6/22/15 12:32 PM

I know April rides and a number of the regulars have female SOs who ride.

Suggested saddles and shorts for my wife who has started riding with me much more. She needs more shorts and may want a different saddle.

And go with the suggestions.

6/22/15 4:14 PM

My wife has been riding in a serious way since before we met 35 years ago. These days, most of her road bikes have flat handlebars with barends, rather than drop bars, and as she sits fairly upright with this setup, all her bikes have Selle Italia Womens Gel Flow saddles installed.

As for knicks, her favourites seem to be the Assos ladies non-bib knicks. Not cheap, though. In order to keep the cost of these to a reasonable level, I keep an eye out for people like Wiggle or ChainReaction having them on sale and point her to the web site when it happens.

6/22/15 7:26 PM

Most of my wife's shorts are Terry. As to the saddle, she rides a standard road saddle (Selle Italia SLX at present). Saddles, as we all know, are highly personal choices and what works great for one person can stink like cheese for another.

6/23/15 6:24 PM

This is what work for me:

Shorts: thick padding, no seems. Padding material doesn't matter

Saddle: hole-in-middle kind (the difference the hole make is insignificant, anything with a flat top works for me)

Fitting, however, is far more important! That holds true with my girl friends too:

Higher handle bar is generally more comfortable. But don't be so quick to bring it "back": with beginner rider, it's important to show her how to "rotate" her hip forward as she should NOT be sitting straight up on the saddle, nor bending at the waist.

6/25/15 7:51 AM

My wife likes her PyroApparrel shorts. Road bike has flat bars rather than dropped and a wider type seat. Drop bars with dummy hoods on back of tandem and same seat as road bike. They are old Avocet W-1s

6/25/15 2:31 PM

Pearl Izumi has shorts at different price levels. My wife reports that the PRO and Elite level shorts are indeed comfy'er on long rides than their basic ones. But I get sticker shock with Pearl Izumi gear these days.

6/25/15 2:43 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions.

BTW her longest ride has been over 35 miles and it took a bit so saddle time has gotten a bit longer over the last few weeks.