# Saddle tilt



## Doc_D (Mar 16, 2006)

My girlfriend wants to come out and ride with me so I built her up a carbon cannondale synapse over the winter. I put selle italia gel flow women's saddle on it. I got her on the bike for the first time today and she said the saddle fits her sit bones well. But she feels a lot of pressue on her genitalia. 

Right now the saddle is perfectly level. Before we give up on this saddle, I'd like to try adjusting the tilt. Intuitively I figure nose down should relieve the pressure. But then I started thinking that may force her hips to roll forward actually putting more pressure on the area. 

As a rule do women prefer their saddles level, slightly nose up, or slightly nose down?

Thanks!
Doc


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## pdh777 (Oct 7, 2005)

I can only speeak from a fit experience - generally the seat should be as close to level as possible - this is the best way to disperse the upper body weight of the rider over the seat area.

A few more questions might be in order.
How much has she ridden?
How much per day or week does she ride?

If she is a total newbie to the sport, it will take her body time to adjust to any seat - give her 3 - 4 weeks of regular riding (at least 3 times a week) and if the problem persists try another seat.

Seats are very individual things - no one type is best for everybody. 

BTW we all went through this same issue when first starting.

Be persistent in finding the right seat - good luck


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

I have the same saddle. I tip the nose slightly down.


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## KayTee (Jun 24, 2006)

And I tilt my saddle very slightly up in front - it's a Selle Italia (men's or uni) SLR gel-flow. Goes to show we are all different, n'est-ce pas?


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## zeytin (May 15, 2004)

I also found it was important not to have the seat too far back from the bars. If I had to lean too far forward I would put more weight on the front of my saddle. That said the nose is tilted-_very slighty_-down.


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

I keep mine tilted up slightly. Otherwise I feel like I'm sliding forward and my upper body starts to get tired. Does it have a cutout or a channel for soft tissue relief? 

P.S. Try searching on forums.teamestrogen.com. There is a whole forum dedicated to saddles on there.


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

Tilted up a little and moved forward slightly. In reality, if it's hurting that much, its probably time for a new saddle or for her to get used to it.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

as flat as possible, even use a level when fine tuning.

But I think the "soft tissue" issue is not just a function of saddle tilt... saddle to bar drop can be a big issue. And some saddles just are not comfortable to some folks. So, without actually seeing the entire setup it is hard to describe what my provide some relief.

I personally have never done well with the saddle nosed slightly downward because I feel like I'm pushing back against sliding forward, etc. But definitely some folks do prefer that.

Assuming that the bars are within 1-2" of the saddle height, if she's that uncomfortable then she probably has the wrong saddle, IMO.


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## kretzel (Aug 1, 2007)

*tilt*

I (almost) always nose saddles down slightly (just a couple degrees). Once you roll your hips forward to optimized power transmission, you want the nose down a little bit. 

Regarding sliding off the saddle - I generally find this to be a problem of saddle fore-aft position, or possibly the wrong shape saddle, not tilt. If you crunch the numbers and calculate the component of gravitational force pulling you down off the saddle, it is very small (the sine of 2 deg is .03) - there is plenty of friction to keep you in place _assuming _you don't have other things pulling you forward off the saddle. 

Some riders benefit from nose up but I suspect it is because they have the wrong saddle in the first place, and nose up so that they get further back on the wider part of the seat. But this often screws up the hip angle/lower back. 

Of course all of this is what I find to be typical, and there is an exception to every trend. 

BTW this is why we have 14 demo saddles in our studio - without the right saddle, bike fitting is pretty tough because of all these issues. You can see how you'd end up chasing your tail (no pun intended) for the right position with the wrong saddle. 

Cheers,


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