Your bike seat may not be the comfiest when you’re new to riding unless you ride consistently for a certain period and adapt to your saddle. Fit is everything, after all. But how can you make your bike seat more comfortable in the long run?
One of the critical things is to start with bike fitting, find the right bike seat that is wide enough to fit your bone structure, get the right bike seat, and invest in a pair of padded shorts!
When cycling, an inappropriate bike seat is downright uncomfortable. The pain might progress to soreness and numbness on some body parts and your most private parts, making them more susceptible to chafing!
The good thing is that with technology, the right brands, and enough time, there are many ways to make bike seats more comfortable. You can use the best cushioning gears or maintain good practices like the proper posture and the setting of your bike seat as well!
So let’s look at all these options to know what to do and address when you experience discomfort using your bike seat, making it more comfortable, and ways not to hurt you.
Also read: How Much Does A Bike Weigh? (Average Bicycle Weight)
How to Make a Bike Seat More Comfortable: Use Proper Gears, Skin Protection Products, and Cushioning Accessories.
Products of great help are most often what you need to ensure your comfort with biking. And some of these are as follows:
| Name | Image | Product Description | Price |
Chamois Butt’r Eurostyle Anti-chafe cream  |  | Bikers use this cream to prevent inflammation caused by friction between skin and cycling shorts or fabric. | View Product |
beroy Women’s Cycling Shorts |  | This is a 3D gel padded cycling shorts for women’s comfort. It has a breathable and quick-dry fabric with thickness effectively suited to reduce friction specially designed for long rides. | View Product |
PEARL IZUMI Men’s Attack Short |  | This padded cycling short is made of slick and smooth 100% nylon fabric. It fits snugly into men’s frames, optimizing moisture transfer and minimizing soreness from behind. | View Product |
Bikeroo Memory Foam Bike Seat – Comfort Bicycle Saddle for Men and Women – Compatible w/ Peloton, Stationary, Mountain, Road, & Exercise Bike Seat Cushion |  | This is a dynamic bicycle seat made from thick but soft waterproof material specially designed for riding comfort of both men and women. This bike seat has a pressure relief channel that improves ventilation on long rides. | View Product |
| Wittkop Bike Seat I Bicycle Seat for Men and Women, Waterproof Bike Saddle with Innovative 5-Zone-Concept I Exercise Bike Seat for BMX, MTB & Road |  | This is a waterproof bike saddle for men and women. It has a 5-Zone-Concept that provides ergonomic seat and riding comfort designed for BMX, MTB, and road. | View Product |
| Brooks bike saddle |  | This is a holy grail for bicycle tourers and long-distance riders. The B17 saddle gets better with age. It shapes to your body over time, like fine wine. | View Product |
Why Use These Products ?
Like most cycling products, they can be very cheap or costly, and it is worth knowing what you’re spending your money on:
Anti-chafe cream – Your skin is often prone to chafing when biking for more than 3 hours. Pressing your skin against a layer of skin contact, such as fabric causes friction.
And this friction is intensified because of the repeated movement you are making, especially on long rides. It is essential to use anti-chafe cream to protect your skin from irritation.
This cream helps reduce the friction onto your skin, which usually affects the groin, inner thighs, and buttocks due to constant movement. Also, an anti-chafe cream works well in healing an already irritated skin preventing it from progressing, which can cause discomfort and inefficiency in riding.
So, the Chamois Butt’r Eurostyle is an excellent product for bikers because it is non-greasy, menthol, and has a soothing and cooling effect. Apply to the skin or onto the cycling shorts pad before riding, and wash off with soap and water after biking.
Cycling shorts for women – women on bikes, especially those riding for more than an hour, should use a good pair of cycling shorts to protect their lady parts from irritation. Choose a snug bike short to cushion the friction on delicate skin parts.
Choose cycling shorts with elastic fabric, padded and quick dry like the berry Women’s Cycling Shorts. This product is good in moisture absorption, friction reduction, and most importantly, it is comfortable.
Cycling shorts for men – equally essential for men on the bike are cycling shorts specially designed for men’s frames. These are padded cycling shorts that provide comfort and efficiency of your ride on any bike track, from roads to mountains.
Like the PEARL IZUMI Men’s Attack Short, it has sophisticated, rider-favourite features that make it a must-have, especially for hard-core roadies. It has a natural stretch material made from recycled nylon yarns that provides moisture transfer, breathability, snug fit, and comfort.
It also has a reflective element that ensures your safety, especially on low-light visibility roads and trails.
Bike saddle – Bike saddles are specially designed for men and women. Since women have wider sit bones than men, women need to use a wider saddle with a wider rear design.
