6 Common Reasons You Experience Bike Seat Pain—Plus How to Deal
If you think being uncomfortable in the saddle is a normal part of riding a bike, you might want to think again. Resting your nether region on a tiny triangle-shaped seat while you pedal for hours isn’t supposed to feel like lounging on the couch, but bike seat pain is usually a sign that your bike fit is off.
When your fit needs adjustment, the issues can go way beyond pain and tenderness in your, well, tender parts. For starters, you lose efficiency. “If your position is off, you can’t really engage the entire pedal stroke properly,” says clinical bike fit pro and physical therapist Kur Sohn of Velofit Physical Therapy. Worse, you could be setting yourself up for issues like saddle sores, pudendal nerve irritation (the major nerve of your pelvic region), and pelvic floor issues.
While you can typically adjust your volume or intensity to accommodate orthopedic issues, saddle problems are much more likely to force you to take a break from cycling, says bikePT-certified physical therapist, Natalie Collins of Pedal Fit Physio Bike Studio.
If you’re dealing with saddle issues, a professional bike fit with someone you feel comfortable with is a worthwhile investment. Collins suggests doing a short interview before you book a fitting. “Even a two- to five-minute call can give you a sense of how comfortable you’re going to be in that experience,” she says.
But if you want to tweak your bike fit yourself, it’s always best to change one variable at a time. “Finding the right bike position is like solving a Rubik’s cube,” says Collins. And if you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s what our experts identified as some of the most common causes of bike seat pain and what to do about them.
1. Cleat and Pedal Position
Given that your cleats are the connection point between your body and your bike, cleat position is critical to saddle comfort, says Sohn. Not only should your cleats’ rotational (cleat angle), fore/aft (how far forward or back your cleat is), and lateral/medial (distance from your cleat to the inside or outside of your shoe) positioning support your biomechanics and optimum power transfer, your right and left cleats need to be positioned symmetrically. Otherwise, your body has to compensate for any asymmetry, which can set you up for pain and injury.
If there’s one time to see a professional bike fitter, it’s when you get new cleats or shoes, says Sohn.
Your pedal position, or Q-factor, can also play a major role in your saddle comfort. The Q-factor, which refers to the distance between your crank arms, determines your stance width. And as road bike design features increasingly narrower frames, Sohn says he’s seeing patients with more Q-factor-related issues.
For example, a too-narrow stance can cause you to tip from side to side as you pedal, causing chafing and pressure on your adductors (or inner thighs, which can lead to pain on the inside of the knee) where your body meets the flared portion of the saddle.
→Quick tip: If you can’t make it to a professional bike fitter, start by finding the head of the metatarsal of your big toe and your little toe: Look for the big joint at the ball of your foot and the corresponding joint at the base of your little toe on the outer edge of your foot. With your shoe on, make a line from one joint to the other. (You can do this with masking tape.) Make another line down the center of your shoe going the long way. Take measurements of those lines and aim to line your cleat up with the point where your two lines intersect.
That should be enough to get you started, but you can fine tune your cleat position after you see how it feels while riding.
2. Saddle Height
Generally, a saddle that’s too high will create pressure in the anterior, or front part of your genital region, while a saddle that’s too low will put more pressure on the posterior, or rear part. And according to Sohn, cyclists are far more likely to err on the side of their saddle being too high.
“Most people are wanting the ‘pro look,’ with the higher saddle. But with that excessive saddle height, you’re tipping over the saddle with every pedal stroke,” which causes pain and discomfort toward the front part of your anatomy, Sohn explains.
A saddle that’s too high can also cause you to rock from side to side, which can lead to saddle sores or problems with your pudendal nerve, like bladder incontinence, erectile dysfunction, or limited clitoral blood flow (i.e. sexual pleasure), as this nerve is responsible for bowel, bladder, and sexual functioning, says Collins.
A saddle that’s too low, on the other hand, can create too much loading through your saddle area, which can result in pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) or ischial tuberosity bursitis (inflammation of the bursa between the glute max and sit bones), says Collins.
While both diagnoses show up in the rear part of your genital area, PFD symptoms can include leaking pee when you sneeze or cough, constipation, and low back pain, while ischial tuberosity bursitis shows up as tenderness in the tissues around your sit bones or pain in your glutes. Collins suggests seeing a professional with advanced training in pelvic floor dysfunction (generally an occupational or physical therapist) for an accurate diagnosis.
