-
The rail can pop out of the saddle if it's hit hard enough; the base
flexes one way and the rail another. Don't try to reinsert the rail
yourself. It takes a special tool to do this right. Send your saddle to
the address below and we'll inspect it and re-insert the rail if the
saddle is still sound. The charges are as follows:
- Replace a FeC Alloy rail, Manganese rail, Vanox rail, Titanium rail - $24.50 including return postage;
- Replace a Tubular Titanium rail, Carbon rail - $39.50 including return postage;
- Insert original rail and return to customer - $9.95
Don't
send any money! But do send your snail mail address and email address.
We will repair the saddle (if possible), return it and include a letter
indicating the amount owed. Cyclists are honest (mostly)!
Prices are quoted for continental U.S. only. Alaska, Hawaii and Canada will have additional shipping charges.
ProNet, Inc.
910 N Cambrian Avenue
Bremerton WA 98312
-
The Molto is the most similar to the Chubby Cheeks. If you'd like to try something a little more svelte, the Cite X gel would also be a good alternative.
-
The Firefly is the same length and width as the Fly Ti and has the same padding. The rails are different: the Firefly has a vanox rail (stronger and ligher than ti); the Fly Ti has a ti rail. The padding in the Zero Y is less than in the Fly Ti and Firefly. Other than that, the shell is the same.
-
Most of our current road bikes are aluminum/carbon or aluminum. Our road racing bike, Fast Woman, is steel and weighs just over 18 lbs, just a few ounces more than Isis, our scandium (aluminum)/carbon bicycle.
Compact geometry may help with the standover, but it doesn't address reach to the handlebars or the relative position of the handlebars to the saddle. So, a small rider may be able to straddle a compact frame, but may not feel comfortable with the reach to the handlebars or the height of the bars.
-
Yes, they have. One thing remains the same, whether you are 4'10" or 5'10": the proportionate lengths of your limbs and the placement of muscle mass. So, even though a taller woman can easily find bikes that fit her legs, she still runs into the problem of finding a bike with a reach that's not too long (which aggravates neck and shoulder problems). When I first started building custom frames, I built a bike for a 6'1" woman; the bike had a top tube length more often associated with a 5'4" male rider.
But a recumbent bike is so very different from a typical diamond frame. Yes, it will definitely help your problem. I'm no expert on recumbents, but I do know that they use your muscles a little differently. I have friends who ride recumbents and love them.
There's no right or wrong here; just personal preference.
-
This may be caused by the rails rubbing in the seatpost clamp. Remove
the saddle from the bike, lube the rails and also the seat post clamp
cradle nut/bolt. The squeak may also come from the rails rubbing where
they join the saddle base. This can be helped by removing the saddle,
turning it upside down, and applying silicone lubricant to the rails so
it can run into the holes that hold the rails. Please don't use a
petroleum-based lubricant; it can damage the leather and the glue.
-
Our saddles are best cared for by washing with water and a good bar
soap. Wipe it with a damp cloth and air dry it. Don't use any
treatments or chemicals other than water and a bar soap. Many cleaners
use petroleum that will cause the glue that holds the leather to the
foam to soften and loosen. They can also cause the foam to expand and
distort. Note -- if you own a Brooks saddle, DO NOT clean it with water
and soap. Instead, use Brooks Proofide as recommended by the
manufacturer.
-
Ride it for 30 days. If you don't like it, return it to the place where
you bought it for a refund or exchange, whichever you choose.
-
This is a tough question to answer as there are so many variables -
weight of rider, riding style, care given to equipment, climate in
which equipment is used, where the saddle is mounted on the rail, if
the rider wears cycling shorts or ? while riding and a host of other
things.
With all that said, 5,000 miles is a reasonable amount of miles to
expect from a saddle. 10,000-15,000 miles is at the high end of the
scale. 15,000-20,000 is looking for rail or base failure. (All of these
expectations can be severely reduced by an abusive riding style,
extremes in temperature and one or more of the other things listed
above.)
A saddle that is "broken in" should feel "softer" than a new saddle.
The base hasn't been "seated" onto the rails; the foam hasn't contoured
to the rider's sitting position; the leather is still stiff.
