Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Comfortable white saddle?

Could anyone recommend a comfortable saddle that comes in white? I'm looking for something that basically won't hurt. I have this San Marco and while it looks sweet it's destroying my ass and I even wear padded shorts. Would some old school saddles like the Concor, Turbo, Flite or Batavus do that trick?

http://www.universalcycles.com/images//products/medium2/21795.jpg

fizik aliente or arione are well regarded and easy to find. they come in white. The old turbos are also very comfortable. i am currently obsessed with leather unicanitors by cinelli, which came in white.

If you have an ass shape like mine that would rather enjoy the comfyness of an old school style saddle rather than the flat-pancake racing saddles, the san marco rolls is a good option. I got one in white with ti rails at bell's bike shop in philly, but you can find them online in steel rails for less than that. The contours are similar to an old turbo but you don't need to do any hunting.

that saddle should not hurt. maybe it's your riding style and bike fit?

it won't be as comfy as an old heavy foam cushy seat but it shouldn't destroy anything. a broken in regal or white fi:z'k should be nice.

I do find it weird that this saddle hurts me since it has some decent padding. I'm really not sure what it is. Could I just offset with a better ass pad in my shorts?

how long are you riding? what terrain are you riding? did you fit the bike by feel, by sight, or by measurement? did you spend a bunch of time setting it up? do you ride with much weight on the saddle or the pedals?

NYC roads aren't great(ha!) but if your technique is right and the bike is fitted to you there's NO reason that saddle should hurt when riding for less than a few hours on even lightly padded shorts.

most comfortable white saddle I have ever rode

http://www.sherersaddlesinc.com/images/trickrebuiltb.jpg

forget the fashion saddle...get a brooks already.

forget the fashion saddle...get a brooks already.

:lol:

forget the fashion saddle...get a brooks already.


Brooks in white.

http://mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/02/10/whitebrooks.JPG-300-90-300-70.jpg

Regal.

how long are you riding? what terrain are you riding? did you fit the bike by feel, by sight, or by measurement? did you spend a bunch of time setting it up? do you ride with much weight on the saddle or the pedals?

NYC roads aren't great(ha!) but if your technique is right and the bike is fitted to you there's NO reason that saddle should hurt when riding for less than a few hours on even lightly padded shorts.

I ride in NYC and my rides are usually around an hour long. For fit I measured my inseam and that was about it. After I ride my ass bones are sore for a few days. I don't get it.

Brooks in white.

http://mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/02/10/whitebrooks.JPG-300-90-300-70.jpg

wow - never seen one of those before. I bet it's 400 dollars.

anyone ever try those brooks grips?

put more weight on your feet at all times and make sure your bars and stem are a comfortable length away. lower the seat if you need to. you should be able to easily 'float' your butt a centimeter above the seat when you're pedaling, and not have your legs bent more than a few degrees at full extension when sitting down.

Yeah I can float easily and that does help but I always assumed that you should be all your weight on the ass so that your legs don't get weak.

No, you shouldn't. It's a saddle, not a seat, so you're not meant to put all your weight on it. Your legs, while pedaling, support a lot of your weight, and your arms will support some as well.

you should have less than half your weight on your bum. arms take a lot of it. of course with a cruiser or mtb it's different but yeah... your spin should be round enough that you can support a lot of your weight on your legs.

Op: If you haven't done so already try adjusting you saddle height, it makes more of a difference than you would think. I was riding a comfy suede mudialita saddle that was too low and even that hurt like hell.

Regal.

+1
just got one and i love it.

http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/equip/08SaddleToupeGel_Wht_l.jpg

Specialized Toupe is the most comfortable saddle I have ever ridden on, mine is in black though.

By the way, it looks like www.thebikebiz.com (http://www.thebikebiz.com) just got some regals and rolls' in white with steel rails. I was literally on their site yesterday and the only option in white was Ti, which is way out of my budget. The colour options are missing from the drop-down menus, but the descriptions say it's there. I'm going to e-mail them to find out.

It looks like my white-accented black angus might be happening after all! :D

you should have less than half your weight on your bum. arms take a lot of it. of course with a cruiser or mtb it's different but yeah... your spin should be round enough that you can support a lot of your weight on your legs.

That might be it then. When I ride I place all my weight on my ass like I'm sitting in a chair. I'll trying floating next ride and see how it goes.

Op: If you haven't done so already try adjusting you saddle height, it makes more of a difference than you would think. I was riding a comfy suede mudialita saddle that was too low and even that hurt like hell.

It feels like the right height. It's definitely not too low.

Gotta give a plug to my boys over at Fizik for making one of the best saddles of all time (Arione). Seriously, try it out.

the san marco rolls is a good option. I got one in white with ti rails at bell's bike shop in philly, but you can find them online in steel rails for less than that.

