Today in why the fuck didn't anyone tell me earlier: apparently they have no-nose saddles for bicycles now. I was reading yesterday's New York Times article on the subject, when I realized these have existed for years, and apparently they're more comfortable and better for you. I haven't been suffering from erectile dysfunction or any other problems stemming from riding on a standard bicycle seat, but god damn are they uncomfortable, and if no-nose saddles can help out my genitals a bit while making my ride a lot more comfortable, that's a benefit I'm willing to take in addition. But one of the leading manufacturers of these saddles has apparently had trouble selling them. Bike shops don't want to shelf them because no one is going to want a bike that "screams out: I've got a problem." Personally, I don't blame them. Assuming I'm not the only one that finds sitting on a bicycle for long periods of time far more uncomfortable than sitting on just about any other seating surface I can imagine, this product should be able to move on its comfort alone. The problem (which is only being exacerbated by this article) is that the saddle is being sold as a cure for bicycle-seat-related erectile dysfunction, and is going to have this unfortunate correlation in people's mind. I can't claim to speak for the ED crowd out there, but I suspect that a fair number of them would be less willing to use cures like Viagra if they had they had to put a Viagra bumper sticker on their car. Shit, if there are still people out there that don't think they need helmets, how are you going to sell them on no-nose saddles?
To be honest, I wish this article was never written, because in my mind I imagined the saddle as a cure for discomfort, not ED, and I would have much rather taken my time to hear about this elsewhere and taken it at face value instead of learning about it earlier with the unfortunate side effect of having it forever associated with ED in however many people’s minds. In my opinion, if they want no-nose saddles to reach their potential, they have to go about marketing it in a different way, although at this point, it may be too late. Perhaps the biggest benefit of these saddles is the positive health effects, but its biggest drawback is most certainly its correlation in people’s minds with the negative health effects. This then makes it a rare case where the manufacturer would be better off downplaying its best attribute (rather than mentioning ED multiple times on their front page, as the BiSaddle website does), in order to allow people that want it for this purpose not to have the world know why they’re using it. People who are too embarrassed to use it to help with ED need others to adopt using a no-nose saddle for the purpose of comfort. Only then will they be safe to ride without others assuming that their issue is a penile one. Of course, at this point those who are simply seeking comfort aren’t going to want to use the new saddles either: people thinking you have ED when you don’t is almost as bad as people knowing that you actually have it. If they had played up the seat’s comfort to begin with, they wouldn’t be stuck in this conundrum, and they’d probably have a decent consumer constituent solely for comfort, while at the same time attracting those who are looking for a cure. Instead, they’ve opened themselves up solely to a small demographic of suffering bikers with ED, who either don’t care what others think or are suffering enough to take a hit to their pride. Personally, I wouldn’t judge someone I saw riding on a no-nose saddle; maybe nobody would. But as long as the perception that people will judge is there, I suspect these bike seats will exist more on unseen private exercise bikes than real bikes out on the street. At this point the damage may already be done, but I’m rooting for them to turn it around. It would be nice to take a long bike ride free of both discomfort and judgment some time.
BV
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