I’d had saddle soreness for my entire cycling career. That includes more than 10 years of riding, and at least a dozen saddles tried and tested over thousands of kilometers
The Joyseat by Posedla is the best saddle that I’ve ever ridden. This review is NOT sponsored by Posedla. This is 100% my own opinion and experience. And yes, I’ve included some drawbacks.
I’m not a mechanically inclined or tech-savvy individual. When anything that I pay for comes unassembled with a list of instructions, I’m already upset. Rarely does the assembly process go perfectly smooth – typically, there’s some swearing along the way – and I often have to take a break.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Joyseat’s process was different. Everything went smoothly; I only had to take a few pictures on my phone, and then everything was sent to Posedla through their website. You can read about the process here, but this is basically it:
Posedla sends you a sensitive foam pad that you carefully remove from the box and place on a hard chair (or coffee table, in my case). You carefully sit on the foam to create an imprint of your butt and, crucially, the location of your sit bones.
Once you’ve gotten the imprint, you take pictures of the foam from different angles (the website walks you through this process) and send them off to Posedla. I can’t remember the exact amount of time between the pictures being uploaded and the 3-D printed Joyseat arriving at my door, but it was somewhere around a week or two, shipped all the way from Czechia.
I feel locked in while riding on the Joyseat. On other saddles, I’ve tended to wiggle around, micro-adjusting my position until it felt right…but that only lasted about 30 seconds. I can sit on the Joyseat for 10 minutes before needing a break, if just to get out of the saddle for a few seconds.
I’ve had numbness down there for my entire cycling career. No saddle has ever “solved” it, but a few have certainly made it better. Making the switch to a split-nose saddle in 2015 was a game-changer. Back then, I thought they looked stupid. I was never convinced until I finally sat on one. But then my saddle sores and numbness went away (for the most part).
That same level of surprise greeted me when I first sat on the Joyseat by Posedla. I almost wish I was kidding.
I’m a pretty skeptical person, and I hate marketing mumbo-jumbo. Having been in the industry for many years, I can see right through most of the BS. But I’d had a few friends and teammates tell me, specifically, about Posedla.
Once I gave it a try, I knew exactly what they were talking about. My saddle soreness went from a 4/10 to a 1/10. It still gets numb every once in a while, but I also ride on a stationary indoor trainer (without a rocker plate) for 2-4 hours a day.
There were times in my cycling career when I dreaded riding because of saddle sores. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, especially someone who loves cycling. It was mentally and emotionally draining to try and ride out of the saddle for hours at a time, all because I had the wrong saddle.
In the past few years, I even started picking out certain pairs of bibs for my long rides. I’d save the newer and nicer bib shorts for my long rides when I needed the extra comfort. But now, it doesn’t matter. I can wear any pair of bibs – yes, I’ve tried this out – and I’m still comfortable on the Joyseat.
There are very few products that I would recommend to my audience. I’m not sponsored by Posedla, and the biggest drawback is that the Joyseat is expensive. But it’s 100% worth it if you ride more than a few hours a week.
Serious cyclists, dedicated racers, and anyone who experiences chronic saddle soreness should get the Joyseat by Posedla. It’s changed my relationship with cycling, and I no longer have to worry about saddle pain.
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