bike fitting

gagomes

As a part of trying to improve my health and losing weight, I have started cycling and I have been really enjoying it! I started with a 1.5km route and recently tested myself around a 4.4 circle and was surprised it didn't feel hard at all, which to me is great as I would like to start pushing myself to repeat this journey and start pushing it until I find a breaking point. However, as of yesterday after the 4.4 km route, I popped out of the bike and I had a numb bellend/bollocks and a quick read, e.g this article, talks about something scary aka Pudendal Nerve Entrapment, which is scary business and I figured that part of this problem may be alleviated if I replace the saddle on my bike and/or make some improvements to the ergonomics. I heard, from reading some posts from 2009, that Irish Fit have a great bike fitting service. So my questions to the friendly folk out there are:

1. Any ideas on Saddles? I ride a hybrid, lapierre cross 200
2. Re: IrishFit, has anyone done a bike fitting with them recently? Your thoughts and what price were you charged?
3. Any general advice?

Thanks

splanagan22

Buy a pair of cycling shorts and go from there.

Domane

Like you, I suffered severe pain that almost put me off cycling. I had a bike fit done and while it helped, it didn't cure the problem. New more expensive cycling shorts also helped but still the problem persisted. What finally worked for me (in conjunction with the bike fit and good shorts), was to get out of the saddle every ten to fifteen minutes and cycle standing up. This gets the blood flowing in the "suffocated" part of your anatomy and relieves the numbness and pain. Every time I see a hill ahead, I get out of the saddle and pedal hard up it. This gets the blood flowing and also improves leg fitness.

So next time you're out on the bike, if you have an incline/hill coming up, stand up in the pedals and try cycling that way for about 10-15 revolutions to see if it helps. The only caveat is be careful if you don't have cleats or a cage for cycling as there is a danger of your foot slipping off the pedals, which would hurt!

H.E. Pennypacker

Two possible causes of numbness in that area are a saddle that's tilted up at the front or being too stretched on the bike. Check the level of your saddle and then have a think about how you feel on the bike. If you feel that you are stretching a bit to reach the bars, you can make some small adjustments such as moving the saddle forward a little or fitting a smaller stem. There is also the possibility that the bike is a bit big for you.

In terms of fitting, I'd highly recommend Aidan Hammond: http://www.bikefittingireland.com/

magicbastarder

where did you buy your bike? if it's a decent LBS (local bike shop), i'd head back and ask them to have a quick once over of it, and watch you cycle it around a car park, they should be able to spot anything glaringly obvious.

martyc5674

H.E. Pennypacker wrote: »

.

In terms of fitting, I'd highly recommend Aidan Hammond: http://www.bikefittingireland.com/

Id recommend him aswell...my saddle was slightly nose up and had same problem as you

omri

martyc5674 wrote: »

Id recommend him aswell...my saddle was slightly nose up and had same problem as you

Can recommend Aidan Hammond as well.

diomed

I can also recommend Aidan Hammond (bikefittingireland.com).

stecleary

an other shout for Aidan Hammond. He's done all my bike with different set ups depending what i wanted and i cant say one is any more comfortable than the others. everything just fits right

Beasty

I can also vouch for Aidan

Adjust my own bikes now though. Saddle position is identical except for TTs (where it's pushed forward to the UCI legal limit) and it's raised just under 1cm for track racing - I keep them with a marginal decline pointing forwards (only about 1.5 degrees)

Drops are at their lowest for the track, 2cm higher for road racing and a further 2cm higher for commuting/leisure. The differences are down to how much I can tolerate and for how long in the lower positions

Of course everyone is different and I think it's worth getting a bike fit done to work out what's best in theory initially. Don't be afraid to tinker thereafter though (although I would suggest only by a few mm at a time until you find something that you feel works best)

Statler

If you're just starting out it might just take your nether regions a bit of time to get used to cycling. A bike fit will cost you upwards of €100, have a look at the GCN channel on Youutube first for their various bike fitting videos, they're all for road bikes rather than hybrids but you'll get a general idea of what should be what. As said above saddle should be level, if it's pointing up it's asking for trouble.
If you do decide to get a fitting done I'd definitely advise going to Aidan Hammond. I've been to both him and Irish Fit, he's by far the better choice from my experience.

tommy_tucker

I cannot recommend a Selle SMP Saddle enough there specifically designed to keep that blood vessel to the crown jewels flowing. I use to get the same from time to time, but the selle smp saddle is like sitting on a cloud, trust me there awesome.

gagomes

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I got my bike over a year ago from cycles super store in Tallaght.

Sadly, I don't drive / know anyone who could take me all the way to bray and I can't cycle more than 10km (pushing it, never done it in one day) so I will need to figure out a way, but, what makes Aidan stand out from IrishFit? The thread I linked in my first post suggested irishfit were highly acclaimed too

As for the selle SMP, what model do you have and/or recommend Tommy? They seem quite pricey, saw the prices on chain reaction cycles ranging from ~70 to 200+.

Also, are cycling shorts essential? I typically use summer shorts when cycling or tracksuit. I don't particularly fill comfortable with notion of having a noticeable bulge in my shorts. In case these shorts are essential, would you know of a brand/shop that caters for the big and tall? I'm 6'8, 320 pounds.

cheers!

tommy_tucker

gagomes wrote: »

As for the selle SMP, what model do you have and/or recommend Tommy? They seem quite pricey, saw the prices on chain reaction cycles ranging from ~70 to 200+.

Just get the cheapest one the selle smp TRK, it does the same job as the others but its heavier because it has more padding, but my god the comfort is phenomenal. Takes a week or two to get use to and get set up right on it with angle and height.

68 lost souls

Velomotion in Base2Race gets my vote for a fitting. With regards to a saddle as well they offer a service whereby you give a deposit and borrow the saddle for a while and find one that suits. Then you can take the deposit off the price of the saddle you end up with.