Best Bike Seat Ever ?
Bicycles are a fabulous invention; one of the best ever. Right up there with fire and the USB connector.
Transportation made easy, fast and cheap. Plus you stay in healthy shape without realizing that you are exercising.
But (no pun intended) what is the huge drawback to bicycles? If you’ve ever taken a long ride – say over an hour or so – what is your biggest complaint?
Right – the seats are awful. Some would say excruciating. They seem almost intentionally painful. They put all your weight on your crotch – on a piece of stretched leather. And if either foot ever slips off a pedal – what is the result ? a metal bar slammed into one of your most favorite sensitive places. Aughhh !
There’s a rumor that Cheney and Rumsfield ordered GiTMO detainees to ride 10-speed bikes 3 hours a day just so they would have to endure bike seats.
OK I’m kidding, however, The New York Times caught my attention with an article “Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life.”
The well researched article described quite reasonably how you (women as well as men) can do permanent serious harm to your reproductive system with a normal bike seat even if you are up to date with technology and you added a gel-covered pad or seat. It explained why you might want to look into alternatives to eliminate pressure on your perineum area.
So I went looking for one (“Buy Locally”) and got quite a shock. Every bike shop on our Monterey Peninsula I called — seriously tried to talk me out of buying a “dual bun” bike seat; a couple of bike sales guys actually got hostile when I mentioned the New York Times article. Of course none of them had a seat to try out.
One shop owner even called me stupid for just wanting to try one out ! (If you ever want to endure a blasting of wrath of a bogus know-it all – try questioning a bicycle “expert.” Cliff Claven could take lessons from these guys – and yes they are all guys. This is yet another perfect application of the “Incapable of Understanding their own Incompetence Principle.” )
Of course what could I possibly know? (I mean other than the dozens and dozens (probably more like hundreds) of bike races I’ve won — likely more than most of these self-deluded experts have ever even attended; decades long participating membership in the International Human Powered Vehicle Association, and then I did test and even help design high performance parts for racing bikes as far back as the 1970s.)
Now they don’t know any of that; but it probably wouldn’t make any difference. Apparently in their eyes – everyone is just another dolt who doesn’t have the first clue about bicycles.
Heaven help the ordinary bike rider who is just trying to ride more comfortably. How often will they get the “Just shut up and buy what I tell you to.”
Well, never one to give up, I did my own research and found a few firms do provide a “comfortable” alternative.
I bought one of these seats a few years ago – and I’m never going back.
The one I bought is the EasySeat II by Hobson
It took maybe two — one-minute rides to get used to it – and I’m never going back to the torture seats.
The only drawback I’ve found is (other than the viscerally irrational berating by bike Anti-Experts) is that if you try to ride “hands-off” of the handlebars it is slightly more difficult to balance. Since most people never even dream of riding “hands-off” – that’s not a big deal.