The saddle can continue to be ridden for many more miles if:
-
the cover isn't torn
- the edges of the leather cover aren't showing signs of wear through
- the foam under the leather doesn't have any "soft" spots indicating foam breakdown
- the edges around the soft tissue area aren't breaking down
The only other thing that might happen is a rail breaking due to a
stress riser caused by the seat post cradle. That is something that you
can't predict as it won't show up until the rail breaks. Some brands of
seat post cradles break rails more quickly than others -- Syncros,
early Control Techs and American Classics all used "straight cut" sharp
edge seat cradles that create stress risers. These stress risers can be
reduced by rounding the edge of the cradle with a file where the rail
exits the cradle -- top/bottom and front/rear.
-
You can make several adjustments to make sure your saddle is adjusted properly.
Set the height of the saddle so that theres a slight bend in the knee
of the leg thats at the bottom of the pedal stroke. If the saddles
too high, your pelvis will rock from side to side; too low, and you
wont get the best use of your leg power. Knees can take a beating from
an improper saddle height as well.
The saddle should be level. Viewed from the side, the saddle shouldnt
appear to be nose up or nose down. If the nose is tipped up, youll
feel a crunch in the wrong spot of your anatomy! Tipped down, and
youll be forever sliding toward the handlebars and bearing a lot of
unnecessary weight on your arms.
Fore to aft saddle position should be set so that when a plumb line is
dropped from the front of the knee of the fowardmost leg (with the
crankarms in a horizontal position), it intersects the pedal spindle.
This will give you the most biomechanical bang for your buck.
Your position on the bike is as important as the position of the
saddle. If the bike doesnt fit properly, you may never find a truly
comfortable saddle. The most common complaint we hear is that the nose
of the saddle still places an undue amount of pressure on the rider,
even if the saddle is adjusted properly as discussed above. If the
riders reach to the handlebars is too far, the pelvis can tip forward
enough to put pressure on sensitive bits. By shortening/raising the
handlebar to bring the rider into a more upright position, the pelvis
will rotate back enough to move the riders weight onto other areas.
If youve done all of the above, it still doesnt mean the saddle will
be comfortable. (What?!?!) No kidding -- that old expression, One
mans junk is another mans treasure applies to saddles, too. It might
take some experimenting to find the perfect saddle. Rules are meant to
be broken, so dont feel bound to any of the starting points above or
to a saddle that everyone else thinks is great. Its your comfort,
after all!
-
We use "Goop" on some saddle covers but it requires clamping the
leather with clamps until it dries - usually about 12 - 16 hours. The
problem with "Goop" is that the finished product isn't very clean - it
is actually "goopy".
The other glue we use is a "Lokweld H20" glue that is applied to the
loose leather then left to dry for a day. Once the glue is dry, we fold
the leather around the saddle base and clamp with light clamps for
several hours. This gluing method leaves a better finished product but
it takes more time and fuss.
-
None of the materials have a rider weight limit! They will all work extremely well used in a normal course of riding.
Most riders have problems with bending or breaking a rail:
a) when impacting the saddle during landing after becoming airborne! The earth won't move or give so the saddle must.
This usually happens during aggressive MTB riding when the bike gets
airborne, the riders foot slips off the pedal, the rider loses balance
and the rider impacts the seat when the bike hits the ground.
Bent rails can even happen when road bikers "jump" a pot
hole..curb..railroad tracks..and don't time the jump correctly
impacting the saddle.
b) Stress riser caused by the seat post cradle: the sharp edge of the
seat post cradle creates a stress riser which will eventually cause the
rail to break.
As with most things that can bend or break (stems handlebars/rims/seat
rails), the riders riding technique or riding circumstance when it
bends or breaks has more to do with durability than the product
material.
The advantages of Titanium are it is lighter and it flexes more than
other materials. The advantages of Cr/Mo and/or Manganese are they are
lighter and flex more than steel.
-
Other manufacturers do make bicycles with fairly short top tubes using
26 wheels. Whats the trick to avoiding toe-clip overlap? First, use
a steeper seat angle (75+ degrees). The steeper the seat angle, the
shorter the top tube. The problem with this? Youll be too far forward
of the pedals, unable to establish the proper relationship between your
knee and the pedal spindle. You wont be as efficient a rider. Second,
use a shallower head angle (71- degrees) and more rake (6.5+cm). The
problem here is the bike will have rather sluggish handling.
