come standard with most bicycles.
- Sitting on a bike seat will never be perfectly comfortable. They aren't designed for it, and for good reason. The conventional horn shape provides greater stability, balance and support for riders that use a proper stance. Contrary to what you might think, for many people the wider "comfort" seats are actually less comfortable for extended rides. It is also difficult to tell whether a particular seat is right for you as it takes time for the body to adjust to a new seat.
- Oddly enough, one of the best ways to increase your comfort on your bike has nothing to do with altering your seat or getting a new one. A bike saddle is not intended to carry your full weight, but many people ride as if it should. The seat should be adjusted in such a way that your knees are only slightly bent when the pedals are maximally extended. If you start to feel fatigued in a typical ride, shorten the distance. Many people sit too hard on their seat because they become too tired to pedal with as much vigor as they should be, which leads to pelvic soreness.
- The softness of a seat does not correlate with how comfortable it is. In fact, very soft seats are liable to become even less comfortable as a ride continues. In general, the more advanced a biker that you are, the narrower the seat that you will want to purchase. Seats that are overly wide spread the weight out to areas of your body that do not bear weight well, which increases overall discomfort. Merely because a seat feels more comfortable when you're riding around in the parking lot does not mean that it will be so when you're on a typical ride.
- Shopping for the right seat can be something of an exercise in trial and error for inexperienced bikers. As mentioned earlier, the most important initial choice is to get a seat that matches your gender. After that, you should come armed with your average bike speed and distance. You can record this using an inexpensive bike computer. Then using that to guide your purchasing decisions. If your average speed is in excess of 25 miles per hour, a narrow racing seat may do you good. On the other hand, if most of your rides are below 10 miles in total and your speed is low, you may prefer using a softer seat with wider support.
