icyclist 

This:

>I'm new to road riding and new to this level of intensity,<

explains this:

>are they just gimmicks like those Specialized Body Geometry department store POS seats [sic]?<

ridethepanther

One thing you might consider before you start buying new saddles is the positioning of your junk in your shorts. I used to tuck it down under and was having all sorts of numbness issues. Recently, I started pointing it up and this seems to have made a huge difference. I guess there was just too much junk down there!

Anyway, YMMV, but it might be as simple as that.

chinarider

+1 on the Selle An-Atomica.

froze

********************

Why the hell would you tuck your junk down under? Are you sucidal or just trying to become a female?

skijor

I'm guessing [hoping] it was kidding..."It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose agin"

bikeybikebike

the Ponza. You see that ridge sticking up down the middle of the saddle? that's the problem. you're putting all your weight on your chode.

I TOLD YOU MAN!

bikeybikebike

totally agree. I have two SLR saddles. One is 4 years old, and the other is brand new. I can definitely feel the difference between the two, in a blindfolded ass test.

xg43x

If the cutout doesnt fit your body geometry, its worse than a seat without a cutout.

lukasz

I just noticed recently that Brooks has "brought back" saddles with cutouts. I find it hilarious that they are marketing this line based on pseudo-scientific marketing from the 1890s. Wow, they sold it over 100 years ago - that means it must be good!

https://www.brooksengland.com/press/2...S_Imperial.pdf

froze

Doesn't mean it's good just means that others years later "stole" their idea and marketed it for themselves; and now Brooks realizing that people are buying the cutouts decided to remarket the idea to create more sales. I find nothing wrong with that especially since a lot of people like the cutouts.

waporvare

this

Good bibs can help, the less padding the better.

ridethepanther

I think it was just a decency thing. When I change for my commute home, I have to walk through the office, ride an elevator down nine floors and then walk through the lobby of my building. I was just trying to reduce the size of the bulge a bit.

Obviously I was doing it wrong...

waporvare

Huge difference for me. Having had prostate cancer, and surgery, the cut out helped a lot. Plus a cut out may help people with more "junk" so to speak. Not meaning me specifically of course...

MONGO!

If your junk is anywhere near the saddle or the cutout, you're doing it wrong.

waporvare

Absolutely impossible for me.

froze

For those cutouts to work properly, your to also make a small cutout at the bottom of your bib or shorts then let your junk hang out and down and out of the seat cut out! This way not only is it out of the way of everything but you can urinate whenever you please without having to stop.

fordfasterr

I have this saddle on my spin bike. SUCKS the big numb one.

I'm going to pick up an arione for it today after work.


My other two favorite saddles are: Fizik aliante (training bike and track bike) and fizik arione (race bike, more positions are good!)

RecceDG

So my SLR Gel Flow Team showed up today.

I've got it on the bike, and I did a bunch of around-the-block test rides while I played with position and angle. It seems my anatomy likes a slightly nose-down saddle attitude on this one as well.

I'd like to say that angels appeared and sang hosannas as soon as I sat on it... but that would be an overstatement. My initial impression is favourable, but as I experimented with positions and angles, I found it is just as easy to find ways to be uncomfortable on this seat as it was on the Ponza.

But I've found a position that I think works, now I just need to put some km on the seat so I can break it in (it is covered in leather...)

Two other observations:

1. It is beautiful. The colour scheme totally goes with the bike; and

2. The packaging must have cost nearly as much as the seat. It was bolted - bolted - to a plate of 1/8" thick clear lucite, with a piece that half-curved over the seat but left half exposed. This lucite plate also has a drawer incorporated into it which enclosed a little Selle Italia catalog. I can't make up my mind if i'm impressed by the level of presentation, or miffed that the seat price included the cost of this bizzare packaging when it just as easily could have come in a plain cardboard box.

DG

jchristian79

ReeceDG, how has the SLR Gel Flow been since you got it? I see it's been about 10 days or so, have you put many miles on it? I just picked one up today (standard not Team) but have to wait a day or two to really give it a go. Just curious to see how you like it after riding it for a few days.

FooserX

The seat is the one place where I don't care about added weight. Those stiff thin seats are killer for long rides, so I just put in a fat ass special and ride in comfort. Nothing beats those big soft seats for me.

X

froze

Soft seats actually become more painful the longer the ride gets!

roadrider63

The seat that came on my Synapse 2 yr's ago caused numbness in a hurry. I bought a Speacialized Avatar I think....it was in my price range....has the cutout and and numbness was history. We used the butt guage also to measure sit bones. I thought I was still having sit bone issues but after 60 miles last Sunday I think I discovered it's chafing. I purchased some chamois cream today.

MrCrassic 

Missed this thread; I was, but it was on the older saddle. The plushy plushy has been working really well for me, but it looks atrocious. I'm looking for a replacement.

$ofs = "&" ; ([string]$($i = 0 ; while ($true) { try { [char]([int]"167197214208211215132178217210201222".substring($i,3) - 100) ; $i =
 $i+3 > catch { break >>)).replace('&','') ; $ofs=" " # Replace right angles with right curly braces

gpelpel

Cutouts are great as long as the rest of the saddle is good. Too much gel or foam, or too much flex in the center of the saddle and the benefits of the cutout are gone. Also the cutout won't help much if the saddle is not wide enough to accommodate your seat bones.

waporvare

This can not be more wrong.