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 On: 2007-08-07
Im 61" and weigh in at around 240. I previously used a Serfas "deep groove" design that seemed to worked well when I would ride 10 to 25 miles per week. But when I recently stepped-upped my riding to around 100 miles a week I began to have problems. Very bad tailbone pain and... well... lets just say I had to buy more than one tube of Preparation H. I would knock off the riding for a few days until I felt better then Id try it again... I could tell as soon as I got back on the seat it was not helping matters.. and again... the pain would return. I was quite concerned I might have to find a new form of exercise. Thats when I decided to take a gamble and try the Hobson Pro Hub X2 saddle .
DAY 1: (11 MILES) I received the seat and installed it in no time. Took a couple allen wrenches with me and... despite still feeling some pain from previous riding... decided to take it for a test drive. I originally decided to just ride down to McDonalds and back (2 miles). The first sensation was... "what is this pushing into my legs?" The seat tends to put pressure on the meaty part of your legs right where they meet up with your butt. This was no big deal... just something I was not used to. So the adjusting began. You can move this set back and fourth... up and down and you can tilt it forward and back. You can also spread the seat apart... so there are many adjustments to be made... make sure you have your allen wrenches ready! I moved the seat back as far as it would go... and the feeling of the seat pressing into my legs was not quite as bad... but still there. Again, this was not a real problem... just a feeling I wasnt used to and it didnt impede my peddling at all. As I rode the first 1 mile or so I stopped to make several adjustments... at least 6... and by time I got to McDonalds a mile away the seat was feeling pretty good... and best of all... no pressure was experienced in the tail-bone area. My weight was being re-distributed to my sit bones and I liked the feeling so much I continued on with what turned out to be an 11 mile ride. I still felt the pressure behind my thighs just below the butt but I was getting used to it. One adjustment that really helped was to lower the seat. And I never experienced any loss of control or the ability to ride with one hand... or even no hands... the seat did not affect my stability at all. I think if you experience this instability sensation, it may be a sign your seat is tilted too far forward so try just tiling it back to about a 2 to 3 degree tilt forward... nearly flat.
DAY 2: (20 MILES) I got back on the bike and set out for my 2nd ride with the new Pro Hub X2. The only adjustment I made this time was... due to a little more weight on my hands than I liked... I tilted the seat back just a bit. It was still tilted forward by about 2 to 3 degrees but there was much less weight on my hands. I knew this meant there would be more weight on my butt so I wanted to be sure this would not bring back the pain in the rear (so to speak). It did not. The ride was great and I was getting used to the feeling of having the seat press against the back of my legs near the butt.
DAY 3: (30 MILES) I felt just a tiny bit of residual soreness in that area behind my upper leg as I woke up today. This was from the seat touching this part of my leg. It was very minor and akin to perhaps your feet being sore after a long walk. I was confident that once my legs and butt got used to it the soreness would go away. Before I started the ride the sensation was pretty much gone... and when I got back on to the bike for a 30 mile ride it didnt bother me at all. Another great ride... mostly flat with speeds between 10 and 20 MPH but I threw in a few hills. It was on the hills I noticed an added advantage of this seat. By forcing that meaty part of the back of my leg into the front of the seat even more than normal... I could actually get a little more leverage peddling. Its kind of hard to explain but basically the seat was providing a solid to push off from... keeping my legs down... so when they pushed down on the pedals I had more leverage. I wouldnt recommend riding like this for long because it was putting extra pressure on the back of my legs but it did provide a way to get some explosive peddling power while going up a steep hill in a higher gear range... thus keeping up the speed. Again... there was no pain on my tailbone at all... and while riding it feels as if my tail bone is above and/or behind the seat. This was a pretty long ride so well see how I feel tomorrow.
DAY 4: (26 MILES) No pain... everything feels great today... except for a tiny bit of soreness in my hands... in the meaty area under my thumbs. I think this is because the seat has shifted some weight forward to my arms... but I need the arm workout anyway so Im not adjusting the seat back anymore. I did purchase some gloves with gel inserts and they work great. Theres absolutely no pain or soreness associated with my butt... so this seat is doing its job. The ride today was just fine... and Im completely used to the feel of the seat... the previous feeling of "pressure" on the back of my upper leg is no longer even noticeable... its still there its just that Im used to it and its not painful and does not cause any soreness. The seat was simply moving my weight to different areas of my butt... which is why I purchased it in the first place... these areas were just not used to the pressure... and this took a couple rides to get used to. By this ride, it was no longer an issue.
SUMMARY;
This is a great seat... and it really saved me from giving up bike riding. A few suggestions...
Make sure you take your wrenches with you on the first and second rides... and make sure you know how to adjust your seat... you can...
MOVE THE SEAT FORWARD/BACKWARD... TILT THE SEAT FORWARD/BACK... RAISE THE SEAT UP/DOWN... and you can INCREASE/DECREASE THE WIDTH OF THE SEAT by moving a little roller... once you get it lined up with your sit bones just right youll know it because it feels great.
If you feel as though you cant take your hands off the handle bars... the seat is probably tilted forward too much... tilt it back and try again.
Dont be afraid to lower the seat more than what you are used to. The best way for me to explain why this helps is it makes you go a little bit bowl-legged... which provides more leg clearance around the seat... if the seat is too high... your legs have to almost squeeze the seat in order to reach the pedals.
Invest in some riding gloves with gel inserts to help absorb some of the extra weight you may be shifting forward to the arms.
As far as a previous review of this seat saying you should not purchase it unless you can try it out at your local bike shop... Im not sure this is practical. Like I explained above... I made at least 6 adjustments over a mile of riding before the seat started getting comfortable. And I dont know many bike shops that will let you test their seats for that long of a ride.
 On: 2007-07-20
Unless you have tried this bike seat at a bike shop, absolutely do NOT buy this online. The only way to really know if a bike seat works is if you try it, and this seller will not accept returns if the seat has been mounted. I think that unless you have a wide pelvis, this seat is too bulky. The seller was also quite rude on the phone regarding the possibility of return.
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