→Quick tip: To get in ballpark of the right saddle height on your own, aim for a slight bend in your knee, about 25 to 35 degrees of flexion, when your pedal is in the 6 o’clock position, or when your foot is at the very bottom of the pedal stroke, suggests Sohn.
Or, try resting your heel on the pedal and pressing down to bring it to the 6 o’clock position. If your saddle is at an appropriate height, you should be able to get there while straightening your knee and without having to tilt your pelvis, according to Sohn.
3. Saddle Fore/Aft Position
A saddle that’s too far forward forces you to put too much weight through the rear part of your pelvis, and can lead to PFD and/or sit bone pain, says Collins. If this is the case, you’ll probably notice that you’re frequently shifting your position toward the tail of your saddle, which can create uncomfortable pressure in your upper body.
If your saddle is too far back, you probably won’t have saddle pain per se, but you might feel unbalanced or notice that you’re using more of your hamstrings and less of your quad muscles, says Sohn. That’s because too much of your weight is too far back, rather than being balanced evenly over the bottom bracket, he says.
→Quick tip: To get your fore/aft saddle position dialed, hop on your saddle and position your crank arms horizontally—at 9 and 3 o’clock. When you drop a plumbline from your front kneecap, it should touch the end of the crankarm. You can adjust from there, but that’s generally a good starting point.
4. Handlebar Height
If you’re experiencing perineal pressure (the area between the anus and scrotum or vulva), the culprit could be handlebars that are too low. “That’s going to function like a saddle that’s too high,” explains Collins.
But if you’re experiencing uncomfortable pressure along the back of the saddle, or at your sit bones, as well as PFD or ischial tuberosity bursitis, you might be dealing with handlebars that are too high. “It can mimic what happens when you put too much pressure through a saddle that’s too low,” says Collins.
→Quick tip: To find the right handlebar height, first dial in your seat height and fore and aft position. Then make sure your pelvis is in a neutral position —neither tilted anteriorly (toward the front, creating an arched lower back) or posteriorly (toward the back, or creating what Collins calls a “dump position” with your tail tucked and a rounded lower back).
If you’re holding onto the handlebars with a long torso and a comfortable arm position, you should be at or very close to the right handlebar height, says Collins.
5. Your Shorts
While a poor bike fit is often to blame for saddle discomfort, that’s not always the case. It doesn’t take too many miles for the wrong pair of shorts to turn into a disaster. When the material rubs and creates friction, issues like bike seat pain, chafing, tenderness, or even saddle sores can pop up.
While it can be hard to know just how comfortable your shorts will be over a long ride when you’re standing in a fitting room, a short walk can offer a lot of valuable information. “I like to have people just walk 10 to 15 feet. The pad should stay very intimately placed on your tissue and should not move around. You shouldn’t feel shifting,” says Collins.
“It’s also important to go for a high-quality chamois,” says Sohn. He suggests padding with good rebound, or a material that bounces right back to its original shape after you’ve pressed on it. At the same time, with too much padding, you risk the material bunching and creating issues, especially in your perineum, says Collins.
Whatever you do, leave your underwear at home. Friction at the seams can lead to major skin irritation, says Sohn.
6. The Saddle
“Cyclists often throw infinitely more expensive and exotic saddles at the problem,” when the issue is not saddle choice, but the bike fit, says Collins. So if you’re uncomfortable in the saddle, make sure your fit is completely dialed in— and if you’re still having issues, your saddle should be the final adjustment.
Sometimes you don’t even need a new style. Over time and with repeated exposure to the elements, even the best-fitting saddle will lose its shape, says Collins. To see how your saddle is holding up, she suggests pressing your thumb firmly into your saddle from end to end. If you find any weak spots, it’s time to replace your saddle.
On the other hand, it’s normal for your biomechanics to change over time, due to factors such as aging, pregnancy, and injury status, all of which could create the need for a different saddle, says Collins.
While the traditional advice has been to find a saddle with a width that matches the distance between your sit bones, in many cases that’s not helpful, says Sohn. That’s because your weight should be evenly distributed “in an even triangle,” not primarily on your ischial tuberosities (the sit bones), he explains.
So what should you do instead? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Collins compares saddle selection to purchasing the right shade of white paint for your home. Embrace the trial-and-error process, see what feels good, and remember you can always sell your rejects on Facebook Marketplace or E-bay.
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