TrojanHorse

Does anybody have a saddle that they feel like their buns are still fresh after 6 hours in the saddle? I generally assume that if i can do 3 hours comfortably on a saddle that's about as good as it's going to get. I have plenty of good bibs and all that jazz, but my posterior was KILLING me after Saturday's century (7+ hours). It's mostly the sit bone area, feels like it's been ... well, it hurts.

5 hours and under and I really don't have any problems.

For reference, I'm currently using a 155mm Romin Evo Expert (ti rails... the evo model is slightly more padded than the non evo model as far as I can tell but not by much)

I previously used a Selle San Marco Rolls and that was pretty good but I never did any centuries on it either, and when I got a "modern" bike I figured I should upgrade that lump of lead at the same time.

I may try a selle italia saddle one of these days when I'm feeling the spending itch.

vesteroid

happy to ship you down a gel flow max to try. Cant keep it, but welcome to ride it for a few weeks. I want to keep it in case I ever switch out the ridley to a century bike again, but other than that I dont need it.

Let me know if you want to try it.

TrojanHorse

I don't think it's going to do me any good till at least July...

I'll ping you then.

I just want to know if there are actually people who can sit on their bike for 7+ hours and get off thinking they could do more. I see people doing double centuries and I really don't think my carcass can handle that kind of abuse right now. On Saturday I was alternating between standing until my foot hurt and then sitting till my kiester hurt. It was like a little sine wave of pain between what hurt worst.

Dunbar

The most I've done on my WTB Speed V is about 50 miles but it's the only saddle of the 15+ I've tried that feels just as good at the end of the ride as the beginning. It basically just disappears. I tried a Romin Evo 155 and it just didn't have enough padding for me. I've also tried a 143 Toupe and 155 Avatar as well which had the same problem for me. I would start getting shifty after about 45-90 minutes on the them due to sit bone pressure. I love the comfort of the Speed V but I keep trying (and failing) to find something that looks better that I can live with. I literally just returned a Fizik Aliante Versus today (too narrow.)

The Selle Italia Max Flite Gel Flow I believe versteroid is referring to is one I was going to try but after touching it in the store it just doesn't seem to have much padding. None of the thinly padded seats I've tried thus far have worked for me.

TrojanHorse

Yeah, saddles are funky. 50 miles though... I can ride just about any saddle 50 miles, it's the next 50 that get ya. I will say that when I was demoing saddles last summer I tried an arione and it just wasn't right (but it was tolerable) and the 143 toupe I tried was immediately wrong. I put an old saddle i bought back in the late 90s (Avocet O2 kevlar or something) just for giggles and I hated that thing within about 100 feet.

Mr. Beanz

I've done several centuries on a WTB Rocket V no problem. I've done more on a Terry Fly, just fits me better. Both have been good

I hated the Selle Italia gel saddle I had years ago. After 1000 miles, still felt like sitting on concrete.

adrien

Well, I'm now on a Romin Pro after years of Charge Spoon Ti.

The Charge is very good, but not as good if you ride the drops a lot. It has a channel, but not a full cutout. But I've done several centuries on them, no problem, right up to 120 miles. But again, for riding in the drops, the pressure (for me) becomes too much. If you don't care about weight, the one with Chro-mo rails is cheap.

The Romin Pro is interesting. It's very hard, and you need a good chamois and to move around. I'm much fitter now, and suspect I would have hated it at 260 (I'm about 205 now). But the spacing is perfect for me, as is the length and width and the cutout.

IBOHUNT

I tried many over the past 2 months trying to get one that fit me better than my Fizik Arione.

Those included:
Selle Italia Max
Selle Itallia C2
Specialized Troupe (3 different ones)
Specialized Romain (again 3 different ones)

The Arione is back on the bike. It suited me well.

DOOM_NX

Wow! So many answers in such a short time!

I guess we can all benefit from this discussion, so it's not a personal thread anymore.

I'm trying to spot a pattern in your answers but I can't find any. It seems every butt is that special.

