Bone Machine

The saddles I see on higher end MTBs look like road bike saddles. Very thin and light weight. Are they interchangeable now? Is it a matter of sacrificing comfort for less weight, or are they now made comfortable enough for mountain biking?

zerocool33

I use a Selle San Marco Regal on my MTB and a San Marco Regal-E on my road bike. On SM's website they say the saddle is suitable for Road and Offroad XC riding. Most road saddles are comfortable enough on a MTB because you either have full suspension or 29er wheels that soften the blow. And IMO if the seat fits you it will be comfortable no matter what you ride. I am in the process of getting another Regal-E so all my rides will have the same seat.

bikinfool

Saddles have been around longer than mountain bikes. It's just marketing, a saddle is a saddle. While I'd say mountain biking may need saddles with certain features, the assumption padding equates to comfort isn't necessarily true. I've been using whatever saddle I'm using at the time, some were marketed as "road" some as "mountain", but I'm always seeking the perfect saddle anyways (and padding really doesn't come into play, and some come with more than necessary. Some of my favorite saddles have had little or no padding. I've seen catalogs where they don't even bother to try and come up with designations as to which side of the fence...

PS I had a chance once to ride a bike at a shop that had a carbon saddle, that thing was surprisingly comfortable, but couldn't see wanting to use it on a mountain bike, would be a very expensive saddle after a crash or two.

dminor 

As bikinfool says, it has much more to do with configuration/construction (and how that agrees with your own sit-bones) than the amount of padding. I have a Sunline saddle that is very minimalist that was really uncomfortable; but NOT because it was so razor-thin. It just had an odd slope to the rear corners that always made me feel like I was slipping off the back. I probably could have lived with it just fine if it wasn't for the odd shape. I've relegated it to my XC hardtail on the theory I won't be spending much time on it anyway.

victim

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victim

If you spend alot on a saddle you can be sure of bending rails, tearing the cover, etc within the first few rides. Get a cheap, ugly, heavy one and it lasts forever, without a scratch. It's called "Murphy's Law of Saddles" I believe.

Seriously, If the saddle fits wear it. Shouldn't be sitting in the chop anyway. Carbon would scare me though, but I'm no flyweight.

Just boought a new Chromag Lynx and I like it alot. VERY similar to the Specy BG saddles that I like. A little pricey ang guess what? Big tear on third ride out. Going to try some tear mender on it.

Gunvald Larsson

I've had some of my road saddles like Arione and Thoork relocated to mtb service. I like a little rougher terrain for riding so I've cracked an Arione in half and the Thoork with its fancy carbon bits simply blew up completely. I'm a light weight rider too so either it's bad luck 100% or these saddles really can't take this kind of riding. I'm using cheapo mtb saddles now and they seem to last longer than just a couple of months like those road saddles did.