Saddle Right from the get-go?
 

Like everyone, I've gone through my share of saddles, in the endless search for comfort. I've been on SMP's for quite a while and they have mostly been okay. After a few saddle sores with the Drakon, a saddle I've used for a decade, I decided to try the Stratos.
Which beings me to the question; have your saddles generally be right from the beginning? Or did you have to do a fair amount of adjustments to finally settle in? The Stratos is taking a while and I'm naturally not sure if it's me, the saddle or just bad luck!

Can't say I've ever had the experience of a horrible saddle becoming good with time or tweaking. I've had a saddle feel good for 20 miles, but require tweaking for 100 miles.

To be sure, neither the Stratos or the Drakon are horrible. And SMP's take a bit of fiddling to setup, in my experience. Seems like it takes a few hundred miles to break in.

The trick with SMP's is the distance between the bottom of the dip to the top of beak. That distance needs to be no longer than the length of your pubic rami. If the dip to top of beak length is too long, the saddle just won't fit right. Check out the diagrams in their paten application for how SMP thinks their saddles should be used -tender bits in front to the top of the beak.

When I went through a bike fit session years ago, I must have tried at least 20 different saddles: some for only a couple of minutes when I could tell quickly they weren't for me, and others for a couple of weeks that were possibilities. I found the bike fit session very beneficial - not only is it about saddle selection, but about general cockpit positioning that will have an effect saddle shape, positioning, tilt, etc. If you haven't been through one, perhaps you might find a fit session beneficial as well.

FWIW: I've since become a fan of BiSaddles, which allow for both fore and aft inward/outward adjustability as well as being able to tweak lateral support. Because of their adjustability, they take a lot of "trying" out of the process.

Good luck with your search.

I'm pretty lucky in that I find most saddles of a particular style comfortable...my various bikes have Selle Italia boost SLRs, Pro Stealths, Fizik Argos, etc. As long as they have a cut out and are somewhat contoured around the sit bone area, I find them comfortable...even when they're different widths.

Out of all the stock saddles I've had, the only one that I thought was absolutely terrible was the Fizik Arione. That literally felt like sitting on a 2x4, and it would make my junk all tingly.

The saddles that have come with my bikes have always worked fine for me. Just lucky I guess. The only time I had an issue, was when the saddle was slightly rotated to the side and not aligned straight. I was getting some saddle sores from that.

Never had a stock saddle that was any good. Always feel like sitting on a brick. But the ones I do like feel fine from day one.

My Stratos was a bit harsh at first, so I tipped the nose down a little, did a couple short rides (around 30–40 km total), and it really loosened up. Try loosening the clamp, angle the front down just a notch, and give it a few easy spins

I settled on old Selle Italia Max Flite saddles about 25 years ago, even hoarding NOS examples for when the old ones wore out. Last year, when I finally needed a replacement, I bought an SLR Superflow - dimensionally similar to the Max Flites and I wanted to try a cutout. The SLR is a harder saddle, which took a couple of rides to get used to, but the cutout worked well. I’m happy (and relieved) that my first new saddle in a quarter-century worked out well from the start.

I just got a new Selle Italia SLR for the new bike, having ridden SLRs for 20+ years.

Comfort is the same, but what's the deal with the short nose? It must be 2cm shorter than the old model. That will take some getting used to.

One thing I've learned is that a new saddle at the beginning of cycling season (we have seasons in New England) will feel different later into the season when my butt has been "seasoned."

i think everyone is difference in this respect, including the full range from very sensitive to not at all. i've had bikes with a few different saddles, and never really had one that was a problem. i did eventually determine that slightly narrower (in the same model) was slightly better, but we're talking minor differences.

Never right from the start. Always took tweaking and adjusting. Think you would have to be a Mensa to get it right the first time.

This why I like 2-bolt seatposts and have them on almost all my bikes. Changing seats is tedious but making small incremental adjustments that are easy to track is simple, requires no measuring tools (protractors, levels or straight edge and tape measure) and every setting is repeatable. Need the nose down? Stop (yes, mid-ride adjustments are easy), loosen the rear bolt, tweak the front say 90 degrees, tighten the rear and ride. Too much? Go back 45 degrees.

Additional advantage - get a saddle sore but need to keep riding to get ready for that century? Tip that nose up or down say two whole turns 'till you are off it. Yes, far from ideal but it heals and two weeks later you can go back to exactly where the seat was before.

Never tweaked a saddle. I guess I have been fortunate, most of my bikes are trek and I have found that saddle to work for me. My BMC came with a fizik saddle and I hate it, but can’t bring my self to drop 300.00 on a saddle so I just suck it up. Survived a 150 mile ride on that saddle so I guess I’ll keep using it.

I've been wondering about that. I have the SLR TI Superflow original version on two road bikes and I like everything about them. The nose on the 'boost' model is 27mm shorter than the original and so I've been curious what that's like

I tried a shorter nose saddle that came with a new road bike I picked up season before last, but it was just too darned wide and I couldn't handle it long enough to have an opinion about the shorter length

I also seem to be pretty tolerant of saddles. I fit fine on Brooks professionals, Idéales 90, 80, and 39, and Terry Butterfly models. I don't however fit the Brooks B and C 17. They are a bit too wide for me on drop bar bikes.

Give me a Fiight and I ‘m happy.

I think the short nose saddles originated as a way to circumvent UCI regulations, regarding the nose to handlebar distance on WT pro bikes.

I heard something like that, too, but I thought it was saddle nose to bottom bracket.

From Google:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2c31e6494a.png

I stand corrected. I knew it had something to do with saddle position and UCI regs.

It's so subjective. I have an $80 SDG saddle on my back up TT bike that just works well. It's just as nice as my SMP Dynamic. I don't want to admit that, but it's true. I had a Fizik TT saddle that was literally the biggest piece of crappola ever. But people swear by it.

I never rode on the front 1" anyway of a standard long-nose saddle, so I have the boost addition. Also, the SLR boost comes in a gravel edition as well, which has a tiny bit more padding.

Saddle Right from the get-go?
 

I'll have to look at my bikes sometime. Pretty sure I run less than 2" back from that vertical line with a long nosed Terry Fly. And I do use that length as I like to come well forward going hard. If so, the current UCI regs mean I might not be able to set my bikes up for best fit with my favorite saddles. For best, most comfortable fit for this 70 yo for breathing, climbing, and yes, that curse of going upwind.

And to the thread title - for me, it is "Saddle Left from the get-go." Ie, saddle nose sits about 1/2 a cm to the left on all my bikes. With full approval from everything "down there".