I’ve been riding indoors for a year and bought a Wahoo Smart bike in May. Love riding the smart bike but I find that riding indoors causes more discomfort. I’ve put the same seat on my smart bike as I have on my Pinarello which I find to be very comfortable but still get a sore butt especially on longer rides indoors. Any suggestions on shorts for indoor riding?
After a fair bit of experimentation I went the other way for my Wattbike - fat ass gym saddle that would never be seen dead out of the doors. I can now wear my oldest, most shredded, shorts without an issue for even the longest of rides (longest to date being 12 hours or so). Stuck the usually comfortable roadie on a Kickr and it was a right PITA after not very many minutes. Go figure.
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I tried the fat-saddle too, no succes for me.
I now use the same shorts (Eroe) I use outdoors on the same saddle (Pro Stealth), I also copied the outdoor position to my Neobike (+1cm on the bars because of no pushing ride wind) and no discomfort on the undercarriage, not even after my KoS quest.
When I some older not so good shorts (my ass really hates the Assos shorts), it hurts pretty fast as well.
I have a saddle like that, I’ll give it a try. Can’t hurt (well maybe)! Thanks for input.
Like @JamesT I went to a wider saddle for the same reason. Not as fat as you would find at the gym but wider than the saddle I am comfortable with out on the road. It worked for me.
Also, remember to stand more, even if the ride doesn’t ask for it. The subtle changes you make constantly outdoors don’t happen on a stationary bike platform. It has to be intentional.
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Doing this has helped me a lot too.
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I was using a Physik areone and I decided I needed something different. I went to the specialized shop and they put me on a womens saddle with a center cutout. It works better than the Physik. Standing up periodically helps. Shorts with a firmer chamis pad help. I can tolerate now remaining seated for 20 minutes or more, but I risk still loosing circulation in places. However there is no perfect answer so far for me. I could probably go a little more padding on the sit bones on my current saddle but they had the thinner or the thickest padding, I think I need the one in between to be perfect. They had me sit on a foam measuring thing to check the width of my sit ones so they sized the saddle. Trick is inventory on saddles was somewhat limited so it narrowed the choices a little.
I did my full frontal test last weekend, used assos chamis cream, that seamed to help too as it was an hour long session. I will probably start using that on my long sessions.
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I had a pro fit for a new bike over the summer. The guy also had me sit on the measuring thing, but when I described what made me uncomfortable and he watched me pedal, he recommended going up one size (or getting a flatter saddle–many saddles drop off quickly at the back edges). The larger saddle is overwhelmingly the most comfortable I’ve ever had. Moral: don’t assume that the foam measuring thing is the last word if you’re still having saddle discomfort.
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@AkaPete Getting a GOOD bike fitter can make all the difference in the world. The bike fit I had on my last bike was intense. I live less than a mile from Specialized Bike HQ and the owner of the LBS was a former bike fitter for them.
It was four and a half hours of tweaking and trying. At one point I asked him if he was going to start charging me rent. BUT, the end result was amazing. Riding that bike just feels natural.
Great suggestion!
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My new saddle is working better than my old one, it may not be the perfect one though, where I found discomfort in the new one was that it is thinner foam cover than my old one and the sit bones were a little uncomfortable for the first few rides, the back side of the saddle is not an issue.
I did a fit years ago but did not consider saddle so my trainer bike is fairly dialed in but I could probably use an update. I have some leg length discrepancy that I rode with most of my time on a bike, with that adjusted it has made the biggest difference over anything. For years I wondered why on a long ride I could not sit square on the saddle. After the fit my fitter added spacers to my cleat and extended my seat post, it worked a minor miracle.
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I wear MTB Altura gel lining shorts for my indoor riding, they’re great.
I love my Selle saddle on my road bike but the same Selle on my Wahoo bike is not comfortable. I’ll keep experimenting.
I’ve been looking at new bike shorts so I’ll give them a try.