Got a white rolls on an older bike, looks beautiful, only ridden it once.....

put more weight on your feet at all times and make sure your bars and stem are a comfortable length away. lower the seat if you need to. you should be able to easily 'float' your butt a centimeter above the seat when you're pedaling, and not have your legs bent more than a few degrees at full extension when sitting down.

Totally, super fast spinning on fixed and your kind of bouncing on the saddle always tells me to actually use my legs, not rest in the saddle like I want to. it is always great when you have a breakthrough in the mechanics of any sport to benefit your performance.

good white saddle on vegan budget: http://store.somafab.com/soensa.html

what the **** is a vegan budget?

what the **** is a vegan budget?

About $7 a day.

i just got the E3 form while we're on the topic. It doesn't come in white, and it hurts my bum, but the shape and weight is well worth it.

a saddle shouldn't hurt your bum.

i'm pretty sure that my san marco glamour aspide is a woman's saddle. the tag didn't designate it as such but every online thing says womans.

it's pretty damn comfortable and not too wide. weird?

anyone else have experiance in a woman's saddle?

So I tried floating today and it's 100 times better. My butt still gets a little sore but nowhere near the pain I was experiencing before. My legs do get tired much faster though but I guess that's something I have to adjust to. I'm going to try this out some more and see how it goes. Maybe that was the issue and not the saddle.

you have to kind of find a balance... just use the muscles you're using to float to keep pressure off the saddle, you don't have to actually take all the pressure off all the time. but yeah, any stiff non suspended seat is going to hurt you if you ride it with all your weight. a better spin with power through the whole rotation will help this too, they complement each other.

it's also entirely possible that that particular saddle doesn't fit you well at all.

if the fit is of, change it... but get your technique better first so you are isolating the factors.

Yeah I definitely need to find a balance. I also found that if I lean forward more and put more weight on my arms it helps as well. And the fast I pedal the less weight I'm putting on my butt, especially in a climb.

Selle San Marco also makes a version of my saddle with more padding. I might pick that one up.

I love my white Regal, super classy and quite comfortable (with chamois).

I also have an older black Vetta that's even more comfortable (again, with chamois), and I know you can get them in white. Just make sure you get one that's wrapped in glued leather, not stapled synthetic. They look similar, but there's a huge difference in quality.

Turbos are also pretty comfortable. I rode on someone else's NOS Turbo once and it felt very similar to my Vetta.

Another vote for Regals !

Another vote for Regals !

+1

Thanks for all the advice guys. I picked up a Rolls and installed it last night. Took a short ride on it and it definitely felt a lot better. There is more pressure between my butt bones which relieves some pain. Gotta see how it is on a longer ride.

I think you'll like the Rolls, I like mine. Still looking for suggestions on how to get the worst of stains out of white leather, though...

Sometimes more padding hurts worse. I know that sounds counter-intuitive but your butt has a built in sit bone that can support your weight if you allow a little time to adjust to a less-padded/firmer saddle. Could be that? Sheldon Brown made a point of saying you have to break your butt in a little while riding to get the benefit of using your butt bone instead of the fleshy part of your ace.

This is definitely the saddle for me. Went on my usual evening ride and I experienced almost no pain. I guess I have a vintage style ass.

many new rider have their seat too high, and thus their hips rock from side to side as they try to reach the pedals on the bottom of the stroke, this just grinds on your butt....when viewed from the back of the bike your pelvis and spine should almost rock steady, not swaying back and forth...have an more expierenced rider check you out from the rear.....wait, that didn't sound quite right....LOL

HAhaha! It didn't! But I'm positive that my saddle isn't to high. I had it set so that when my legs are extended my knees are very slightly bent. I dropped it a little after that.

I'm a big fan of the Specialized Alias. I've got a big ass (hips - I'm 6' and 155lbs, so it's bone structure) and the wide boy fits me like a glove. The little bit of silver lettering wears off after a month too.

http://www.mcmwin.com/images/P5110011.JPG

I second the Fizik Arione but having owned a white one before, I will never buy a white saddle again. In about 6 months of solid usage, it turns an off yellow/coffee color. Maybe in part from jeans, pants, soiled shorts, etc., but that white doesn't last to long... and I haven't found anything to bring it back. Ended up switching to a solid black instead.

Specialized Toupe is the most comfortable saddle I have ever ridden on, mine is in black though.

Yes, I agree. I had a Fizik Arione for a while and would constantly numb-out. A 60 mile training ride would leave me numb for at least an hour, if not two. I picked up the Toupe Team in white/blue, and never looked back.

One of the most important things in picking a saddle isn't everyon else's opinion - it's almost irrelevant actually. A large portion has to deal with your sits bones. At my LBS, they had a pad I sat on to measure the gap between my sits bones. Again, everyone is different with what would be the most comfortable (hence my experience with the Arione). I'm 5'10, ~135 (on a good day) and I ended up with the 143mm toupe, not the 130mm. This doesn't mean I'm a fat guy, just my sits bones are wide.