Pins and needles in yer bits!

[breamster]

Hi,

I've been riding a fair few miles over the last 25+ years, mostly offroad / light trails. For the past year or so I've been struggling with pins and needles in my gentleman parts.

I've experimented with different saddles, saddle height, seat angles, stem lengths etc and can't seem to get it right. I've ridden thousands of miles over the years with no issue but now it has come to a point I may have to give up cycling. I'm just about to try buying some high rise bars to try to raise the front a little on one of the bikes but I'm not expecting this to help a great deal. And yes I do sit with my butt bones on the right part of the saddle.

I've not had a professional fitting which is the obvious next step but I've not seen this offered for mountain bikes, only for the roadies. I've also asked a couple of experts who have both agreed my setup on both my bikes look really good.

Does anyone have any other suggestions before I hang up my cycle hat? Has anyone else experienced this?

[breamster]

CoolC said:

Padded shorts or baggies?

Sorry. Should have said. Sometimes wear padded shorts, sometimes just loose shorts but nothing seems to make any difference.

[breamster]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

I've tried adjusting the seat angle. If I tilt it any further forward I end up sliding down it constantly. I have mine set to horizontal with a spirit level which has always worked in the past. If anything I have the nose down just a touch.

I'll look into the recommendations for the saddles. I currently have 5 or 6 saddles in the parts bin so I've have already experimented a bit. I usually use a Charge spoon which is what I have on one bike and on the other I have a nice Selle Italia with a cutout. This saddle I self-measured using tin foil and bough the correct one (at least I think I did!). I will look into a proper seat fitting but when I looked while ago I couldn't find anywhere local.

I've also tried the moving around a bit but at it's worst I'm lasting a mile before I get uncomfortable. It wasn't that long ago I was regularly riding 50+ miles offroad with no issues.

What was suggested to me today was that it may be related to a back injury I had about 10 years ago which did give me alot of nerve grief for a long time. I'll look into this as well.

I've also ordered a riser bar so will see if that makes a difference to raise the front a bit. It'll look daft but it's worth it so see if it helps.

Thanks for the suggestions and I will follow them up. I feel a bit more positive today that I'm not going to stop riding - I'll find a way!! May be I should buy a recumbent?

[breamster]

Thanks all.

My gut feeling now is that it is both the reach (bike fit) and the previous back injuries.

I'm going to take a break off of the bike for a little while. I'll try the high rise bars for a quick spin to see what difference if any they make.

Another idea I may do is pop up to Swinley and hire a smaller bike for a few hours and see what happens.

The redshift components look pretty good but one of my bikes is full suspension xc so is already quite smooth.

If it is bike fit then the conversation with the Mrs will be great. ie. "I know I have two bikes I can't ride but I plan to buy another one!!!" I quite fancy something new and shiny!!

I will report back with the outcome!