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Saddle Update – Use #253 For Duct Tape

09.18.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Back in May, I reported the one-year results of my experience with my WTB Speed V saddle. While I thought the saddle offered more or less the comfort I was looking for, I was dismayed that the vinyl covering the seat was starting to separate.

Here we are four months later. Lately, I’ve noticed some discomfort on weekend rides. I’ve been getting saddle sores more often. I figured the saddle was the culprit, but also figured that I could hold out for awhile before taking any drastic action.

Then came Saturday’s ride. It was another of those Mamma Jamma training rides I’ve reported about before. I was looking forward to it, because it uses roads about 30 miles from my house. Because of that, I don’t ride them. But I do enjoy riding in that area, because you get out in the country immediately, the roads are little traveled, and the drivers are polite — they wave at cyclists!

I was having a good ride. The people in this group ride a little slower than those in my club, so I could settle into a comfortable pace and be at or close to the front. We were doing the 41-mile route. At a rest stop at mile 20, I felt some soreness where my derriere contacts the saddle.

I took a look at it (the saddle — not my derriere). The tearing in the vinyl cover was quite a bit worse.

What the seat looked like after Saturday’s ride. The torn edges of the vinyl rub uncomfortably on the youknowwhat.

The second half of that ride was not as carefree as the first half. I found myself standing on the pedals often, just to relieve the soreness. I got to the finish in good enough shape — second in our group (It’s a ride, not a race!), and proceeded to enjoy the snacks and bottled water waiting for us there.

But it was clear to me that something had to be done. We had a club ride of similar length scheduled for today, and I knew that if I attempted to go on that without attending to the saddle I could be in for an unpleasant time.

Then I got it. Duct tape. I pulled out a roll, ripped off two pieces, and covered the ruined vinyl. Would it work? It looked awful.

It ain’t pretty, but it seems to do the trick.

But it did work. I got to the turnaround point on today’s ride and felt pretty good. The tape hadn’t separated, as I was afraid it might. It smoothly covered the uneven spots on the saddle. I finished strong — although I’m sure our more moderate fall temperatures had a lot to do with that.

A popular web site lists 252 different uses for duct tape. Today, I found use #253. It will tide me over until I can find a more permanent replacement for the saddle, but I now know it works well enough that I can take my time looking and find just the right replacement for me.

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Being Visible

07.28.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

I’ve been riding along some pretty busy roads lately. Most of the time, they have shoulders. Sometimes, they don’t. And shoulders and bike lanes usually end at intersections. So being seen is something I’m always aware of.

It seems whenever I hear of a collision between a car and a bike, the driver often says something like, “I didn’t see you!” Now, that’s generally because the driver was not looking for a cyclist. They were looking for motorized traffic, so didn’t expect to see cyclists.

So I decided early on that I would try to wear clothing that is visible.

Different colors show up differently. Below is a shot from the start of a group ride I attended about a year and a half ago. (It’s kinda nice to see evidence of cooler weather — I’m sure it will be back, eventually!)

Anyway, some colors jump right out. Hi-vis green, for one. On this overcast day, the screaming color makes the cyclists wearing it stand out from the crowd. Another good choice is bright yellow, also obvious in the picture.

Less of a standout — white and black. Again, the overcast sky has an effect. White might work on a day like this, but not as well when the sun is low in the sky. Blue is a popular color. It’s one of my personal favorites, and I have three jerseys that feature blue as a dominant or prominent color. But I don’t think blue is a great choice for visibility. Note the cyclist in blue top and black shorts in the right third of the picture. Not exactly a stand out.

Red and orange show up well. I was following a group several weekends ago, and all were wearing different shades of those. My wife was in her salmon pink and orange jersey, and was riding with a woman in a red flower print top. I could see them clearly well before I could determine who they were.

So I’m at a loss to figure out why black seems to be such a popular jersey color these days. Cyclists in black seem to me to blend in with their surroundings.

In addition to being less of a standout, it strikes me that black jerseys absorb too much heat. I own a jersey with black shoulders and a blue body. I wear it often, but during this hot sunny summer weather we’re having, it is not my first choice. I pick it when my other jerseys are in the wash. Both the Sky and Leopard-Trek teams in the Tour de France wore jerseys that were predominantly black. Ugh. I can’t imagine going more than 100 miles for days on end in the summer, in black.