Neither of these is a solution because it limits the design. Head
angles, rake, and seat angles should lead a design, not follow it. Head
angle and rake are chosen to achieve the desired handling of the
bicycle: is it for racing, touring, or criteriums? Seat angle should be
chosen to give the rider the best position on the bicycle. The 24
front wheel lets us build a bike that fits without compromise. It would
be unfair to our customers to offer anything less.
-
Some women specific design bicycles use 26 (650) wheels front and
rear, but we use 24 in the front and 700C in the rear. A 26 wheel
offers some advantages, but not the way its used by other
manufacturers.
Everyone has the same goal when making a smaller bicycle for the
smaller rider: make the top tube short enough! If you use a 700C front
wheel, you can only shorten the top tube so much (to about 53 cm or 21
before the front wheel overlaps with the pedal, the dreaded toe-clip
overlap. A 26 road tire is about 2cm smaller in radius than a 700C
tire, so you can shorten the top tube just about as much (to 51cm)
before there is overlap. A 24 road tire is about 5cm smaller in radius
than a 700C tire, so the top tube can be as short as 48cm with no
overlap. We use 24 in the front on our smaller road bikes (48.3cm and
under) so we can have more latitude for good design. The 700C rear
wheel gives you equivalent gearing.
-
A womans body is not proportioned like mans. Not only is the length
of her limbs different, so is the amount of muscle and the distribution
of body mass. In fact, anthropomorphic studies show women to have
roughly half the upper body strength that men do as a result of our
shorter torso, fewer and smaller muscles fibers and additional body
fat. What that translates to is a lower ratio of strength to weight and
a disadvantage when it comes to comfort and performance - most bikes
have top tube lengths that are appropriate for men but require a woman
to sustain more force in her shoulders. For a man and woman of the same
height, she will be more comfortable on a bicycle with a shorter top
tube.
-
The handling shouldn't feel too fast as long as the bike is designed
properly. The handling of a bike is affected as much by wheel size as
by fork rake and by the head angle of the bicycle. If you put a 24"
wheel on a bike designed for a 700C wheel, the handling would feel
funny. Our bikes are designed for neutral steering; i.e., not too fast,
not too slow.
Another way of looking at this is to realize that wheel size is not
hallowed. What if the average woman was 1" tall instead of 5' 4" tall?
Her bike would be very small, with a tiny wheel, but would it handle
differently?
If you've ridden a bike that's too big for a while and then you ride a bike that fits properly, it may feel quick in
comparison. This sensation will disappear as you ride more.
-
Proper clearance over the top tube is the most important aspect of fit,
and the one measurement thats vital for determining your size is your
inseam. Measure the distance from the floor to your crotch with your
cycling shoes on. Stand straight, with your feet about six inches
apart. Its a difficult measurement to take by yourself, so enlist a
friends help. Youll want to clear the top tube on road bikes by 3/4
to 1 1/4 and by 2 to 4 on hybrid or mountain bikes. Compare your
inseam measurement to our published standover heights to find your
size. The standover height is the distance from the floor to the top of
the bicycless top tube.
-
First, the type of bike you want -- road or hybrid; then, your height
and your inseam (measured floor to crotch). We'll make sure your legs
and your upper body are proportioned correctly for our bikes. The
question about clearance over the top tube will give you a guideline to
the proper size Terry. Your height will tell us if the stem length on
our bikes is appropriate or if you'll need something different.
-
It shouldn't. Bike handling is determined by the size of the front
wheel, the fork rake, and the head angle of the bicycle. If you put a
24" wheel on a bike designed for a 700C wheel, you'll probably feel the
handling change. Our bikes are designed for neutral steering.
Another way of looking at this is to realize that wheel size is not
hallowed. What if the average woman were only 1" tall? She'd be riding
a very small bike with a very tiny wheel. But there's no reason her
bike would handle any differently than ours.
If you've ridden a bike that's too large for you for a long time and
you start riding a bike that fits properly, it may feel funny at first.
Chances are this feeling will go away and your old bike will feel
awkward when you ride it again. It's not the front wheel.