Originally Posted by Smorgasbord42

I just put a Terry Fly Ti on my bike and took a couple of rides. After the first 10 miles or so, I started getting numb in my privates. I tilted the front of the seat down a smidgen and continued riding. After another 10 miles, my right arm started hurting. By the time I finished the ride (about 40 miles total), my sit bones hurt a bit. I had ended up riding with one arm for spells to ease the pain in my right arm. None of the pains were too bad in that there were no lasting effects.

A friend told me that one of the symptoms of having a saddle pointed too far down is that you end up putting more weight on your arms, and that's why my right arm started hurting. But, the tilt is very slight and if I don't do that I get numbness where it's really bad to get numbness. Is there some listing of saddle adjustment symptoms and causes?

Now, I'm currently riding a 1998 Trek 9000 mountain bike, aluminum frame, no suspension, outfitted with road slicks and clipless pedals. I'm in the process of deciding on a real road bike, but in the mean time am experimenting with things like pedals and seats. Since my posture on the mountain bike won't be the same as that on a proper road bike, am I just wasting time trying to find a saddle since it won't behave the same way on a different bike?

The Terry Fly Ti has come highly recommended from a number of sources (both live and internet). Was this a bad choice for me? How does one tell? Do I just have to simply buy and try a number of saddles for the next few months? Is it really that much of a black art?