Road Fan

Admitting I haven't read the whole thread yet, but have you experimented with moving the saddle forward and back on the rails? My first guess is you need the saddle a little farther back, to keep support on your sit bones but not to get abrasion from the wider part where the saddle shape is flaring to the sit bone area.

Carbonfiberboy 

This problem is due to a detail of saddle shape. Here are some possibilities:
1) the "roll-off" from the top of the saddle into the skirt has a hard spot on it. Some people need a very smooth and even transition.
2) the saddle is too pear shaped and needs to be more T shaped. IOW the curve joining the back of the saddle to the nose is too slack. The nose needs to continue a bit further back.
3) the cutout is too wide or the space between the cutout and the edge of the saddle is too wide.

So look for saddles which combine these elements. Have a look at this page:
Find Men's Bike Saddles: The Best Bike Saddles, Seats & Seatposts From Performance Bike
expanded to 48 items. You'll see saddles which vary a lot in the above characteristics.

I have had similar problems and am currently riding a discontinued Forte saddle. The Forte Pro SL is probably the closest to its shape.

My practice is to order 3 saddles at a time from Performance and return them, clean, in their original packaging complete with zip ties, etc. It might take a dozen saddles, but you will find the perfect thing.

You can also go to your LBS and try Specialized saddles which aren't available online.

Last ride 76 

Well I don't know about comfort, but pretty I do know about...

Even my wife liked them when she saw them like this.

Since I only ride 15 miles or so at a time right now, the selle italia slr at 135 g is my current favorite, ( I am a moderate steel bike weight weenie). I don't know how it would do over greater times/distances.

Best regards, Eric

tsappenfield

I have to say that I am blown away by the number of responses to my post. Two days ago, I went on a 15 mile ride with my EZ Nuts cream, bike shorts, and winter bibs. After I got home, and in quite a bit of discomfort, I checked the problem area in my right crotch area and I could feel the beginnings of a blister. By the way, I was using the Brooks B-17 Narrow saddle which I feel still isn't broken in after 200+ miles. I agree that my anatomy and the anatomy of the two saddles just don't match well at all. I'm going to continue adjusting saddle position to see if there is some position where the rubbing stops.
Tsapp

Wanderer

If you are getting rubbing, are you sure the saddle isn't toooooo high? Rocking back and forth causes rubbing. Any chance the "blister" was caused by a seam in your clothes?

I really like Bag Balm for protection of tender bits, and it sure doesn't take much - just enuf to have it coated. A dime sized dab is usually enough for me.

In all honesty, it took a couple thousand miles for my B-17 to match my butt, or vice versa...... It's still hard, but I don't feel it under me any longer. It's just a perch, or anchor point. It took a lot of adjusting to finally get it right, and it points ever so slightly in one direction, not straight ahead. Just keep moving it, it will finally feel right.

edsall78

That's too bad about the B-17..

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned..I bought my wife the following saddle (Charge Ladle):
Charge Ladle Cromo Saddle > Components > Saddles and Seatposts > Saddles | Jenson USA
And ended up trying it myself--The Charge 'Spoon' gets a lot of great review and is relatively inexpensive.

I recently purchased the following saddle for myself:
wiggle.com | Charge Scoop Saddle | Performance Saddles
And, I think it's been the most comfortable saddle for me so far.

smoore

OK, Selle Anatomica saddle update.

I have now ridden three times for a total of fifty miles. All I can say is WOW!!

I'm not an expert but I have been riding 35+ years and know if my butt hurts or not. I have probably purchased at least fifteen saddles during that time and still have ten of them hanging in my garage. Almost all saddles feel good for ten miles but after about fifteen I start to sense whether things are going to be good or bad. Even my best saddles are painful in some regard and I just try to keep my weight forward, stand often and deal with it.

Well, that appears to be over. Frankly, this saddle is more comfortable than the chair I'm sitting in as I type this.

I was replacing a saddle that had been moderately comfortable for the last twenty months, a 143 Specialized Romin EVO Expert. It took me a few sessions to get the SA positioned correctly and I was aided by the fact that my Thomson seat post allows micro adjustment. I have always found that a totally level saddle works best for me but the SP is anything but that. They recommend riding with the nose up and while counter intuitive and ugly...it did prove to be accurate. I didn't find that I had to adjust the seat post height at all.

The saddle was comfortable immediately, no break in necessary. I ordered it with the chrome rails and to me it looks less clunky and more svelt. In black it really didn't look bad at all on the bike until I started raising the nose and then raising it some more. It does indeed look dorky but I don't care. This is the most comfortable saddle I have ever ridden. I don't want to overstate it and perhaps I will feel differently after my first sixty mile ride, but the only time I think about my butt now is when I'm thinking how great it feels. Frankly, I believe this may let me ride further and maybe faster...now that I'm not so preoccupied with how I feel. Other than my LOOK 585 itself, this may be the best cycling purchase I have ever made...Yes, I'm pretty sure it is.

For some context, I'm in my early 60's, 5'5" and 132 lbs. Consequently I don't have a lot of padding back there.

Now for the bad..not much. I do find that half the time I get out of the saddle I found my left upper quad/thigh would scrape and slightly catch the bottom of the side of the saddle. No big deal buy slightly annoying and I suppose it could lead to a little wear to your shorts. But really, I'm straining at gnats here. Next, I sure would love a Titanium option. I would pay a bit more for that option. There are at least two other competitors out there that offer Ti...which is sourced in China. I applaud SA for wanting to keep everything in the U.S. and I'm no fan of the Chinese government, but IF the competitors saddle are as comfortable, the price is similar and I could knock three ounces off this beast...I would at least consider it.

Sorry for the long post, but man does my butt feel good.

newbie101

The specialized body geometry saddles are pretty darn good. I also like the stock saddles on giant defy's.

Trek bontrager saddles consistently get low marks for comfort.

Carbonfiberboy 

Compare the shape of your saddle with the saddles in the link I posted above. You'll see there's a some saddle on your B-17 where there isn't any saddle on some of those pictured. There's a reason that there are hundreds of models of saddles: everyone's butt is shaped slightly differently. There probably should be even more models. There's no reason to think that a saddle that worked for someone else would work for you. Usually the opposite is true, the odds being that way, what with the hundreds of saddle models.

Scroll down in that link and find the Forte Pro SL. I can ride that saddle. Compare it to the Selle Italia SLI right above it. I cannot ride that saddle, though many people like it. Compare those to the Selle SMP. Many people love that saddle, but it feels to me like I'm riding on a 4X4.

My guess is that the roll-off is too sharp for you.