A delicate drawback to cycling

Like most cyclists, Robert Brown at first didn't see any need to switch from the traditional saddle on the mountain bike he'd been riding full time for five years on patrols for the Seattle Police Department. When researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Safety offered new noseless saddles intended to prevent erectile dysfunction, he quickly told his supervisor, "No problems here!"

Then, after trying the new saddle, he felt the difference. His weight rested on his pelvic bones instead of the crotch area, which formerly pressed against the saddle's nose. During his sleep, when he wore a monitor, the measure known as "percent of time erect" increased to 28 percent from 18 percent.

The results made him permanently switch to a no-nose saddle, as did most of the other bike-patrol police officers in Seattle and other cities who took part in the six-month experiment. But they've had little luck converting their colleagues, as Mr. Brown complains in the current newsletter of the International Police Mountain Bike Association.