Help buying a new bike please

richj

Get the miles in whilst the weather is good and you'll breeze through autumn and winter. You've inspired me to dig mine out over the weekend.

Richard53

littleredhen wrote: »

Just been out and it's amazing, totally fired up now and looking forward to practising my commute in the holidays

Yay, go you! I wish you many miles of fun.

Richard53

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Well done on on the weight loss, that was the reason I took up longer distance riding. Managed to lose 4 stone, although I've put some of that back on and need to up the mileage again. Planning to do a 150km ride with my brother at the week end.

I missed this first time round. That's a stunning weight loss, well done. Did you find it made a big difference to your riding? Now I have lost most of the padding round the middle (well, some of it) I find I can bend much more easily, and my next bike will probably be a road bike with drop bars. I'd expect my butt to feel 2 stone easier in the saddle, but sadly not.

Keep_pedalling

Richard53 wrote: »

I missed this first time round. That's a stunning weight loss, well done. Did you find it made a big difference to your riding? Now I have lost most of the padding round the middle (well, some of it) I find I can bend much more easily, and my next bike will probably be a road bike with drop bars. I'd expect my butt to feel 2 stone easier in the saddle, but sadly not.

Yes it did, but mainly in endurance, and climbing ability.

Anything more than a short commute, then regardless of weight of the rider, getting the right saddle for you is crucial if you don't want a sore backside on longer rides. The big mistake people make is getting soft gel saddles, which become very uncomfortable after 15 or 20 miles. Not everyone gets on with them but I ride good old fashion Brooke's leather B17s on my tourers and once broken in I can ride 100 miles without getting sore. It's all about supporting your weight on you sit bones.

I've got a Cannondale Synapse turning up sometime next week to replace my stolen Trek Domane, and I'm wiling to bet that I'm going to have to replace the saddle it comes with, and I might not get that right first time so it can get a bit expensive using the trial and error method.

littleredhen

richj wrote: »

Get the miles in whilst the weather is good and you'll breeze through autumn and winter. You've inspired me to dig mine out over the weekend.

Thanks:D
Everyone on here is always so helpful and encouraging :T
Richj do return here and tell us how you got on
I am off to do my normal commute as a test to see how it feels, it's a perfect day, drizzly and no wind, tomorrow is going to be lovely and sunny so,I am afraid I will be back on exercise bike and lazying in my garden reading my book:rotfl:

littleredhen

Just done my normal commute, there and back in one go, phew!
Amazing though and totally doable, roll on next term I say!!

Richard53

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Anything more than a short commute, then regardless of weight of the rider, getting the right saddle for you is crucial if you don't want a sore backside on longer rides. The big mistake people make is getting soft gel saddles, which become very uncomfortable after 15 or 20 miles. Not everyone gets on with them but I ride good old fashion Brooke's leather B17s on my tourers and once broken in I can ride 100 miles without getting sore. It's all about supporting your weight on you sit bones.

Totally agree with this. I have never, ever, not once, been happy with the saddle supplied with a bike. Even my lovely Dawes Galaxy (why did I sell it?) had a beer bottle for a saddle, and I replaced it with ... guess what, a B17. The plastic thing that came with my ebike is not too bad, but I replaced it with a B67 (wider, and with springs for the more upright position), absolutely brilliant. I put the B67 on the MTB I am renovating and it transformed it. Unfortunately, after a week's commuting, it's going to have to go back on the ebike, as my butt won't stand any more of the plastic thing - which, before the B67, I thought was reasonably comfy.