TrojanHorse

I went to a fairly hoity toity bike shop not too far from me - no trek, specialized, or cannondale to be found in that establishment! I asked if I could bring my populist bike in, they were cool about it. Actually, the owners were extremely friendly and helpful, just how you want your LBS to be.

Anyway, I wanted to demo some saddles but they only demo Fizik, and I got it into my head that I wanted to try the Selle Italia ID Match thing, where they measure your hips, your leg circumference & your flexibility. Turns out I'm an L3, which apparently means I'm a lardass with flexible hips. Science!

I await my new SLR Superflow L's arrival - it's probably for the best that they didn't have exactly the one I wanted or I'd have put it on and rode my century on Saturday with it, which is probably not a very good idea.

digibud

I hope it works out great but keep in mind it will take quite a few miles before you really know if you like it or not. I have half a dozen saddles and I always figure about 200mi before I know if I really like a saddle. Let us know if the evaluation worked out. It would be great to learn there is a "system" for predicting what kind of saddle will fit what kind of person.

TrojanHorse

I'm hoping! I have a Romin Evo now, and it's very good, but I suffer when the mileage is greater than say, 70. Under 50 it's fantastic! I agree though, it would be nice to know there's a system out there that works. I do know a lot of people who like their selle italia saddles, hopefully I'll be one by next weekend.

Erwin8r

I have the super flow on one of my bikes and am not sure if I love it (not enough miles on it to tell yet). I'm very curious about the SMP, but have just not come around to buying one yet. I do know that I'm not thrilled with the Syncros currently on my road bike, so I'm going to try an Arione VS next...

therunt

I popped into my local lbs today as well, looking for a new saddle to put on my mtb/commuter. I'm looking for something more akin to the body geometry saddle that is on my Specialized Allez. It might be that I've just gotten so used to the feel of the Allez's saddle, but when I'm on my mtb, which has a wider saddle, my butt will start hurting on any rides over five miles. The guy helping me seamed convinced that I needed a wider seat because of my size - I'm 6'2" 320 - but I'm not so convinced.

jsigone

gonna break in the new saddle at TdP this saturday?

Silvercivic27

Actually, L3 means you're a lardass with an inflexible spine, lol (the usual situation) so you rotate your pelvis instead of bending your spine. I'm the same.

I have a Superflow. It's sitting in a cabinet in my garage. It was probably the second best saddle I've tried. I've switched to Koobi PRS Century. Koobi saddles are made by selle italia anyway. One that I would be interested to try is the Selle Italia Max SLR Gel Flow. Good luck with your quest!

Silvercivic27

My issue with the VS was that the channel wasn't wide enough, so my parts still went numb. There are those new ones with the wider channel though.

Silvercivic27

There's really little downside to going too wide except that you will chafe your inner legs/thighs on the nose and wing of the saddle. If you're guessing, you're better off going too wide than too narrow. You don't want to be sitting on a hatchet that is going to using your body weight to try to split your pelvis like firewood. At 6'2, your pelvis is probably on the larger side of the spectrum. Chamois cream (and especially GOOD chamois cream) and also a good chamois, for that matter, is also key.

therunt

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try. It might even be cheaper than replacing the old saddle. I'm also going to get the bike refitted. It's been a few years since and my riding style has changed for sure.

TrojanHorse

Hell no. That's actually why I ordered one they didn't have because I know I would have put that thing on, and that could potentially be disastrous. I dn't want to be stopping every 30 min to tweak the saddle either.

LOL, they didn't measure spine flexibility, so as far as you know I have a flexible pelvis and a flexible spine. I'm only reasonably flexible though, so probably not. He said they did have people come in who could touch their foreheads to their knees but their pelvis hardly rotated at all. Weird.

I couldn't decide between the max gel flow and the SLR version, so I went with the SLR version. They'll let me trade it out if I hate it.

jla1974

i had the id fit and a bike fit also on 2-22 measurements were caliper 35cm left thigh 66cm right thigh 65cm and inclinometer of 64. it put me in the L2 size. i got the mens gel flow. on the bike fit i got 7/10 for flexibility. ive put 107 miles on seat on trainer since then. my weight is 280lbs even though its put in for the id im not sure the seat is made for it. i hope on the road it does better.