Emergency saddle questions

[lordofthemark]

Never mind.

[Judd]

@lordofthemark 175538 wrote:

Never mind.

Looks like all the weight from that Freezing Saddles tag caused an imbalance that stressed the rail on the other side.

Looks like the saddle stayed on so I hope you weren’t injured when it snapped.

[hozn]

Yikes! Perhaps there is something about that seatpost that is stressing the rails at the clamp edges. Or it was over-tightened and pinched the rails? I’ve never broken a saddle rail, but I know people do — usually doing pretty extreme things, though . If this was just riding along, I’d probably change the seatpost too. (And then you can change to a 2-bolt or other non-indexed seatpost clamp design too.)

[kwarkentien]

@lordofthemark 175538 wrote:

Never mind.

Yikes!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lordofthemark]

Just to clarify, the emergency was the need for immediate advice about purchasing a saddle, not any physical damage to me. I had noticed something wrong with the saddle (and soreness which I mentioned at HDCC, but attributed to riding more than I am used to). Yesterday before setting out I finally put the bike up on the rack to fiddle with the rear derailleur, and saw the break on the saddle support. I had already been thinking of stopping by a bike shop for brake pads, so went to Spokes to deal with the saddle as well. They suggested a higher end saddle. I would have taken time to consider and chat about choices at coffee club, but they said very dangerous to ride like that. So I needed to decide right away, and that was the emergency. Some positive force in the universe deemed this the right time for reji to offer saddles!

For now I will be riding with the Royal Seta on the old seat post. The guy at Spokes did not suggest a new seat post, but we can have a show and tell at CC.

[n18]

I have been using Selle Royal Respiro, both the Moderate men version on my upright hybrid, and the Athletic version(one style, unisex) on my road bike. I don’t use padded shorts, and they are very comfortable for hours. I routinely do 3 to 5 hours on them comfortably. The air channel makes it noticeably cooler(by a little bit) than a saddle with a cutout in the center. REI used to carry both, but stopped carrying the moderate men version. Here is a link to the athletic version at REI. I damaged my saddle by lifting the bike while the panniers were loaded with 20 lbs+ of stuff, and the gel leaked out slowly, so I am buying another one. I tried this similar size seat from Performance Bike, but it was much harder than Respiro, and couldn’t do more than 1 hour without pain, so I returned it.

[n18]

@lordofthemark 175561 wrote:

For now I will be riding with the Royal Seta on the old seat post.

I am guessing this is the seat that you are referring to, which I couldn’t find at Selle Royal web site. It looks like it has decorative stitches, which I don’t recommend. After long rides, I would feel these stitches. Another area to check if you are buying a good saddle is to squeeze the nose area and compare it with other saddles, if it’s hard as rocks, then it’s something I would avoid.

[hozn]

I would definitely consider replacing the seatpost too. For one thing where that rail broke looks like stress from post clamp. Maybe it was over tightened. But a better post will also allow for better angle adjustment (non-indexed). And likely will also weigh a lot less.

[Starduster]

@hozn 175570 wrote:

I would definitely consider replacing the seatpost too. For one thing where that rail broke looks like stress from post clamp. Maybe it was over tightened. But a better post will also allow for better angle adjustment (non-indexed). And likely will also weigh a lot less.

Seatpost, yeah. You might want to find one with a little further setback, so that you’re not beyond the rearward limits of the saddle rails.

[lordofthemark]

Here is the new saddle

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17305[/ATTACH]

Here you can see the seat post is scratched. I think the,bike fell over hard at some point recently, and that may have broken the rail.[ATTACH=CONFIG]17307[/ATTACH]

Mp

[hozn]

That’s a good point. Are you sure you need your saddle so far back on a setback seatpost?

If your femurs are just super long, you can hopefully fine a post with more setback so you can center the saddle over the clamp.

If you are doing this just to stretch out the bike, you probably want to just get a longer stem … or a bigger frame.

[peterw_diy]

1) Aren’t the rails supposed to be clamped so that only the area with those white lines is inside the seatpost clamp?

2) Did you examine the clamp to ensure there is no scratched, rough area making contact with your saddle rails? If the rails get scratched, the scratch can be a “stress riser” which can lead to premature failure. Any rough area facing the rails should be sanded smooth, or the post should be replaced.

[lordofthemark]

er, reji did me the kindness of putting the seat on, in the cold, so I could ride on my errands and home with a seat that was not broken (yay Reji!) I think she tried to line it up with where the old seat was. When I get home tonight I will try to sand down the edge, and adjust the seat location, I guess.

Note I also have new brake pads I need to install. And I need to do more with the barrel adjuster – its shifting better than on Saturday (after watching a video and doing adjustments yesterday evening) but still imperfect.

[LhasaCM]

@lordofthemark 175606 wrote:

er, reji did me the kindness of putting the seat on, in the cold, so I could ride on my errands and home with a seat that was not broken (yay Reji!) I think she tried to line it up with where the old seat was. When I get home tonight I will try to sand down the edge, and adjust the seat location, I guess.

Note I also have new brake pads I need to install. And I need to do more with the barrel adjuster – its shifting better than on Saturday (after watching a video and doing adjustments yesterday evening) but still imperfect.

Hard to tell for certain, but from the two pictures it looks like she did a great job of lining it up where the old seat was (hence the notion of getting a seatpost with a bit of a setback).

[lordofthemark]

So the good news is that the bike room had something to use for sanding, and I sanded. And I managed to move the seat forward. I will see how it rides tomorrow morning.

Here is another shot before.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]17344[/ATTACH]

And here is after some sanding, and moving the saddle further forward.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]17345[/ATTACH]

Also I think I got the indexing right, but somehow working well on the rack does not seem to consistently translate into working well on the road.

[Author]

Posts