I have read quite a few new threads on needing new saddles. How sore are are you to want a new saddle? Is it a 40 miler and you feel that you can't sit for 3 days? or is it 10 minutes on a bike and your butt is just screaming? I don't have saddle sores or any residual pain but after 30 miles, I just need to take a break and later in the season I will need a break after 40-50 miles but my butt never screams in pain.

I have read about how great the brooks saddles are and was thinking about purchasing one but it dawned on me that I may not have a problem. I mean with a great fitting saddle will I be able to ride a century totally pain free?, like sitting on my sofa all day?

So do I need to look for a new saddle or not?

By the end of my first century I wasn't thinking much about my butt.

50 miles and you need a break? I wouldn't mess around with a saddle; you sound pretty comfy to me.

You need a new saddle when your saddle is a pain in the ass. When you end your rides thinking I need a new saddle, it's time. For me the issue wasn't so much pain, but numbness.

My reasons aren't measured in pain. More in irritation. On a stock Bontrager saddle (stock equipment) I can ride 30 miles pain free but after the ride I experience an irritaion asi f I am about to develope a saddle sore.

On a good saddle, I still experience some sort of discomfort along the way, I mean it's a 100 miles! A good saddle makes it possible to get comfy on the saddle even after 70 miles where as the lesser saddle, I'd be too irritated to once again achieve comfort.