So, these most recommended saddles must be on your top list when buying a bike seat.
Bikeroo Memory Foam Bike Seat – Comfort Bicycle Saddle for Men and Women – This is a padded bike seat specially designed for men and women, with a pressure relief channel to prevent butt numbness.
It is equipped with mounting tools, a seat adapter, and a waterproof cover and is easily installed. It fits any bike model, including MTB, indoor stationary e-bike, commuter bikes, or road bikes.
Another product, the Wittkop Bike Seat I Bicycle Seat for Men and Women, is equally a top choice product because of its most favored features.
It has high-quality memory foam, an innovative 5-zone concept that makes it ergonomic and comfortable. It also has an enhanced airflow system that guarantees breathability for excellent ventilation.
Brooks B17 bike saddle – The Brooks B17 bike saddle has been raved for years in the cycling community! More than 200 miles, and you need to get yourself a pair of Brooks. The break-in process takes a while as they conform to your shape, continuing to get better with time.
The classic tanned leather-coated all-black steel rails and tubular steel rivets on the Brooks B17 bike saddle give it that classic look that boasts high-quality leather built for riding. If leather is cracking or distressed, you can apply a small amount of Brooks Proofide.
How to Make a Bike Seat More Comfortable: Maintain Proper Posture
Another way of making a more comfortable bike seat is maintaining proper posture. Our body is naturally designed for comfort in every way, but some activities like biking are sometimes devoid of comfort because of wrong postures.
And here are some of the correct postures that you should maintain while biking.
1. Neutral spine position. The natural position of the human spine is upright and straight. So when riding a bike, your back should be relaxed, maintaining an imaginary straight line between your hips and shoulders.
This position would surely increase your comfort, avoiding the pain and pressure on your lower back, spine, shoulder, and crotch.
2. Butt on seats. Butt numbness is a common complaint after a ride, especially encountered by occasional riders or somebody new to biking.
Your weight is distributed only on two small bones on the pelvis called the sit bones. According to experts, this position can typically lead to soreness.
So whether you are in a relaxed sitting position at 90 degrees, moderate position at 60-degree body angle, or bracing an athletic position at 45-degree body angle, it is necessary to keep your butt on the seats regardless of the sitting variations you are creating.
3. Keep the pelvis neutrally rotated – The proper pelvis position is essential in biking. An improperly rotated pelvis can put chronic pressure on the muscles and nerves in the pelvic region, which can cause muscle tension, and nerve irritation which may lead to pelvic pain.
Make it a habit to have excellent cycling posture. Ensure your shoulder is in line with your pelvis, and focus on having a flat back to reduce body tensions and boost biking efficiency.
4. Do not put all your weight on the pedals– Putting weight on pedals causes pressure on your feet. Put your weight on the seats as this is designed to ensure that your weight is well balanced and evenly distributed.
5. Full circle pedals – Pushing the pedals in full and smooth circles saves your energy, especially pedaling on flats or climbs, making you more relaxed and efficient.
How to Make a Bike Seat More Comfortable: Maintain Proper Bike setting
You can also make your bike seat more comfortable by adjusting your bike to the following:
1. Proper seat height – Determine the appropriate seat height by sitting on the saddle, placing your heels on the pedals, straightening your legs, and making sure that your hips are parallel to the ground and not tilted to either side. Try pedalling, making sure that it is not too low or too high for the rider to lift off the saddle.
Remember that low pedals cause knee pain while high pedals cause hips to rock and need much energy to exert on the back and crotch.
2. Proper saddle positioning -To get the right height of your saddles, place both your heels on the pedals and pedal backward without any hip rotation. Or you can stand beside your bike and make sure that the saddle is in line with your hip.
Using a bike with incorrect saddle height can strain your body, especially on long rides. It can also cause knee pain or issues on the thighs and hips.
Also, make sure that the saddle is positioned parallel to the ground. However, men usually tweak the saddle nose upward while women prefer a minor degree tilted down. But generally, a good starting point should be the ground-parallel position, and tweak the angle later as you progress in biking.
3. Proper positioning of contact points – Ensuring the appropriate saddle setting makes collective importance, including setting other contact points like the pedals and handlebar.
Know that each part contributes to the performance of each other for optimal comfort of your ride.
The Takeaways
Riding on your bike is addictive, but uncomfortable seats can be off-putting! Remember: It takes some effort to find the riding saddle. But when you do, it’s all good.
The key is to get your butt used to riding, and the more your ride, the better your body gets used to it. You could fork out extra and invest in a comfy saddle like Brooks that will last you for years!