How To Improve Bike Comfort

One of the biggest barriers to enjoying a new bike, or maximising your performance on the bike - is the comfort of your bike. There are often times when out riding when pain is good, the pain and burning in your legs as you ascend can be painful but incredibly satisfying, but other forms of pain, caused by discomfort on the bike is never a good thing. Although some pain can be masked with bravado and a sense of just getting on with it, it's not recommended to cycle through pain and often, a little bit of research and experimentation can fix any issue causing cycling discomfort.

In this post, we run through some of the most common changes and fixes that you can make, to massively improve overall comfort on your bike, as well as run through some of the fixes for the most common issues when it comes to bike pain.

Saddle Positioning

If you are rushing to buy a new bike saddle, carry out a few quick checks to ensure that your current saddle is in the right position. The right saddle position should feel like it holds you in place, otherwise - you can get a worrying sensation of sliding off the saddle. If you have to move around to make yourself comfortable and in position on the saddle - you should check the tilt of the saddle. The first step is to ensure that the saddle is in a flat and neutral position before making small adjustments for comfort.

Replacing Bike Saddle

If you continue to find yourself uncomfortable on the saddle, it's time to replace your saddle. It's a common misconception that the larger, more padded saddles are the most comfortable - but that's not always the case. Firmer saddles are used because they reduce the amount of rubbing and friction between your body and the saddle, which can cause sores and discomfort over time.

One of the most common issues with saddle comfort is numbness and tingling in soft tissue. Those looking for a new saddle will often see saddles with a cutout centre - this is designed to relieve pressure from soft tissue areas, reducing numbness.

Handlebar Discomfort

The common theme with bike discomfort is bike touch points - meaning the handlebars and grips are another area which commonly causes rider discomfort and pain. If you find yourself uncomfortable on the bike, checking handlebar width is a great place to start - many bikes are delivered with handlebars that are too wide for the rider - although wider handlebars offer more stability at speed, if your wrist feels like they are turned inwards, it's a clear sign that your bars are too wide.

When choosing new handlebars, it's also a good opportunity to think about different handlebar shapes and designs which are available - some designs are more comfortable of rmany riders, a more compact handlebar with drops works for many, with the drop area of the handlebar being in easy reach compared to drop handlebars on wider handlebars which can feel a strain.

Overreaching for brakes is another handlebar related cause of discomfort. Bikes are often assembled at the factory to have brake levers as reached out as possible - but most can be easily adjusted to reduce reach. Reducing brake lever reach is important, and helps a rider feel more in control and more comfortable on the bike - with the brakes in easy reach.

Add Or Change Bar Tape

Poor quality, old - or just thin bar tape can cause discomfort when riding. Bar Tape is not only designed to keep things looking good, bar tape is designed to take the vibrations and impacts out of riding and neglecting bar tape performance, can see your hands and wrists suffer from the vibrations of the road. Shock absorbing gel pads are available to place under bar tapes, and many riders choose to double up bar tape.

Insoles For Full Leg Benefits

Although often neglected by many cyclists, wearing insoles in cycling shoes is a great way to improve comfort. The cycling shoe is a rigid attachment to your body, which can cause comfort issues- and an insole helps prevent collapse of the arch when cycling shoes, which can lead to knee pain.

Bigger And Wider Tyres

Bigger and wider tyres are more comfortable than thin tyres. At the sacrifice of some efficiency - wider tyres allow lower pressures to be run, which adds more cushioning between the rider and the road. Those looking for maximum comfort from their tyres could run a 28mm tyre on their road bike, disc brake equipped bikes have plenty of clearance available - so you can choose wider, more comfortable tyres. Running tubeless tyres is also a great shout, reducing the chance of pinch punctures when running lower pressures in wider tyres.

Suspension Seat Posts

Whilst suspension seat posts are most popular amongst the hardtail mountain biking community, there are road bike suspension seat posts available - providing up to 50mm of supsenion travel. If you don't want to add suspension to your road bike, carbon fibre seat postsdo a pretty good job of absorbing vibrations and bumps compared to alloy posts.

Replace Handlebar Stem

We discussed handlebar reach further up this article - another solution to handlebar discomfort is to replace the handlebar stem. Often, customers come to us asking for a solution to their handlebars feeling too far away from them - leaving them overstretching and causing back discomfort in particular. Increasing handlebar height brings your centre of gravity further back over the bike, whilst reducing handlebar stem height will see the riders centre of gravity move forward.

New Padded Shorts

Buying a new pair of padded bib shorts is certainly easier than changing components on your bike. New padded shorts are the ideal way to add extra comfort to your ride, with new padding helping not only provide more cushioning between you and your bike, but also doing the best possible job of wicking sweat and moisture away from your body.

Also remember to wear bib shorts correctly, bib shorts are not designed to be worn with normal underwear - and you can choose bib shorts with more or less padding to suit your own requirements and preferences. In our experience, a chamois which covers the full saddle is the best way of preventing soreness.

Padded Gloves

Padded road cycling gloves are another great way of adding more padding and damping to your ride. Absorbing the vibrations through the handlebars, padded gloves provide relief from bumps and vibrations, helping keep your hands and wrists fatigue free. Padded gloves also provide important protection in the event of a tumble.

Chamois Cream

Chamois cream is a barrier cream which is designed to prevent saddle soreness, it works
wonders - and is often antibacterial, helping prevent infection if there is any soreness. Chamois
cream is a god send all of the time, but is particuarly helpful when returning to cycling from time
off - or putting in the graft during long endurance rides.