Surly rolls out bikes in new colors each year (or so). They continue to sell bikes in the previous year’s colors until they are gone. For 2014 the new Disc Trucker color is burgundy. We just finished this bike for a customer: A 62 cm Surly Disc Trucker with 26″ wheels Tubus Logo rear rack and Surly front rack The Tubus Logo rear rack; simple, strong and practical.The Surly front rack can be fined tune to clear the disc brake caliper and there is a special hole for the fender stays.
It was a lovely, crisp and sunny, winter day and I thought I would get out on the bike. Hoping to get some inspiration for a blog post it came in an unexpected way:
There are two occupants in the grey Honda Element and as they drive past me the passenger shrieks some sort of primal scream. I don’t think it is meant as encouragement to me. I don’t think I did anything to irritate these people, but maybe I did. Maybe I forced them to slow down or maybe they thought I was taking up too much of the road. Maybe they don’t like the way I look. Maybe their brains are scrambled from too much TV. Contravening my own guidelines, I take one hand off the handlebars and give them the universal sign indicating I think they are number one. Up ahead, impeding upon their forward progress is a stop sign, and seeing them slow down I increase my pedaling cadence in the hopes of overtaking them in order to assess the source of their obvious displeasure with me riding my bicycle. Briefly I wonder what I would do if I overtake them. Will I need some protection? What about the frame pump? Oh yes, I think, I have a can of pepper spray in my bag. Emboldened by that realization, a couple miles later, when they overtake me again, and the passenger issues forth with another similar greeting, I respond in kind and suggest they stop in order to discuss our grievances in a civilized manner. They don’t stop. By that time I have the pepper spray strapped to my hand and if they do stop and the conversation is less than civilized, at least we will have some entertainment. This is a scenario I have played over in my head ever since Juan Butler knocked me the fuck out after a similar altercation a few years ago. Since the pepper spray would only temporarily disable my assailant(s) I would need to grab the car keys and take them with me….otherwise I would be like a sitting duck on the bike once the driver recovered.
Pepper spray at the readyThe pepper spray attached to the wrist….easier to ride this way and still prepared.
I have ridden my bike through two dozen of these United States. So far I would have to say that Texas is my favorite place to tour on a bicycle. The shoulders are broad and the drivers are courteous. Many people stop to see if you are OK or if you need anything or just to shoot the breeze, and sometimes to offer a place to stay. Me and Gary P. Nunn are down with Texas;
“the friendliest people and the prettiest women you’ll ever see“.
I would have to say that the state I’ve called home for the last two and a half decades is my least favorite place to ride a bike. In fairness to Idaho I’ve spent many more hours on the road here than any other state but over the years, having motorists yell at me has been the least of my worries. I have had plastic liter bottles and water balloons hurled at me from moving vehicles. And it was here, in Boise, that the aforementioned individual stopped his car and physically assaulted me. The only other occurrence that comes close was in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee when a car drove up behind me so stealthily I didn’t even hear it and the passenger tapped me on the butt as they slowly drove past. I think Clem was just trying to be friendly though so I can’t even get mad about that.
Now, far be it from me to agitate the already turbid waters of motorist/cyclist relationships. I do not advocate for any sort of reaction or retaliation for alleged wrongs of either party. I don’t place any blame nor do I hold out much hope for advocacy to change behaviors. I just want to ride the bike. I always ride defensively and I go out of my way to avoid confrontations with automobile drivers. But I will not let some confused, angry and ignorant people keep me from doing what I enjoy. Ignoring the fact that there are simple minded, people who are frightened, stressed out, hurried, bored and over-stimulated all at the same time, while behind the wheel of a car, is not wise either.
I also want to make it clear that, in my experience, drivers are much more courteous to riders in normal-ish clothing and with racks and bags on the bike than to riders dressed in racing strip. I have NEVER been harassed by motorists when touring, in fact the opposite is true- people are generally curious and very friendly…..or else they just ignore you because they think you are a little bit crazy.
The tactical flashlight as a means of self defense was meant as sort of a joke but if our goal is “Empowering the Bicycle Traveler” I feel I would be derelict not to address the very small chance of needing to defend oneself. I bought my pepper spray at the local Cop Shop and it is set to shoot a stream of spray. Pepper spray is legal in all 50 states but I don’t claim to know all the details of the legality of its use. I assume that in a legitimate self defense situation a person would be justified in using it. I also assume that simply riding up to a stopped car and spraying the person who just yelled at you would probably not be cool.
I don’t understand why we are so mean to each other. We get to drive our cars and go out on our bikes but we are still not satisfied. We feel the urge to fight with each other and mark our territory. Human nature I guess. Unfortunate, but I think one needs to be realistic.
