Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life (new studies)

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Published: October 4, 2005


A raft of new studies suggest that cyclists, particularly men, should be careful which bicycle seats they choose.

The studies add to earlier evidence that traditional bicycle saddles, the kind with a narrow rear and pointy nose, play a role in sexual impotence.

Some saddle designs are more damaging than others, scientists say. But even so-called ergonomic seats, to protect the sex organs, can be harmful, the research finds. The dozen or so studies, from peer-reviewed journals, are summarized in three articles in September's Journal of Sexual Medicine.

In a bluntly worded editorial with the articles, Dr. Steven Schrader, a reproductive health expert who studies cycling at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said he believed that it was no longer a question of "whether or not bicycle riding on a saddle causes erectile dysfunction."

Instead, he said in an interview, "The question is, What are we going to do about it?"...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/health/nutrition/04bike.html

[Trillo]

1. Well, obviously, bicycle seats need to be regulated. nt

[mike_c]

2. ride a Brooks....

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddles.html

Best saddles on earth, IMO. And don't let nonsense about the "break-in" period fool you. Every Brooks saddle I've owned (ok, n = 4) has been more comfortable right out the box than ANY other saddle I've tried, and it only gets better as the leather molds to your butt. No padding, no gell, no plastic. Just tensioned leather. I can't understand why anyone makes them any other way. Ride a Brooks. You'll never want to ride anything else.

on edit-- Nashbar sells these now, too.

[jeffreyi]

8. Ditto

Brooks Finesse here. Ibob?

[BiggJawn]

21. Three B-17's in the stable.

And a red Bridgestone that's "Granted Out".
650B is next.

[jeffreyi]

26. All right! 650B looks really sweet

My Atlantis has 26", which I'm very happy with. But if I didn't have that, it would be the Saluki or Bleriot for me.

[BiggJawn]

27. Either a Bleriot or a Ed Braley-style "conversion"

I have a 62 CM Raleigh "Technium" that's just crying for some "Beausage"...

[Spinzonner]

3. Bikes are for casterati

apparently

[Shine]

4. Hmmm...what would Lance do?

That's what I wanna know...

:evilgrin:

[Lochloosa]

7. Didn't seem to bother Sheryl...

:spank:

[Shine]

11. I guess that's a good thing, eh?

:)

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

15. He's already missing 40% of his manhood.

[Lindacooks]

16. I would bet that his testicular cancer was at least partially caused by

the bicycle seat.

My dh had it when he was 25 years old (he's fine now) and one of the first things the doctor asked him was if he ever played football. Because athletes, particularly football players, who have ever had contact injury with the groin, have more testicular cancer.

At any rate, Armstrong delayed treatment because he thought the pain associated with the metastasized disease was a normal part of his training. And let me tell you, that pain is terrible - my dh's had metastisized to a huge mass in his abdomen.

[BiggJawn]

28. He rides one a them carbon fiber ass-hatchets...

[PeaceProgProsp]

5. Did the New York Times put a viagra ad next to this story?

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Continental Airlines ad -- and a graphic:

[buddysmellgood]

17. It looks to me like the poor chap in the drawing has more serious

issues than choosing a bicycle seat.

[BiggJawn]

23. I was RIGHT!!!

"Source: Irwin Goldstein, MD."

Hate to bust Irwin's bubble, but SMART Cyclers ride Brooks saddles that put the "Area of Pressure" inside the circles in the graphic here:


I find that even the "narrow" version of the B-17 is plenty wide to support me on the sit-bones and not my "taint".

[Bigmack]

24. I'm always looking for....

... a good seat. You seem to know what you're talking about.

Problem is, I'm 6'4" and 250 lbs. My ass is wide enough so that the space between sitbones is pretty far apart. Most bikers don't have my weight bearing down on the seat, either. I'm using a Cloud 9 right now.

I ride about 3200 miles/year.

I'll check out the Brooks site, but how do deal with the idea of split seats?

[BiggJawn]

25. I'm a Clydesdale, too.

6'4", 283 pounds. I have a B-17 Narrow, and the B-17 in honey brown. It's wider. I also have a no-name leather saddle of unknown parentage other than the "Made in France" stamped underneath.
Don't know about split seats, other than it's an idea that has periodically re-surfaced over and over again since about the 1880's.

If I can give a plug, try Bill Laine at Wallingford Bicycle in NOLA (Wallbike.com) His business is on hiatus right now because of Katrina, but his shop was spared and he hopes to get back up shipping stuff in the very near future.

He has the best return policy I've ever seen on Brooks saddles: buy one, ride it for 6 months, and if your butt doesn't love it, he'll buy it back.

[oblivious]

9. I have one BIG question about this study.

It says "Researchers have estimated that 5 percent of men who ride bikes intensively have developed severe to moderate erectile dysfunction as a result."

As far as I know the normal incidence of erectile disfunction is higher than this - in some places and age groups far higher. So could one conclude from this study that bike riding results in a lower incidence of erectile duisfuntion than average?

Or am I missing something???????

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Good question, oblivious. nt

[happyslug]

12. Yes, type of seat and is the seat below or above the handlebars.

Brooks web site goes into this big time, basically, you need a saddle with springs if your handlebars are higher than the seat, but springs if the handlebars are lower than the seat (handlebar/seat location sets up how much weight you put on your seat).

Explanation on seats:
http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bicycleseats.html

Brooks Company Site (Heavy Graphics, do NOT go if you have dial up instead go Sheldon Harris site mentioned above):
http://www.brookssaddles.com/

Web Site to down load a PDF version of Brook Catalog:
http://www.brookssaddles.com/docs/catalogue_05_en.pdf

[Gregorian]

13. I've ridden 20 miles per day for over 20 years.

My thingy still functions.

I'm so tired of stupid Americans doing stupid studies. There are children starving around the world. Why can't we just go feed them????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[buddysmellgood]

18. Come now, can't we do both?

[AndyTiedye]

14. Get 'Bent

Recumbents don't have this problem. The seats are actually COMFORTABLE!

[buddysmellgood]

19. That is an awesome fairing!

[booksenkatz]

20. I LOVE my bike seat

I can't speak for the men, but as a woman, I can tell you that I have nothing but 100% comfort since I got the Spongy Wonder seat:
http://www.spongywonder.com/


Looks weird, but is the most comfortable ride I've ever had. I can go for hours with no discomfort and no problems later in the evening, unlike my experiences with other seats. I never understood how people could find traditional seats comfortable -- I sure never did.

[BiggJawn]

22. Sounds like Irwin Goldstein is at it again...

Irwin started alll this shit years ago with a faulty study that bike seats "Crush" the wiring and plumbing that supplies Big Jake.

As pointed out downthread, a 5% incidence of "saddle-induced" impotence, when they say that 50% of men over 40 need the "Little Blue Pill"?
Doesn't sound like much of a factor. May as well claim that being with a angry, demanding partner causes ED, too.