A lot of cyclists prefer to go the understated way, though. They don’t like to dress in high visibility colors. Why? Often, it’s because they’re engaged in cycling for reasons other than sport. Commuters, for example, would like to wear their work clothes on their bikes. Touring cyclists might want to stop and visit attractions or shops on their routes, and darker clothing makes them less conspicuous in a crowd of non-bikers. Some might think the bright colored cycling jerseys themselves are dorky looking.

Other cyclists argue that color is not important — it’s how you cycle that matters. Make yourself prominent on the road. Take the lane when necessary. Make eye contact with drivers. Just because you’re wearing high-visibility clothing doesn’t mean drivers will see you.

See Me Wear jersey

As in most issues, there can be extremes. A line of cycling gear called See Me Wear is available that — well, see for yourself:

There’s even talk of requiring high-visibility colors when cycling. New Zealand is going through a debate along those lines right now. Proponents say anything that makes cyclists more visible is a good thing. Cycling advocates argue that making mandatory a type of clothing that some might see as “dorky” would discourage some people from riding — and could lull others into a false sense of security.

You wouldn’t find me wearing one of these warning chevron jerseys. But at the same time, I’m not going to take anything for granted. I’ll do what I can to ride safely, and to make myself known to drivers. But I’ll also do it in my red or yellow jerseys, and my hi-vis green jacket. And as I add to my cycling wardrobe, I’ll favor brighter, not duller, colors.

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Categories // Accessories, Equipment, Safety Tags // jersey

Noseless Saddles – My Two Cents Worth

06.30.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 17 Comments

Caveat:  I do not own a noseless saddle, and I don’t know anyone who does. I did do some research to determine whether they’re the kind of thing road bikers would like. These are my conclusions based on that research. Take what I say here with a grain of salt.

A recent New York Times article extolls the virtues of noseless saddles. They mostly eliminate pressure on the perineum (the soft tissues down below) and make for a more comfortable ride. They also prevent erectile dysfunction in men that can result from repeatedly squishing your naughty bits against a saddle’s nose.

Nexride – it pivots.

I was intrigued by the article, and followed its links to different saddle makers to learn more about what’s out there. There are a lot more of them — by more different makers — than I thought.

Some offer what amounts to a bench. The Nexride is one of these, but pivots 15 degrees left to right as your butt flexes with each pedal stroke.

Others make a special effort to cushion the sit bones. The Hobson Easy Seat is one such example. Two padded cushions cradle the sit bones, and there is no saddle nose to squish the perineum.

Easyseat

Or, the seat could be shaped like a crescent, to cushion the sit bones in a slightly different way. The ISM Sport model exemplifies these types.

One recurring theme soon became apparent:

Noseless saddles are mostly for upright riding.

The saddle websites say so. Here’s just a sample of what you can find:

The ISM Sport.

The Hobson Easy Seat: “NOTE: The best position for the seat is sitting upright with handle bars positioned upward.”

Comfort Saddle: “The Comfort Saddle is best suited for cyclists who prefer to sit upright.”

ISM Sport: “Designed for more upright types of riding such as hybrids or light trail riding.”

But most readers of this blog are roadies. We don’t sit upright on our bikes, except to take a few minutes rest during a long ride. So as good as these saddles sound, they might not be the solution for us.

However, one of the companies in the noseless saddle business — ISM — might have the answer. They make the upright kinds of saddles just as their competitors do, but they also make oddly-shaped saddles with a split nose that is supposed to accomplish the same thing — take pressure off the perineum.

ISM Adamo Road.

ISM produces a range of different saddles, geared for riders from time trialists to recreational road riders. The saddle pictured here is the ISM Adamo Road. It has two “arms” in front with a relatively wide gap between them — and the arms do not meet at the front. The design is supposed to prevent blood loss from compression of the soft tissue, as well as keep weight off the perineum and on the sit bones.

A check of various equipment review sites finds anecdotal support for the benefits of the ISM saddle. It boils down to this: The wide cutout between the two nose parts eases pressure on the soft tissues. The fact that there is still a “nose” of sorts to the saddle allows riders to have a similar sensation as a nosed saddle.

ISM saddles retail for a low of $119 to a high of $224, depending on the model. I’ve said before that I’m happy with my $25 WTB saddle. But when it’s time to replace it, I’ll be looking closely at an ISM.
You can find a current selection of ISM Saddles here.

Update 2024: Many of these saddles don’t seem to be available any longer. You can find a selection of Noseless bike seats on Amazon here.

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