Gilles Berthoud makes bicycle products with apparent disregard for costs. The materials and methods and designs are always uncompromising. That is why it is surprising to me that the Gilles Berthoud decaleurs (a bracket made to attach to the bicycle stem and secure a front bag) don’t really work with the Gilles Berthoud rando bags.
The large bolt replaces the stem bolt and threads into the hole in the short piece of tubing which replaces the stem nut. The arms are bolted on to the short piece of tubing which is threaded at both ends. Then the arms can be rotated to the desired position to line up with the pieces attached to the leather trim piece along the top of the bag so all the pieces can be skewered together. The only problem is, the shape and the length of the arms allow for only a very narrow range of positions; if the arms are parallel to the ground, the bag is pushed too far forward….if the arms are rotated down so the bag can sit closer to the bars the connection point is low, potentially below the point where the pieces need to be attached to the bag. Another problem is that the arms of the decaleur interfere with closing the top flap.
The GB Decaleur arms keep the flap from completely closing, resulting in a permanent curl in the top flap.This is the shorter version of the decaleur. For a bag topping out at close to handlebar height it pushes the bag too far away from the bar.For a bag topping out below the handlebars this decaleur, the GB H-91, works fine. The back side of the bag is still close to the handlebar.
I know someone with access to a machine shop who likes to tinker with bike parts so we imagined a part that would work to replace the stock arms. He did a rough sketch and gave it to his c.a.d. guy who put it into language a machine could understand and out came these:
One of these pieces will bolt to either side of the short piece of tubing bolted to the stem and replace the bent arms of the original decaleur. The holes allow for adjustability plus they make it look rad. The U-shape will bring the outer arm up in under the top flap of the bag without interference.
Here’s a comparison of the original bracket arms bolted side by side with the new ones:
New U-shaped brackets provide more adjustability and clearance for the bag lid.
Here are the new brackets in use with a GB25 bag on Sky King’s Bleriot: And here are the new brackets on Chief with a GB28 bag:
The original arms are a little bit wider than the new brackets at the bag attachment point, so some spacers take up the slack. Here, we see the upgraded leather spacers in use.
Here are the two bags with the new brackets. The bags top out at roughly handlebar height and they sit close to the bar, minimizing any adverse influence on the steering.
Notice how neatly the brackets tuck under the top cover flap of the bag.
Just what is the best saddle for touring??? Drum Roll, please. The best saddle for touring is the saddle that fits your behind and allows you to ride in comfort!!
Chief out touring
Okay maybe that wasn’t the answer you were looking for, but it is the best we have to offer. No two people are shaped the same therefore no one saddle is going to be the end all saddle for every person.
The Bike Hermit used to tour on a Brooks B17, as to be expected, over time the saddle relaxed and had a bit of “splay” He punched holes in the sides (like the Brooks Imperial) and threaded the saddle with leather (from the Tandy leather store) and that solved the problem. About two years ago he switched to a Gilles Berthoud Aspin. This saddle was stiffer in the beginning and now has molded to his shape just perfectly. He easily has 3,000 miles on that saddle with no issues. Aha, you say, I will go research and purchase a Gilles Berthoud. Well, Sky King did her best to love the Gilles Berthoud Aspin spending hours adjusting height, position, angle etc but was never comfortable. Finally she measured her sit bones and realized between the shape and width of the Gilles Berthoud Aspin, it was never going to work for her. She went back to her older Fizik’s vitesse tri and problem solved. She is back to all day, day after day saddle comfort. She does plan to try the Brooks B17 Narrow as she misses not being able to carry her Zimbale 7 liter saddlebag but for now the Fizik’s Vitesse Tri is just fine.
Here are some very important things to consider when selecting a Saddle.
The Flyer does not narrow as quickly as the Zimbale
The width of the saddle across the widest area and how quickly it widens from the nose to the back will affect saddle comfort. Add to that the saddle position or the saddle tilt (nose down, nose up, nose level). Of course don’t forget to factor in the entire bike fit (see earlier posts)
Too Much Pear-Shape for your shape typically causes chafing in the inner neighborhood of the lower fold of the buttock, top-of-the-leg, panty line, hamstring attachment (however you want to describe it) because the saddle is too pear-shaped for the motion of your hip joints. If these are issues you have with your saddle, perhaps a T-Shaped style would work better. If you feel like you are sitting on a narrow, painful 2 X 4 a pear shaped saddle could be what you need.
