A good mountain bike seat is a must for a good riding experience. For a good number of us a skinny hard seat makes for a painful riding experience.
I am going to show you some comfortable mountain bike seats. In my opinion these are some of the best you can get for the money.
Most riders spend a lot of time on every ride sitting in the saddle.you need to find the one that fits you the best. Below I am going to share some things to know and consider before you buy.
THE FOUR PARTS OF A MOUNTAIN BIKE SEAT
1.RAILS they come in steel,chrome moly,titanium,aluminum,and some in carbon fiber. The difference is steel don’t flex as much as the higher grade metals like aluminum and the higher grade is more costly.
2.SHELL the plastic layer or other material that gives the seat its shape or form.
3.PADDING is the material underneath the cover some have little padding like race seats others for recreation have more. But sometimes more does not mean more comfortable. The right size and shape are more important than the thickness of the padding.
4.COVERING they usually come with a synthetic covering or some with leather. Best to choose one with an abrasive covering around the back edges.
WIDTH AND LENGTH
Most mountain bike seats are similar in looks with a slim front and a wider back. Most men saddles run around 270mm in length women around 260mm. Width is measured by your sit bone.
To get the right width you have to measure your sit bones. Most saddles usually have a cut out or channel to help with pressure and circulation.
SIT BONE MEASUREMENT
To measure your sit bones you need a flat piece of cardboard and a piece of chalk.if you have stairs put the cardboard on the second step. If you do not have stairs you can use a flat table or surface.
Sit down on the cardboard make sure your legs are at a 45 degree angle like you were pedaling.sit for a few moments then get up and take a peice of chalk use the flat part of the chalk and lightly go over the cardboard. You should get two indentions or circles in the cardboard.
Take a pen and go to the middle of each circle and put a dot in the middle of each of the circles. Then get a ruler and measure the distance between the dots in mm and you have your sit bone measurement.
Now you will know what size seat to look for and I would add 10 to 20mm on to your measurement that will give you plenty of room. Because a seat that is to small for you could give you a lot of pain and discomfort.
SEAT SURFACE
Personally I like a pretty much flat seat surface. With maybe a little curve at the very back of the seat. This small curve will help when you are climbing it helps hold you on the seat.
I like the front to be slightly narrow so that it is easier to move to the font of the seat when you are climbing. The seat should have good firm padding something that is not to soft.
When climbing or on long rides padding that is to soft takes the effectiveness out of your pedaling makes you feel like you are moving around too much. Also, if the padding is to soft it will make you sore on long rides. Soft padding is best for shorter rides.
KINDS OF SEATS
RECREATION AND TRAIL these are seats that most people use for leisurely rides and short trail rides. They are well padded and are very comfortable seats.
Especially if you sit upright a lot but when you need to move around it is a little harder because those seats tend to be a little larger in size. But if you are older or have a sensitive backside then these seats are something you might want to consider.
My personal seat that I have been using for about one and a half years is a diamondback pillow top seat. I have used it for leisure and trails as far as comfort it has been one of the most comfortable seats I have used. On the trails it is a little harder to move around on but it is a very comfortable seat.
TRAIL-SPORT
These seats will be less padded and a little smaller. But they are made to be very comfortable seats that you can ride for many miles on. The contour and the width are things to look at for comfort if a seat is not wide enough it will be very uncomfortable.
Trail seats are designed so that you can move around on them easily. As you need to in the trails so if you ride a lot of trails do long rides climb and descend a lot. Some of these seats you might want to consider.
WTB VOLT MED 142mm WTB SPEED MED 145mm
SUMMARY
I have covered some of the basics of what to look for in finding a comfortable mountain bike seat. But still its hard to tell whats comfortable for one might not be for another.
If you can go to a bike shop and check they might have some you can demo. For me it was trial and error. I have had some good seats come with some of my bikes like a sdg falcon great looking seat.
Firm but flexible but I could not use it. Why because it was not wide enough that is why you need to know your sit bone width. I hope I have given you some useful information so that it will help you make a good choice. thanks, Dave