Girlfriend in agony after bike rides , any simple solutions….

Do you have womens saddles lying around?

As above – if the saddles you have lying around aren’t women’s they probably won’t help. Have you tried any women’s specific ones, or is she using your old saddles?

Where are you based? There will probably be someone local to you who can lend her various saddles to try…

Mrs flap_jack went to a narrower saddle which cured all such ills
Err, would that be the famous flapjackie by any chance?

My wife used to get this even with a specialized body geometry female saddle. Every ride after 30/45 mins I could see she was getting uncofortable and she would complain about sore bits.
I recent got her a womens saddle from Edinburgh Bike Coop (not the huge sofa thing!) and it has made a world of difference, so much so that she nerver even mentions it at all on long rides.
This is combined with shorts with a proper womens pad and a liberal coat of sudocreme.

Page 2 and nobody’s suggested you offer to rub it better!

@esme – well done for remembering the flapjackie thread – I was about to start searching for a link

Keep trying different saddle positions.

The only time I’ve had too much pressure on – and therefore very sore – bits was borrowing a bike which didn’t fit me particularly well. And then carrying a heavy bag on my back for 3 hours which maximised the pressure in all the wrong places. Not something I would like to repeat – took a few days to recover. Your gf has my sympathy.

Does she get out of the saddle frequently as well? I know some of the ladies I ride with don’t have great confidence technically, and tend to sit down over lumpystuff so its easier to get a foot down.

Moving around on the bike more standing on the pedals – on and off road – can help immensely.

My GF rides bikes every day, always has..

She’s got a fanny like a DM sole

@yunki, with a little work that could be a Spinal tap lyric. I am also looking at the soles of my DM shoes right now but am not visualizing (thankfully !) 😯

As above, position on the bike first, then saddle. Re saddle, Mrs Yak swears by Fizik Vitesse’s (regular, not the tri-version). Normally v expensive, but currently £35 at probikekit.

Shedbrewed: My g/f swears by the Morvelo ladies bib shorts and says the pad is the best she’s tried. Sadly Morvelo don’t make bib tights.

Stick with the shorts then and get a pair of decent winter weight legwarmers.

This might sound like a daft question, what is she wearing to ride in. A decent pair of padded cycling shorts (worn without underwear, no offence to your gf but if she is a new rider, she may not realise that its far comfier, less chance of chafing and less seems to add to the pressure!), adjustments to ride position and finding a saddle (try looking for womens specific one) that suits should be what sorts this.

Personally, and it is a personal thing, I like Selle Italia saddles, but lots of others may not. Also, I don’t like chamois cream, except for long road rides. Its a case of trial and error but hope she finds something soon!

Agree with Cinnamon Girl.

I have heard that the more padded the a£se is the more padded the saddle needs to be. And the same for skinny bums.

Try thinner padded shorts and less sofa like saddle.

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This one.
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Or the classic.

Saddle height?
I find particularly on the road bike (although I’m a bloke) that having your saddle only slightly too high can cause real discomfort in the barse area.
I think it’s because you end perched on the saddle rather than making proper contact with your sit bones.

I had the same problem on both my road bike and MTB (so much so, thAt I used to wear 2 pairs of padded shorts on MTB rides!). It even used to draw blood! The problem disappeared when I put Specialized body geometry saddles at the correct width fitting on both bikes. I can go on all-day rides with no problem now.

Another thought- check the saddle nose isn’t pointing up, even by a small degree. I have my saddles with the nose pointing very, very slightly downwards. Makes a difference.

Standard/men’s saddles can’t always be expected to work for women, who tend to have wider pelvises and sit bones because nature has designed them for tough, challenging work like carrying and incubating babies. Saddle fit certainly made a big difference for Mrs Digga who also visited a Specialized Concept Store (Stafford) to have this done.

Following that, bike fit is a pretty complex art and if saddle alone doesn’t do the trick, you need to look at the angle, height and also bar height/reach. This could be very hit and miss, so if you’re short of time and your Mrs is getting short of patience, an appointment with somewhere that does bike fit might be a worthwhile investment.