Let’s get back to saddle width and length. The size of your hips or the size of your behind has very little to do with the size of your saddle, wide hips do not mean you need a wider saddle. The width between your “Ischial Tuberosities” ie) sit bones is what matters. Where those sit bones connect with your saddle makes the biggest impact in saddle comfort. Too wide or too narrow for your sit bones and the end result is pain and chafing. Sky King has a wider hip measurement than the Bike Hermit but he has a wider sit bone measurement.
Each saddle has “cheeks” on the wide back part. Sometimes the cheeks are even domed up a bit. Your sit bones are meant to land in the high part of that dome to take advantage of the padding and the overall architecture of the saddle. Saddle without domes still have a cheek area, the widest part of the saddle is where your sit bones should be resting. Measure the saddle from center of cheek to center of cheek. The saddle’s center-to-center should match the center to center measurement of your sit bones.
Next measure the saddle’s overall width. Generally the saddle’s overall width should be, at minimum, the same as the outside measurement of your sit bones OR slightly wider but NO more than 2 centimeters wider than the outside sit bone measurement. You want to be able to shift around to power up hills or use body-english around corners or just to give your butt a break, and STILL have the bones land on the saddle.
In the case of a many leather saddles your saddle must be about 2 cm wider than your outside sit bone measurement so you do not have bones contacting the metal cantle* plate.
(*rough description – the horseshoe shaped metal plate under the back of the saddle that holds the rails in place)
Measure your sit bones:
We could get all fancy and purchase memory foam or drop some dollars on a fancy gel seat specifically designed to measure sit bones and assist in determining the proper saddle width but we hate to spend money when things at hand will work just as well.
Three inexpensive options for measuring Sit Bones:
The Flour method
Take a gallon size zip lock bag, fill with enough flour for about a two inch flour cushion when the bag is lying on a flat surface. Place this bag on a hard flat surface – table or chair (we use a piano bench) Sit on the bag (preferably bare skin), mimic your bike position. Now stand up without disturbing the bag. Those two dimples/impressions in the flour are from your sit bones.
The Play Dough method
To make your dough:
One part salt, two parts flour, mix with water until it’s right for modeling.
Roll about an inch thick, cover with aluminum foil to keep it from being sticky, place dough w/ foil on a low bench, once again sit on dough (bare skin is best) and lean forward to approximate riding position since the sitbones become more narrow as you lean forward. Remove foil and allow to dry a little. The bones impression will become white first.
The Measurement
Take a millimeter tape measure and measure the impressions, recording your findings.
1. The inside edge to inside edge
2. Center of depression to center of depression, if easier, place a marble in each depression and measure the marbles.
3. Outside edge to outside edge
Center-to-center measurement correlates with the spot on a saddle that bears the weight of the sit bones. The saddle “cheeks”.
Outside to outside measurement is a consideration for some types of saddles, such as the Brooks that have metal rails, you do not want to have your sit bones resting on the metal rails. General rule of thumb – your saddle width should be about 2 centimeters wider than outside sit bone measurement. Again, you want your sit bones resting on the “checks” of the saddle and you want some wiggle room for movement as you are touring.
Inside to inside may be necessary if you plan to use a saddle with a cut out, to ensure the sit bones clear any large center cutout in the saddle. The inside bones falling into the ‘moat’ so to speak, causes a lot of pain in the bones surrounding the “soft tissue” area. To clear the cutout, you need about 20 mm extra space in between the inside distance of the sit bones. So, if the cutout is 60 mm, your inside distance is 80, then you have just enough clearance.
The Hand Method(s) of measuring
Sit on your hands, and feel for the two bones of your butt. They feel like elbows poking down into your hands.
Put the tip of your index fingers right under the part of the bones that is pushing hardest into the chair. (squish the very tip of your fingers between the chair and your sit bones)
Lift your butt from the chair leaving your hands on the chair, and have your assistant measure the distance between your fingertips. This is pretty much your center-to-center.
Then put your fingertips against the outsides of the bones. Push them right into the bones so they are on the outside of the bones. Lift your butt from the chair and have an assistant measure the distance between your fingertips. This is pretty much your outside.
Some people have sit bones that angle a lot from front to back. The “sits” are heavy thickened portions of the rami area of the pelvis and can have unique personalities of their own. You can measure again on the forward part of the heavy “elbow” bit if you can feel that yours have a definite angle. The forward portion of the heavy thick part of the bone is what your weight rests on more when you are in a more aero position. DON’T measure the thin blade like portion that is in your crotch, that is the rami and you do not want a saddle there. Measure from your backside.
Repeat your measurements a few times, average them out if you want.
You can also get these measurements by lying on your back with your knees to your chest holding a measuring tape and poking around for landmarks.
