Touring - Split Saddles

Are these things good enough for anyone to swear by? I guess I am a little concerned with crushing the main vain and the whole impotence thing.
I am pretty happy with my current saddle, which has no fancy grooves in the middle or anything.
Has anyone had experience buying a saddle from the LBS and returning it after some miles to test it out? I can't see going about it any other way. Are they usually good about taking things like saddles back?

Thanks...

Dave

The split seats are the best thing to happen in biking in a long time. They are far more comfortable for me than a regular seat. It took me about 300 miles to start liking them though.

Check with your LBS. When I decided that it was time to move up from my factory saddle, I called my LBS and they sent me 6 saddles to try out! I put a minimum of 70 miles on each one, including one of those split jobs, before I settled on my Surfac Cosmos. For me, that is the saddle that worked, but everyone is different. After my testing, I returned the others to the shop, I am assuming for someone else to test ride at some point. Hopefully your LBS will be as helpful, and let you test ride one (or several!)

I purchased a Serfas split a week ago and am returning it today. My butt could not decide with rail to sit on and the pain started almost from mile one.

I still rode it for 50 miles with not good results. As they say, everyone's butt is different, however, the split did not work for me.

The LBS did offer to give me my money back, $50, providing it's in like-new condition.

Good Riding!

Originally posted by blwyn
The split seats are the best thing to happen in biking in a long time. They are far more comfortable for me than a regular seat. It took me about 300 miles to start liking them though.

blwyn, the 'best thing in a long time' split seat you refer to was actually invented and manufactured in the 1890's.

Here is an ad for Park saddles in 1898. Of particular relevance to this thread is the guarantee that "(the buyer has) privilege of returning after a week's trial if not entirely satisfied". Also interesting is the reduced price of $3.50 which includes prepaid shipping to any address in the United States:

I've been riding a friend's Trek 820 MTTB a lot lately (storing it for the summer, while he's home in NYC), and it has one of those d@mn Serfas split saddles. I'm used to Brooks leather saddles, and I just hate this thing! I t puts even more pressure on by sit bones than a regular saddle does, and it seems to cause a bit of inflamation on the 'bits not sitting on the saddle'. I think that I'll slip an old B17n on it for right now.........

Originally posted by Dwagenheim
Are these things good enough for anyone to swear by? I guess I am a little concerned with crushing the main vain and the whole impotence thing.
I am pretty happy with my current saddle, which has no fancy grooves in the middle or anything.
Has anyone had experience buying a saddle from the LBS and returning it after some miles to test it out? I can't see going about it any other way. Are they usually good about taking things like saddles back?


I use SI Max Trans Am saddles on my bikes; the width in back matches my sit bones, the narrowness in front eliminates chafing, and the cutout in the middle got rid of the numbness I was experiencing from the perineal pressure from my previous saddle, an SI Flite Gel. For me, every saddle I've tried with a built-up and padded centerline has caused this numbess on long rides.

But this is a function of individual anatomy. If you don't have the problem, you don't need a fix for it.

Every LBS is going to be different about saddle test rides. Some have a "fleet" of loaner/rental saddles they use for test rides, temporary setups, etc. Some have no set policy and it just depends on your relationship with them. Some are hardnosed about it (one I know has a test rig where they mount a saddle in the shop and let you sit on it... and that's it).

Some mail order companies (REI for example) have "satisfaction guaranteed" policies that allow you to return things for any reason, as long as they don't look worn or used.

You can save yourself some time by actually measuring the spacing of your ischeal tuberosities ("sit bones") and finding a saddle to match. (Try sitting on some damp sand and measuring the distance between the deepest pits.) Knowing width of the saddle you need, and knowing whether you need relief from perineal pressure, can help narrow the field.

Finally, it's always worth remembering that subtle adjustments in saddle orientation can make a huge difference in how it feels. For example, sometimes perineal pressure results not from saddle design, but from riding too far forward on the nose of the saddle, or having it tilted nose-up. These problems are usually the result of poor bike fitting.

RichC

Hum, guess I missed that ad when it last ran. "Free trial", "Specialy designed for woman as no bodily harm can come from its use," not to mention the "patented gun lock spring." What more could we want? Thanks to the miracle of marketing all old ideas eventually become new again.

Originally posted by blwyn
Hum, guess I missed that ad when it last ran. "Free trial", "Specialy designed for woman as no bodily harm can come from its use," not to mention the "patented gun lock spring." What more could we want? Thanks to the miracle of marketing all old ideas eventually become new again.

"Endorsed by prominent Physicians and riders" - I wonder if these physicians were the forefathers of the physicians who endorsed tobacco products in the 1940's.

The most comfortable saddle for me has always been the classic, light, road racing saddle. That is, about 145 in rear, about 120 long, with a nylon (not plastic) shell and a slightly soft but mostly firm padded cover. Ti rails are helpful, too, as they're more flexible, but maybe ChMo is all right, too. Selle Italia Flite, Giro Pave, and others along these lines are all about the same to me. They're comfortable, I have plenty of room to pump my legs, and I have some support in the middle. As long as the bike is set up properly saddles like these are fine. I haven't been yearning for holes and splits.

In fact, where there's a hole some part of you is going to get pushed down into it (reach down under the saddle sometime while you're sitting on it and see. Or sit on one of those supermarket milk crates and you'll get an idea). I just haven't ever found that comfortable.

I suspect that a lot of problems that get solved by newer saddles could be solved by adjustments to bike dimensions, particularly the height of he bars, the length of one's reach, or (distinct from the second item) the fore/aft position of the saddle. This isn't always true, of course, but it's true a lot, I think, and more than a lot of riders know. When even a lot of guys in bike shops have only crude ideas of bike fitting you have to think that a lot of less intense riders with good bikes are going through some discomfort they needn't.

To give an example, too many riders get forward on the nose of the saddle when they're hammering. They should move the saddle forward to facilitate this style of riding, but often they don't because they're concerned to center their kneecap over the pedal spindle. This last item just isn't that important an element of bike fit, though, and moving onto the nose undoes the knee position in any event.

Originally posted by Merriwether
The most comfortable saddle for me has always been the classic, light, road racing saddle. That is, about 145 in rear, about 120 long.

That last should be 270, of course. I'm not sure why 120 was on my mind. Just to be clear, I wouldn't be able to recommend a 120mm saddle length-- ouch.