Originally Posted by
Machka
That was one of the big things for me ... flat saddles leave me with lower back pain. I need the curve for extra support or something. And that's one of the things which prompted me to go with a Brooks saddle ... once broken in, they curve. They also offer lots of support for the sitbones.
(And as I said earlier, I ride with a lot of male riders, on a lot of long rides ... many of whom dislike the cutouts as much as I do. So disliking the cutouts isn't just a female thing ... some women actually seem to like the cutouts for some reason)
That is the whole point. Why take so universal a position - cutouts are bad - when it is clearly an individual preference? You can certainly be right about your own situation, and just as certainly be wrong about trying to extrapolate to everyone. The cutout saddle saved bike riding for me. Why can't you accept that is a truth repeated over and over again by countless riders, but just as in the opposite situation, no not everyone. That is just how it works. You're weakening your assertion with regard to yourself (opening it up to criticism) by overextending it to everyone else. To put it another way, every one of those many miles you have ridden, you were riding with your own back, butt and perineum. You can't speak for any other rider until you can ride with his or her anatomy.
Robert