The Cutout
Cut Out on a Brooks B17 Imperial
Purchasing a saddle with a cut out can be beneficial if you have soft tissue pressure. An easy way to help determine if you might be a good candidate is to sit (commando or in thin underwear)on a very hard surface, feet flat on the floor, pedaling distance apart. Lean forward from the hips, keeping your back straight and place your elbows on your knees. If you soft tissue is feeling overly squished you may want to try a saddle with a cut out. Do some forum research, some people love them, other’s find the edges of the cut out equally irritating. Assuming you have a good bike fit and proper saddle height, consider adjusting the angle of your current saddle as well to see if that relieves soft tissue pressure.
Length
Years ago some saddle manufacturers started adding a short version to their line. Historically the short version came about for women riding in skirts and dresses, the longer nose would catch on the dress, making mounting and dismounting more challenging. Now a short version is more about personal comfort. Reading Forums and blog post about saddle fit there are numerous opinions about both. Sky King’s Fizik Vitesse Tri is a “woman’s” saddle but it isn’t any shorter in the nose than a Brooks Swallow.
Conclusion
We agree that finding the right saddle can be tough. Sometimes despite the best research, trial and error ends up being the answer. Taking your measurements and understanding your riding style are the beginning of your quest.
For more great info on choosing a Saddle read other blogs and forums. Sky King took the measuring suggestions from posts on the Team Estrogen Forum. Great resources can be found on sheldonbrown.com, team estrogen forums, bike forums (touring). Most of all don’t be afraid to ask questions. We both ride day in day out without saddle pain on two entirely different saddles.
I now have over 3000 miles on my Gilles Berthoud Aspin touring saddle, so I guess I feel OK about sharing my impressions. (the pun will become apparent later) The Gilles Berthoud Company is located in Pont de Vaux, France. The products they produce are well thought out and elegant and, as far as I can tell, any compromise in materials or methods used in construction is never considered. The leather saddles are unique in several ways. The cantle plate and nose piece are made of a special, composite material. The rails, either steel or titanium, depending on the model, slide into holes molded into the composite pieces. The leather tops are bolted on with stainless steel bolts and specially designed brass washers which have the Gilles Berthoud name engraved on them except the nose rivet which has the individual saddle’s number on it. The idea being that individual pieces of the saddle can be easily replaced. The tension on the leather top can be adjusted with a 5 mm allen wrench so no special tool is required as on Brooks saddles. The leather is supposed to be waterproof and Gilles Berthoud does sell a proprietary leather treatment.
Being able to take the saddle apart may be a good idea, but I have noticed a couple of things one needs to pay attention to. If you pick up a 60 pound touring bike by grabbing the rear of the saddle, the rails may pop out of the cantle plate. It is possible to loosen the tensioning bolt enough to pop them back in place and the saddle is good as new, but US 77 outside of La Grange TX is not the best place to go through this exercise. The bolts holding the leather top on can come loose and need to be checked and tightened periodically. We also discovered that the dye used in the black saddles leaves an unsatisfactory stain on lighter colored pants. The natural saddles don’t appear to have that feature.
The bottom line is that this is the most supremely comfortable saddle I have ever used. The leather appears to be thicker than that on some other brands but it has been pre-softened, and rather than simply sagging or splaying out with use has conformed to my anatomy leaving the impressions of my sit bones. Yet it gives enough support that there is no pressure on the soft tissue parts of the perineum or the arteries and blood vessels. In short, no pain and no genital numbness! As with any saddle, especially leather ones, adjustment of the fore/aft tilt is critical to comfort.
The section of rail that can be clamped to the seatpost is short, like on Brooks saddles so the fore and aft positioning of the saddle is limited, but a set back seat post can help if a farther aft position is desired.
Experiment with the best tilt or angle for your Berthoud saddle.
My sit bones leave a deeper impression on the right side
These saddles are not inexpensive, over two times the price of a Brooks B17, but to my mind (not to mention other parts) they are well worth it. After 4 or 5 or 6 hours in the saddle when touring, it’s nice to not have a literal pain in the butt to worry about. The durability of my saddle so far has been terrific allowing for the mentioned caveats. Those are two things that figure into my calculations of value.
Arguably, fenders are one of the essential accessories for the touring bicycle. Even in Death Valley, one of the driest places in the world, it does rain. And I say arguably, because, as you can see on this Adventure Cycling forum, people argue. When riding offroad in wet conditions, mud packing between the tires and fenders can bring the bike to a standstill pretty quickly. Aside from that, when it does rain or there is water on the road, without fenders you will be soaked in short order with spray from the front wheel on your feet and spray from the rear wheel on the back of the legs. Besides being uncomfortable, on a cool day it could add to the possibility of becoming hypothermic.
