Taking the Sad out of Saddle
Shine some light on your nether regions 🍑
I have a working theory: because saddles of yore were like, 2 different shapes/sizes, this severely restricted the kind of person who was able to cycle, especially for long periods of time. (Just looking at a Rolls saddle is enough to give me flap mash - a delightful term coined by Isla Rowntree that I first heard through
.) One of the few recent developments of the cycling industry that I approve of is the diversification of saddles available. (The other developments being wider tyres, cargo bikes, smaller wheels, and decent bikes for smaller people in general.)The evolution of our saddle library
For the uninitiated, we have over 30 different kinds of saddles for you to try before you buy. Saddles can be quite expensive, especially the ones that might be The One™️. But how are you supposed to find it? It’s like dating. You have to sit on a few frogs before you find your arbitrary hierarchical monarch.
When the library first launched in 2018, it was a free for all. We used to leave people to their own devices to pick and choose as they pleased, only to discover that a lot of people didn’t know how to use a hex key and adjust their saddle, let alone put an entirely new saddle on. And all these newfangled features like short noses, cutouts, and channels...and just how do sit bones come into play anyway?
So our saddle library has now become a consultation with saddle fitting lessons, where we teach you how to replace a saddle and how to make adjustments. Most people have found their match, but even the people who haven't have expressed joy at being able to understand how to make adjustments with confidence.
"I highly recommend getting a saddle fitting with Jenni at LBK. It's not high tech pressure mapping, it's just good old informed trial and error. Jenni knows her saddles and makes you feel comfortable talking about what is causing your saddle discomfort. Based on your discussion, recommendations are made and you get to try some saddles. You get taught how to remove and replace a saddle and you practice yourself on the spot. After trialling 2 saddles, I found the one that was right for me and am now comfy in my saddle after months of discomfort."
How does it work? A £57 joining fee gets you a 1 hour consultation with me, Jenni. I measure your sit bones (not that important imho), and then measure your lower back flexibility (this is more interesting to me). But most important of all, we talk about your issues, as those two measurements are but a starting point, not the be all and end all. I then show you how to use an allen key so that you don't strip your bolt head or threads, and demonstrate how to remove and replace a saddle on your particular seatpost. (They are not all created equal, but I equally hate all of them. UX is not the industry’s forte.) And then it's your turn, coz inevitably you'll be trying out a couple saddles on your first date. I promise you’ll become a pro at saddle swapping before the day is through.
You then get to 'check out' a saddle for 2 weeks, put it through its paces and see if it works for you. If not, no worries, you'll have already booked your next appointment for an exchange, and we'll go through it again, together. The goal is to hone in on the features of the saddle you like, and get rid of the ones you don't, until we settle upon...The One™️.
I have measured hundreds of butts, and while I'm not a physio, I have spoken to and helped guide said butts through the process of testing. We don't have a 100% success rate, that would be impossible. But 92% of our members have found their matches. And when faced with a challenge, our kind suppliers (namely Selle SMP and Prologo) are happy to send insight and a new test saddle that just might help.
FUN FACT: SMP stands for 'Save My Perineum'
(jk not really)
The best saddle is the one you don’t think about. So if your undercarriage has been on your mind a bit too much, get in touch!
If you are hungry for more saddle-related content, a new podcast has sprung up between Wei & Co over at Foundation Bike Fit and wheel builder / mechanic / my partner Ev: Soft Issues Pod. And their first episode is about saddles! It’s good to hear that we’re on the same page. Basically, the answer is always ‘it depends.”
Baggy Bike Fit Class?
An idea we have for a new class is the 'Baggy Bike Fit'.
No lasers, no rulers - just vibes.
We would teach you about the 3 points of contact on the bike that can be adjusted, how to adjust them, and what parts to replace. We'd start with the easier things that don't require specialist tools (the saddle, seatpost, and handlebars/grips), and then perhaps go into crank length, cleats, and pedals. But I'm not sure how much we can cover in 3 hours, and I don't want to promise the moon. But if there's interest, it could be something we could set up. Thoughts?
New Class Dates Added
There’s been a barrage of requests for more Emergency Roadside Repairs classes, so we have added more of those to the calendar. Seriously folks, don’t leave it till the week before your tour, pack your confidence in early for your shakedown rides!
HOW TO BUILD A BIKE
So good that it’s also available in French and Italian! I don’t have those copies I’m afraid, but you can get the limited edition English version, fondled and signed by me. Makes a great gift!
NEWS FROM FRENS
LBK Student Connor is cycling from Milan to Trieste with Thighs of Steel to raise funds for Mass Action, a charity funding initiatives that support migrants and refugees across Europe.
They are hosting a drag cabaret fundraiser + raffle on Thursday 3 Aug, at 7:30 pm - you could win an LBK class voucher, amongst other great prizes!
“LET'S MAKE ALOTTA NOISE FOR MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES!! 🎵
Join us for an evening of queer, political cabaret and drag performances from an array of London's talent. Hosted by the fabulous Alotta Nerve, this jam-packed evening will raise funds for grassroots refugee projects via charity MASS ACTION.
The night will include fabulous performances, local creatives selling their wares, DJs keeping you out grooving until late, and AN EPIC RAFFLE with prizes that will make you want to dig deep into those pockets and support this amazing cause! ❤️”
So, you've made it this far down. I mentioned last time that we were encountering financial issues. I have written another newsletter on this, but as it's still something we're in the thick of I don't want to bring it to the surface until we know more about what's going on. In the meantime I am playing around with the whole ‘pledge’ function on this here platform (is it even visible?)
I always felt weird about the paid subscription model, and I think it's tied to this knee-jerk reaction to keep myself small, don't ask for 'too much', be 'deserving' of money...and while we're at it, the concept that money is 'bad' and I should give away everything for free. Lots of air quotes in here, which probably means they're arbitrary standards to which I am holding myself. There are plenty of right wing grifters here on Substack churning out hot steaming garbage and getting paid for it. Could I be a more wholesome version of this? Yet this awful old thought bangs around in my head: "Who do you think you are??"
Well, let's answer that question. I am a woman of colour who snuck into the backdoor of the bike industry (SURPRISE MOTHERF*CKERS), a mechanic with expertise in teaching beginners, and a writer with an affinity for a silly turn of phrase. Maybe some people like this. Maybe that person is you. And if you'd like to see more of this writing, well maybe becoming a supporter would show the goblin in my brain that I could spend a bit more time writing here and people would enjoy bike related edu-tainment.
As a bonus for paid subscribers, we're thinking of creating our own private Discord server, a safe space moderated by the LBK team of women/nb mechanics, where people can ask questions (mechanics on tap), buy/sell/trade parts, get recommendations, share testimonials, and maybe even organise meetups. Like a kinder, gentler version of LFGSS.
So if any of this is of interest to you, let us know! We'd love to create some members only swag as well (badges! mugs! aprons!), but that'll depend on if we get a critical mass (read: cash flow). The great experiment continues apace…
To bring it back to butts, I leave you with our hugely popular interview with Dr Jane Sterling, dermatologist and undercarriage advisor to the 2012 GB Cycling Team. She is pro-pubes. Apologies for the sound quality, it was filmed on an iPhone 6 in 2018. Those were the days.
Ride on,
Jenni x