A comfortable saddle really is the Holy Grail of cycling. I have just given up on a Specialized Phenom SL (143mm), which battered my sitbones. I have just bought a Selle Italia Thoork Gelflow (131mm), which I am currently in the process of trying to break in. As an aside, I swapped (with a fellow Bikeradar member) the Phenom SL for a Fizik Arione Wingflex (132mm) and will be going for that option on the weekend to compare against the Thoork. If it feels instantly better, then the Thoork will be returned under Selle Italia's 30day money back guarantee period.

For me, it's a fine balance between bruised sitbones and numb junk... my slight build doesn't tend to favour having all the pressure on the sitbones, but to be honest I'd take a bit of discomfort in the sitbones over numb junk every single day of the week! The Thoork has a cutout and as you probably know; the Arione does not - I will have to see how the Fizik offering fairs in that respect if I decide to go with that over the Selle Italia.

We shall see. Can anyone recommend a cutout saddle with the fabled sitbone comfort of a non-cutout one? I have found cutout saddles generally are less padded and when God didn't give you a lot of "padding"... well...