I did a 100km ride last weekend, which was my longest ride to date, using a Fizik Antares VS saddle on my Giant CX bike.

After about 50km I really started to notice saddle pressure both around my sit-bones and pretty much all of the soft-tissue in contact with the saddle. It wasn't painful and didn't cause any numbness, but it was uncomfortable.

Back home on the trainer I measured by saddle set-back compared to my other bike, and it was slightly further back (maybe 80-85mm vs 75mm). I also found that the Fizik saddle (pictured) has a relatively short length of "wide section" and I had to shuffle back to locate my sit-bones in the wide area.

FixizAntaresVS.jpg

I moved my saddle forward about 12mm (about as far as it will go), which I hope will make my sit-bones fall more naturally onto the wider section.


I'm curious whether the Fizik saddles have a "sweet-spot" that is further to the rear than other saddles? I haven't noticed this problem with the stock saddle fitted on the bike, but then again, I never rode the same distance with the old saddle.

The potential down-side of this is that I may have moved my balance point a bit further forward because I have less saddle space to push by butt back onto (e.g. when getting low on the drops). This in turn means I have a bit more weight on my hands and can't lift my hands off the bars without tipping forward (unless I sit upright). I need more core strength I think to overcome the compromise between saddle set-back, balance and bar reach.