Need male cyclists advice

[Voldoverse1]

Hi everyone, so ive been doing a lot of indoor cycling lately and have come to enjoy it actually

except for one thing..... after bout 15min of cycling my gentlemans sausage is starting to go numb, 20min and i cant feel a damn thing, then i have to get off first so that life can return

ive read that its basically caused by too much pressure on the pereneum nerve, i went and bought a saddle with a nice large cutout in that area but still no joy

can anybody advise me on what to try or if you know some sort of professional in this department that can help me adjust my saddle for the correct position?

 

[Valheru]

Not a pro, but:

• I use padded pants
• Drop the seat one notch, raise handlebars one
• Dip seat slight forward
• Make sure your lean foward is minimized

 

[Scrooloose]

Happens on motorbikes too when your forward lean is too aggressive, as @Valheru suggests.

 

[Voldoverse1]

thanks im going to try and minimize the lean forward as much as i can and see if that helps

 

[lowracer]

Fit is more important than padding. the seat is supposed to fit on your sitting bones. also remember that the more padding, the more likely that after some time some bits hits some pressure. Some seats you can easily do an hour, others makes you numb after 10 mins, as you realised.

an alternative is to get yourself a recumbent. my lowracer recumbent supports my weight all the way from buttocks to shoulder blades - it is more comfortable than a lot of lounge couches. just bear in mind that (without getting too technical) as switching between mountainbike and road cycling uses slightly different muscles configurations, and have different power output, whatever you were using and a recumbent will also be different.

If you start to spend lots of time on a stationary bike - move to a real bike on a trainer. get it properly set up. real bikes are a lot more adjustable than gym-type bikes with often predefined settings to make setting it between riders quick.

... and recumbent gym bikes is the by far worst of any gym bikes in terms of comfort and adjustability.

 

[Voldoverse1]

Fit is more important than padding. the seat is supposed to fit on your sitting bones. also remember that the more padding, the more likely that after some time some bits hits some pressure. Some seats you can easily do an hour, others makes you numb after 10 mins, as you realised.

an alternative is to get yourself a recumbent. my lowracer recumbent supports my weight all the way from buttocks to shoulder blades - it is more comfortable than a lot of lounge couches. just bear in mind that (without getting too technical) as switching between mountainbike and road cycling uses slightly different muscles configurations, and have different power output, whatever you were using and a recumbent will also be different.

If you start to spend lots of time on a stationary bike - move to a real bike on a trainer. get it properly set up. real bikes are a lot more adjustable than gym-type bikes with often predefined settings to make setting it between riders quick.

... and recumbent gym bikes is the by far worst of any gym bikes in terms of comfort and adjustability.

thanks, thats the thing, how do i find the right saddle without professional guidance? saddles are expensive haha and i cant keep buying blindly

i never new such a thing as a recumbment even exists until now hahaha i had to google that, unfortunately though im stuck now with my merida mountain bike

in terms of the stationary bike business, what im currently running is my merida mountain bike with a slick tyre on the back and using a tacx flow with that and it works great just the business of my junk going numb makes me sad

i know cycle lab does fitments but i dont know if that covers the problem i have firstly and seconly id rather get someone who only specializes in fitment than a place that also happens to sell accesories, im a bit pessimistic about consumerism so i feel like they will just want to sell me shit until i end up with a top spec pinarello lance armstrong speziale gold edition where as a specialist in fitting will focus more on core elements like positioning before going into buying shit i dont need

 

[amdamian]

Former bicycle mechanic here.
No longer working in the industry so I am happy to share this with you, on how we were trained to do fittings.

First make sure your saddle height is correct. To do so:

• Measure your inseam (from the join of your crotch to the base of your foot when standing straight, you can use mm or cm but I prefer cm personally).
• Find your crank arm length (common crank arm lengths are 170mm, 175mm, and 180mm) - usually the length is stamped into the crank arm for ease but you may have to measure if it is cheaper.
• Take your inseam measurement, multiply it by 1.09 and then subtract your crank arm length.
• Add the thickness of the shoes you're cycling in to that formula and your height with the shoes will be correct. You can approximate if using normal takkies.

Keep in mind that you NEVER want your knees to lock out when a pedal is at the 6 o' clock position. That means your are overextending and aside from the groin issues you are waiting on knee injury.

Then you may want to check that your saddle alignment is correct. For this you will need assistance. Take some string with one side weighted, long enough to measure from your knees to your pedals. You need to put your right-hand pedal in the 3 o clock position, and measure from the centre of your knee joint straight down. Your right knee must be directly above the centre of the right-hand crank arm. The same applies for the left knee with the left crank arm at the 9 o' clock position.
Your legs are likely different lengths, this is normal, find a happy balance as close as possible.

Once you are happy with both alignments, then it is the saddle angle. You don't want the saddle pointing up or flat necessarily. As gents, flat saddles can worsen the issue. To mitigate this issue, angle the nose of the saddle gently down. You don't want a severe slope either at this point, just enough so that your pedal strokes keep you sitting on the wide part of the saddle at the back without too much pressure on your perineum.

If you have done all of these things, then your next step is a new saddle - you would need to go to a bicycle shop and ask them to be measured for your correct saddle width. They will check how far apart the bum bones are and suggest a saddle based on that.

If you need any other advice, I am happy to try help with advice.