Sore Butt!!

[greenhorn]

Yeah yeah. I know it's been talked about before. Mr. Softie's mod described in Oct '08 looks cool. I wonder how well it held up for him..

I just got back from my third group ride of over 70 miles & same old thing... my tail bone hurts!

I'm thinking shifting around my butt while riding might help.... alas. I don't suppose there is a simple solution?

Mary

[Water Warrior 2]

Sore Butt Syndrome aka a PITA. Lynda never had a complaint with her GZ, a perfect fit. But her new bike is a PITA after a while. The shape of the seat presses up against the tail bone. Lynda has a gel pad and is experimenting with that. Rather than just placing the pad on the seat to fit the contour she has slid it forward a bit so the tail bone basically hangs off the rear edge of the gel pad. The pad is about 1 inch thick in case you have a problem reaching the ground at present. So far so good.
Another thought for a fix, shave off the rise at the rear of the seat to relieve the pressure point. If that works there is no need for a gel pad and short leg syndrome biting you when you least expect it. Hope this helps a bit. Ride safe Mary.

[Easy Rider]

I just got back from my third group ride of over 70 miles & same old thing... my tail bone hurts!


As WW said, I found that a generous pad that you can experiment with helped me the most.
Moving around on the seat to change your posture slightly helps too.
The REAL solution is to STOP every 60 miles or so and stretch for a minute or two.
On a group ride, that should be arranged in advance.

After changing bikes AND springing for a ~ $400 Mustang seat AND trying my gel pad on it.......I have concluded that I just don't have enough natural padding and I just have to toughen up a bit. My symptoms, however, are that everything BUT the tailbone area hurts; a somewhat different situation.

[GZ250]

not the tail bone but the right hip bone was hurting in my case but that was due to the wallet i was carrying on the right pocket and it was pressing and made the bone hurt. after i stopped carrying the wallet i am ok. i do not use any pad or modification, just keep moving back and forth on the seat but i never go over ~60-70 miles in a single stretch.

[Easy Rider]

not the tail bone but the right hip bone was hurting in my case but that was due to the wallet i was carrying on the right pocket and it was pressing and made the bone hurt.

I was just thinking of that on a ride yesterday. Although not conscious of any pressure under the wallet, I took it out and it seemed to make a difference; maybe I am unconsciously sitting "crooked" to compensate. Anyhow, I plan to try putting the wallet in a jacket pocket next trip. I know it makes a difference on long cage rides.

[Water Warrior 2]

I just got back from my third group ride of over 70 miles & same old thing... my tail bone hurts!


As WW said, I found that a generous pad that you can experiment with helped me the most.
Moving around on the seat to change your posture slightly helps too.
The REAL solution is to STOP every 60 miles or so and stretch for a minute or two.
On a group ride, that should be arranged in advance.

After changing bikes AND springing for a ~ $400 Mustang seat AND trying my gel pad on it.......I have concluded that I just don't have enough natural padding and I just have to toughen up a bit. My symptoms, however, are that everything BUT the tailbone area hurts; a somewhat different situation.

Sheesh, always gotta be the odd man out, LOL. As mentioned, nothing in the back pockets and also try to wear britches with no seams to sit on. Actually I won't even put anything in my front pockets either. Jacket pockets and a fanny pack hanging off my left hip works quite well. A generous application of talcum powder will also make a difference for some riders.

[burkbuilds]

When I went on longer rides on my GZ I found that I could flip down the rear pegs and "hook" my heels on them occasionally for a change of position, that really helped me get through sometimes although it's not the "solution" it might give you one more option on riding positions. The solution for me was to "customize" the seat to fit me and if you plan on doing a lot of longer rides that would be my recommendation for you.

[alanmcorcoran]

I don't have a tail bone problem (my weak point is between the shoulder blades.) However, I thought you might experiment with bicycle shorts. They make various types, most of which feature built-in padding. There are some designed as under AND overwear (one layer) and others designed as just underwear. The high end ones used to go for about sixty bucks when I was in the game (8 odd years back) but, if they work for you, it'd be cheaper and cleaner than redo-ing your seat. Plus it will work on your next bike as well.

[greenhorn]

I don't have a tail bone problem (my weak point is between the shoulder blades.) However, I thought you might experiment with bicycle shorts. They make various types, most of which feature built-in padding. There are some designed as under AND overwear (one layer) and others designed as just underwear. The high end ones used to go for about sixty bucks when I was in the game (8 odd years back) but, if they work for you, it'd be cheaper and cleaner than redo-ing your seat. Plus it will work on your next bike as well.
Yes, great suggestion & one that I was considering myself as I have a pair already!!! Bicycle shorts that is & I wear shorts under my FG mesh pants the way it is.

I'm going to give it a shot on Friday.

Mary

Anybody ever try those wooded beads seat pads? To me they look pretty cheesy, but the physics of it might make sense (dispersing pressure points, etc.). Also a cheaper alternative than gel pads.

Keith

[Water Warrior 2]

The beads do work well. Many long distance riders swear by them. They are a fairly cheap experiment even if they don't work well. If they do work it is money well spent.

[mr. softie]

Yeah yeah. I know it's been talked about before. Mr. Softie's mod described in Oct '08 looks cool. I wonder how well it held up for him...

Mary


That mod actually worked really well and was comfortable for me on rides of over 300 miles a day. It held up well too. I converted the seat back to stock when I sold the bike.

Steve