How To Make Your Peloton Bike Saddle More Comfortable

Since their launch in 2014, Peloton bikes have grown rapidly in popularity. As COVID-imposed quarantines pushed more people toward home- and screen-based workouts, these stationary bikes have become a fitness mainstay in many homes.

But one of the biggest complaints about Peloton bikes is that many riders deal with saddle sores and discomfort, and they’re not sure how to address the problem. If you’re an avid cycler, you probably want to know how to make your Peloton bike saddle more comfortable. At Selle Anatomica, we have the answer for you. 

“At least part of the problem is the newness of sitting on a saddle,” says longtime cycling Coach Darryl MacKenzie.

Whether you’re completely new to cycling or you just haven’t ridden in a long time, there is a breaking-in period that has to happen, and you’ll experience some discomfort during that time.

However, if you still find your Peloton bike seat is uncomfortable after a few rides, there could be other reasons. Don’t worry, though. Coach Darryl will walk you through what you can do to make your Peloton saddle more comfortable so you can push those workouts harder and longer. Read on to find out the secret to getting rid of bike saddle soreness.

Tweak Your Positioning on the Peloton

The first step to making the Peloton bike seat more comfortable is tweaking your position. If you’re a new cyclist starting on a Peloton, you’re at a bit of a disadvantage from the outset. Whereas road riders who cycle in groups can observe fellow riders and their bike positioning in order to tweak their own, Peloton cyclists don’t have this option.

Sure, you can see other riders’ faces on the screen, but you won’t be able to observe how they’re sitting on the bike. This automatically means you’ll need to put in some extra work to get your positioning right.

As Coach Darryl explains, there are five points of contact that you need to address when you’re on your bike: two feet, two hands and your buttocks. Poor bike positioning and bad riding habits can cause problems at these points of contact.

• Sitting too upright: The more upright you are, the more weight is on your butt. You’re not letting the hands share the load, and this could set you up for saddle sores.
• Pedaling too lightly: “The harder you push on the pedals, the more pressure is periodically lifted off the butt,” says Darryl. Over a long ride, this will save you a lot of soreness. 
• Setting the saddle too low: In Darryl’s observation, most Peloton riders sit far too low in the saddle. This automatically means you can’t put as much pressure on the saddle and the knees come up too high. This also translates to too much pressure on your rear end.

So, what’s the best way to fix your Peloton positioning? You could always Google some tutorial videos, but Darryl finds that these aren’t usually very helpful. What you really need is a professional bike fit. 

When you have an experienced cyclist come to your house to observe your positioning and make adjustments, you can address all of these errors so you’re putting the right pressure in the right places. Darryl has helped many Peloton riders do just that.

Get Well-Padded Bike Shorts

Another simple tip for how to make your Peloton saddle more comfortable is to upgrade your cycling shorts. All bike shorts have some amount of padding in them, which is called the chamois. Any time you’re having trouble with saddle sores, this is one of the first things you can address.

Look for shorts that have thick padding but also aren’t too loose or baggy. There should be nothing between you and the shorts, and the padding should be noticeable enough to provide real protection at the spots where your butt meets the saddle. Also, keep in mind that bike shorts are made specifically for male and female anatomy, so be sure you get the right kind.

Upgrade Your Peloton Saddle

Once you have addressed those issues, the surest way to cure your Peloton seat discomfort is to upgrade your saddle. The saddles that come on these machines are fairly generic and not designed with top-tier comfort in mind. And the upgrade you need may be different from what you think.

“The knee-jerk reaction to get more comfortable is to put more padding into it,” says Coach Darryl. “You try to change it to look and feel like an overstuffed piece of living room furniture.”

The difference between sitting on furniture and sitting on your Peloton, however, is that in the latter case you’re moving your legs up and down roughly 80 times per minute. When you introduce more padding into that scenario, you are simply creating more opportunities for the overstuffed fabric to rub against your legs and buttocks. This causes slippage, friction and, ultimately, saddle sores.

The Peloton saddle itself is fairly well-padded already, and that’s part of the problem. Instead of a heavily padded, bulky bike saddle, what you need is a streamlined, tensioned leather saddle. And luckily, we offer the best Peloton seat replacement.

“The Selle Anatomica saddle is ideal for this,” says Darryl. “It’s not made out of hard, molded plastic and it doesn’t have a lot of padding that you can slosh around on. You’re sitting on a single piece of leather, and your body creates its own hammock out of that piece of leather.”

We can tell you all about the benefits of the Selle Anatomica saddle elsewhere, but Darryl’s testimony as a decades-long serious cyclist and cycling coach is one of the best ways we can illustrate it. He hasn’t opened a can of chamois cream for saddle sores in his seven years on a Selle Anatomica saddle — not even on double centuries. 

So, how do you make your Peloton bike saddle more comfortable? Easy. Shop at Selle Anatomica; we have a wide selection of alternative bike saddles.

Whether you’re an experienced cyclist trying out the Peloton or you’re brand new to the sport, an ergonomic bike seat can make a huge difference in your cycling experience. Try one out for your next Peloton ride.

If you have any questions while your browsing, please feel free to contact our team.

Look for more insights from Coach Darryl over at his website.

Image courtesy of Peloton Interactive, Inc.