bike seat help please

[Farm boy]

hi
i bought a giant mountain bike at a garage sale and it needs a new seat
you can get them a big w for around $29
are the bike shop ones any better and worth the extra $20 or so dollars
also the seats with a gap in the middle are they ok or not as comfortable as a plain one
thanks
heaps
greg

[corbs]

Personally I wouldn't touch anything that wasn't from a bike shop with a barge pole. Find a good local bike shop (LBS) and talk to them. When they know what type of riding you will be doing they will put the right seat on your bike.

To answer your other question... it depends on what type of riding you're going to be doing... if its mountain biking (off road on trails) then you will be up and down out of the seat so don't need the hole in the seat but will need something resonably strong. If you're going to be doing some decent km's on the road then you will be sitting down for a while so the extra air flow through the hole in the seat can be a welcome relief:D.

Your LBS should be able to give more info on what I have put above:2tsup:

Corbs

[thebicyclist]

As a generally rule supermarket bicycle stuff is *really* low quality. You can skimp on many parts of a recreational bike for example $20 v-brakes will stop you just as well on the road as $60 v-brakes, the bushings just wear out faster so they start to squeal after 3-4 years.

But the parts of the bike that you touch and the parts that touch the road i.e. grips, saddle, pedals, and tyres, are worth the money you spend on them. A good quality $50ish tyres will not only last four or five time as long as a cheap $30ish tyre but you will have significantly (if any) less punctures over the life of the tyre.

Rant aside buy a nice saddle and get the LBS to install and adjust it for you as the angle the saddle sits at and the seat height can be the difference between a comfortable ride and a painful one.

Have a look at how you sit on the bike, if you ride sitting quite upright up will need a wider saddle then if you have a more ``racer'' position. If you can, borrow a friends saddle and use it for a day or two so you can get an idea of what shape will work with your anatomy.

Cheers

Joel

[Foo]

A good seat is the difference,between using it every day, and thinking I should go for a ride.:)

[Farm boy]

thanks guys i will visit my local bike shop and see what they can do

[kiwigeo]

A cheap bike seat seems like a great buy when you first get it home. However when youre halfway through a long ride and the seat is about as comfortable as a razor blade edge and yours sick of riding standing you'd gladly pay $200 for a decent seat.

My choice of seats is fizik brand but there are may other good brands.

[Foo]

Here is an example of two extremes.:oo: The one on my bike is 33yrs old and cost me $35 and is more comfortable than the $400 one sitting on the top bar.:doh:
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy6/fooonpatrol/wheeler2.jpg

[Dengue]

The seat is the main thing that will impact on your joy of riding. Get the best you can afford from a local specialist bike shop. You will be surprised the technology that goes in to a decent seat

[kiwigeo]

Im having flashbacks to a 1981 trip around the South Island of NZ I did with my brother. I was riding a Claude Butler running tubulars and the seat was a leather job and sitting on it was like sitting on a kitchen knife. I spent a large part of the journey riding with a woollen sweater wrapped around the seat. When I hit Greymouth on the West Coast and found an open bike shop....a brand new modern seat went on the bike and the leather razor blade went in the nearest trash bin. Leather seats are great but if they come with a second hand bike then bear in mind that the seat is going to have conformed over the years to the previous owners b*m.

[Farm boy]

I talked to the local bike shop on saturday and he said to call in next week and he will fit 3 or 4 seats in gel or foam for me to try all around the $50 so i am pleased as punch to get good service like this
greg

[corbs]

Good to hear... always support your LBS where possible. They don't have a lot of margin in a lot of their lines and its a pretty competitive industry. When you get a good shop I like to look after them:2tsup:

[Daddles]

Be careful with gel seats - they feel really nice when you first sit on them but the gel squeezes off to one side and they can become painful. Not suited for extended periods in the saddle. My tip is you're better off without them but some people like them.

I use Brooks leather saddles for all my bikes. Yes, they're hard and need to be broken in, but each of mine (3 now on 3 different bikes) was comfortable out of the box and have got progressively better. They're the only saddle I've ever used (not an extensive sample group I must admit) that feels the same at the end of tthe ride as at the start of the ride and it should be noted that I don't wear padded shorts hough there's nothing stopping you. Although I use mine for all my riding, short or long, they really make most sense for people regularly spending some time (over an hour) on the bike. They don't suit everybody but they suit me :D

What saddle you get and how much you spend will depend a lot on how long you spend on it - for quick trips up the bike path with the kids, any decent quality saddle will do as long as it fits/suits your bum (the only opinion that matters :wink:).

As for those modern platform saddles they put on racing bikes - they only work if you wear thickly padded shorts ... and for throwing at cats :oo:

Richard

[Foo]

You mean like this.
http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy6/fooonpatrol/seat.jpg

[Daddles]

Woosy saddle, this is REAL man's saddle :D

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/stonesaddle.jpeg

Richard

[Foo]

Haha !Yeah but mine is worth $400 :C They are both about as comfortable, as each other.:oo:

[Farm boy]

thumbs up to the lbs,i peddaled my giant rincon se down to hadleys at belmont today from mount hutton (man that was hard:oo:) prior to this i put some 3m pressure tape on the seat cracks as it is a bit more comfortable than cracked vinyl in your bum. the bike shop said the seat repair job was good and dont get another seat as the giant one even with cracks covered up was still pretty good.
i was so impressed with his honesty i left the bike there for a service and bought some new hand grips and t pieces for the end to hold onto and walked back to mount hutton
i will pick the bike up next wednesday
cheers
greg

[Daddles]

Sounds like a good lbs to me. My two favourite shops have gouged a lot of money out of me by being quite happy not to sell anything and very happy to offer free advice (including 'it's cheaper on the internet'). Both of them understand that impulse buying is very lucrative and that if they create the right atmosphere, the impulses happen in front of their till :D

Besides, I suspect I provide them with a fair helping of amusement as few of my questions or requests are typical or easily achieved by the modern cycling industry :- (and why isn't anyone who knows me surprised by that :-:-)

Richard