Originally Posted by
D00M
Thanks for feedback. I figure the best way is to test and try out saddles in person.
I borrowed an old Specialized saddle (Avatar 143) from my brother. It is around 143mm wide. I'm not sure if this is considered medium or soft. Feels a bit soft, but it is an old saddle. I tried it for 5 minutes yesterday; and will use it to commute to work tomorrow for the real test.
And I will borrow a saddle from colleague to test out.
Hopefully these trials will give me some direction on which saddle to get.
Based on YouTube and online research, I am leaning toward these. But a lot of details to decide on:
- Saddle Width: Medium (around 142mm) or narrow (135mm)
- Firmness: medium (like WTB Volt) or firm (like WTB Silverado). Ergon is also another brand I'm looking at. But Ergon doesn't specify the firmness.
The outer width of the saddle is predictive only if all saddles transition from top to side in the same manner. But some saddles transition quickly, so they have effectively wider tops.
Softness is only of value if it is where you actually want to put pressure on your body. And then if that area is too soft you will sink and put pressure elsewhere.
So I disagree with your protocol.