I used to think curved saddles, such as Romin Evo, would only work for very aggressive fits and lightweight riders, but this isn't the case either.

Selle SMP seems to be the answer for many guys. Maybe I will try the TRK. Or the Lite 209? Or the Plus? Too many choices :/

Then we have many riders swearing by the Brooks B17, but I'd rather ride a waterproof saddle - preferably one that I won't have to babysit.

Last but not least, lots of talk about the WTB seats. I'm afraid they're not that popular here so I'll have to start studying the models.

Please keep the discussion going. I will contribute with reviews of the model(s) I try in the future.

chasm54

You probably made a mistake replacing the San Marco Rolls, it's a great touring saddle. As for it being a lump of lead, I know a Cat 1 racer who has one on his race bike.

I'm comfortable on both my Brooks saddles - B17 and Swift - for full days, I've done 10-hour days on the B17 and been perfectly comfortable, but I know they aren't for everyone.

chasm54

You don't have to babysit a Brooks. Slap some proofide on the underside when you first get it, that's about all you need to do. I tuck a shower cap under the rails so I can cover it when it is going to be standing outside in the pouring rain, but rain doesn't matter when you're sitting on it. Mine currently has well over 10000 miles on it (maybe nearer 20000), it has been ridden in all conditions on three continents, it's absolutely fine.

MileHighMark

After much experimentation, I've found that I need a saddle where the rear portion is flat, side-to-side. It can have a bit of a "dip" fore/aft, but it really needs to be flat when viewed from behind. My favorite is the Selle An-Atomica Titanico. Interestingly enough, I prefer the version for lighter-weight riders, as I like the passive suspension it provides. Also, don't underestimate the importance of a true micro-adjusting seatpost for obtaining the absolute best saddle position/angle.

Other saddles I've tried:

OK: WTB Pure-V, Selle Italia Man Gel Flow, Brooks B17
No-Way: Selle Italia Turbomatic, Fizik Aliante, Specialized Avatar, Selle Italia Max Flite Gel Flow

DOOM_NX

Thank you for the tips. Taken under consideration.

sstorkel

I rode my Selle SMP Lite 209 from San Francisco to Los Angeles without any problem. That was 6 or 7 days of being on the bike 5-9 hours/day to cover a distance of 55-100 miles, depending on the day.

As with anything, training helps. Before I started training for the trip, my long weekend rides where typically 2-4 hours. If I was lucky, I'd get in one long (~4hr) ride and one shorter (~2hr) ride each weekend. I gradually increased the distance, total bike weight, and elevation gain until I could comfortably do back-to-back 4-6 hour days with 3000+ feet of climbing on my loaded touring bike... and still feel like I wanted to ride again the next day.

adrien

Another thought...I've found there are two distinct poles of the types of saddle out there, and then some in between.

There's the saddles that are ridable in three or four different positions -- on the back climbing, on the "rivet" when pushing a big gear, in between for normal cruise, and perhaps with rotated hips. I like these saddles more, because as I've gotten fitter I've moved around a lot more. In this category the extreme is a Fizik Arione, with Specialized Romin and Charge Knife and Spoon being very close. You can find 3-4 comfortable positions assuming the saddle width gets on with your sit bones.

Then there are saddles that are much more one-position. These have a true "pocket" where they are very comfy, but outside of that it feels like you're not on it right. I'd include the brooks line and the SMPs on that list. I find both comfy, and might go Brooks for a true Brevet where it was all about long hours in the saddle for days at a time. Brooks feel "hammock-y" to me, but comfy. The SMP is great for people who like their hips rotated forward -- lots of power that way, but again, it feels like it's more limited in position.

Oh, and agreed on micro-adjustments. It takes me a good 50 miles riding with a tool to get a new saddle exactly right. And a seatpost with infinite and easy adjustment helps (I love my Thomson for this)

verktyg 

I agree about a saddle that's flat across the back - for me that is... Everyone's posterior is different so YMMV.

