How do I choose the best chamois pad to maximise comfort?
Hannah Bussey finds out how to choose the most comfortable pad to suit your style of riding
If you’ve already had a bike-fit, searched high and low for a bike saddle that suits you, but are still uncomfortable when riding, the chances are that the answer to your problem is directly beneath you.
We don’t talk nearly enough about the crucial point of contact between you and the bike: the padding in your cycling shorts.
So what is the best chamois? How much padding should you opt for? And exactly how do you factor in soft-tissue protection?
Define your body
According to research and development manager at Elastic Interface, Denis Bertoldo, anatomy is, rather unsurprisingly, the most important factor to consider when selecting the right chamois for you.
Bertoldo told me that Elastic Interface – who supply chamois pads to cycling short manufacturers all over the world - worked directly with the University of Padua, Italy, to research and define chamois parameters that respected men’s and women’s anatomy.
“These parameters [were] our starting point to develop our products” says Bertoldo, adding that when looking specifically at the gender differences for selecting the right design, “men need a central channel to maintain good blood flow and reduce numbness” while “women’s anatomy is more complex, so we studied different options in the perineal area. Some women need full support, while others prefer to have a pressure-relief area”.
Working out which shape suits you might be as simple as examining the pad in your best-loved shorts and opting for those with similar designs in future, though a bike-fit using pressure mapping technology could also help to determine your needs if the former approach isn’t successful.
The right padding
Once you’ve made choices depending upon your gender and anatomy, it’s time to be honest about the amount of time you spend on a bike.
Fergus Niland, Santini creative director, noted, “comfort also relates to rider weight and resistance of the sit bones. Ultimately both are physical.
“The more weight is sitting on the pad, the more it will deflect. Gel, such as silicone inserts, have in the past been useful here because they offer up a lot of protection without deforming.
“The other option is the use of ‘carved’ foam that replicates silicone,” he says, adding that Santini has created its own ‘gel’ with a 3D mesh, which the brand says is lighter, more flexible and breathable, and also capable of being biodegradable or recycled.
Unless you’re making a living from riding a bike, the chances are you will need more padding than you think.
“There are some Lidl-trek riders who request the most basic and slim pad possible,” says Niland, “they are so in tune with their bike, that they want to feel everything through their saddles.
“Most consumers,
however, will benefit from padding. Especially with bikes becoming incredibly stiff, there’s a need to build comfort into the shorts.”
When shopping for shorts, take note of the aim of the garment, and the ‘hours in the saddle’ recommended. Endurance-focused shorts will almost always have more padding than those created with racing as the goal.
“Bike discipline is another essential element to factor in,” Bertoldo confirms. “A road chamois should have more protection on the perineal area, in the front of the chamois; an off-road chamois should have more protection in the ischiatic area, the back.”
To a lesser degree, the same fore-aft padding bias can be applied to the race vs endurance categories respectively, due to the rider’s likely position in the saddle and how this changes the pressure distribution.
Bertoldo is quick to dispel a popular misapprehension: “We tend to associate the word ‘protection’ with the word ‘bulk’. Protection, instead, is the result of a combination of properties: density, foam lift capacity and quality,” he summarises.
For Richard Salisbury, director of professional bike-fit and cycling injury specialists Pedal Precision, the right pad is ultimately a personal choice. “What is important is that the chamois in the shorts is the right density and has padding in the right place for your individual anatomy,” he says, adding that poorly shaped “cheaper chamois can causing chafing by getting in the way of the pedal stroke.”