Originally Posted by
FBinNY
saddle or rear end pain in only a mile or two is far too soon. I wouldn't be shopping saddles, but instead try to identify what's wrong, where it hurts and why. Saddles do make a difference, but mostly on longer rides that are hours, not minutes long.
It could be that your saddles aren't supporting you in the right place, the angle may be wrong, they may be too wide or too narrow, or you may have some tendonitis back there that the saddle in aggravating. Take the time to try to sort things down to a short list of causes, then try a few saddles, focusing on shape, angle and fit, before worrying so much about the material.
Yeah, my sit bones (as measured by the LBS) are quite wide, so it's more a saddle geometry thing. I've had saddles that support my sit bones, but cause inner-thigh numbness and pressure, saddles that cause too much pressure on my taint unless angled aggressively forward, etc. I've been trying a variety of saddles and adjusting angle, height, forward/back, etc., and this brooks was the first saddle where I had found a "goldilocks" zone that didn't solve one problem by causing another.