I got my first Brooks Pro back in 1975 from a racer who had hung up his cleats. It was a 1971 saddle and had at least 20k mikes on it. I put another 10k on it so far.

What I liked was the flat back. Up until then just about every saddle available had a rounded top in the rear which resulted in pressure in the center causing "sleepy winky" syndrome! ;-(



The plastic Ass Hatchets that came on most bikes during the bike boom era were designed by Torquemada to inflict the maximum amount of discomfort. This Freccia DOro saddle was standard on Gitane Tour de France bikes (Freccia DOro means golden arrow).



The Brooks B17s were flat to but much wider in the rear. They worked better for a more upright riding position.

The "whale tail" flat back on the WTB Pure-V gave me the same comfort as my Brooks Pros plus the "love channel" to reduce any pressure in the middle.

One problem that I've found with the Pure-V saddles, they have variations in the hardness of the foam in the rear. The soft ones allow me to sink in too far putting pressure in area where it hurts after about 5 miles.

I have a box of the soft ones that I replaced with WTB Devo/Deva and Silverado saddles. They look too thin to be comfortable but they have flat backs with minimal padding plus the love channels and they provide lots of support for my sits bones.

Some of the plastic based saddles with cut out center sections have been very uncomfortable because the top edges of the cut out area digs in.

BTW, some Brooks Pros are more comfortable than others. Also, the Ideale 80 and 90 saddles were less flat across the rear and many of them developed sag after some use (not tonight honey, I've got a, er, a headache) ;-)



Adjustable seatposts are GREAT! I've found that changing the seat height by as little as 1mm and angle by 2° can make a big difference in ridding comfort.

I have my own comfort "formula". I measure the seat height from the BB center plus I have digital and dial protractors to measure the seat angle.

Things are not always what they seem... Don't believe everything you think!

verktyg

Chas.

Yo Spiff

You've got it! One person's easy chair is the next one's ass-hatchet.

TrojanHorse

I actually still have it and it's going on my backup bike... I replaced it because I wasn't totally comfortable on it for 40-50 mile rides back when I started ramping up the mileage.

Honestly, the reason I picked it in the first place was because the entire pro tour seemed to be using them at the time that I got sick of my other saddle, back in the late 90s.

bernmart

Right now I'm trying out a Selle Italia SLR Max Gel Flo. It fits what have evolved into my criteria: flattish both in side view and rear view; wide enough (145) for my sit bones; padded but not too much; and a cutout--not so much to avoid numbness but abrasion. If anything the cutout is wider than it needs to be. Otherwise, the saddle seems just about right. We'll see.

chasm54

One other thing. One of the reasons that the leather saddles work for me is that they "break in" and conform to one's shape. And this works for me because I am not quite symmetrical. I didn't know this until I looked at my Brooks saddles after I had them for a while, but it is quite clear that my pelvis is slightly twisted and that my left sitbone deforms the saddle more than my right. Plastic/carbon saddles don't change shape in the same way, so on them the left side of my ass is taking more of the weight, all the time.

May be worth thinking about this for others who, like me, have imperfect physiques.

Mark Stone

I sit on a B17, but I agree with a lot of other posters that seat position and height is 3/4 of the battle. My B17 is the most comfy saddle I've ridden on in my 40+ years of cycling . . . ♫ ♪ ♫

fietsbob

Brooks pro, san marco concor max and Rolls, selle Italia turbo, Fizik Vitesse.

Dunbar

Well today was my first ride back on my trusty WTB Speed V after trying a couple other cooler looking saddles and I absolutely crushed it. I could put more weight on my butt and be totally comfortable. So I guess the moral of the story is don't sacrifice comfort for vanity. I fear that is a lesson I will continue to learn the hard way

https://app.strava.com/activities/51645696

verktyg 

I don' have eyes in my a** so I could care less what the saddle looks like... Handsome is as handsome does!

Things are never what they seem... Don't believe everything you think!

verktyg

Chas.

FlatSix911

I am also a fan of the WTB Silverado saddle