ridethecliche

I'm going through a few saddles right now to find what works best for me.

Thinking about giving one of these a try soon and was wondering if anyone's on the phenom after trying both.

Shape looks almost exactly the same, except the padding density and 'tabs' are gone on the phenom.

Thoughts?

Bikelyst

The Phenom is essentially a mountain version of the Toupe. That's not to say that you couldn't use one on the road...I sold one to a customer recently, and it works for him.

Like you said, the Phenom has more padding than the Toupe, and doesn't have the tabs...try them both out...

paul_858

Both are great saddles. I have both, the toupe for the road and the phenom for the mountain bike.

Toupe - Minimalist approach, lightweight, minimal padding. Part of the comfort comes from the fact that the shell of the saddle will flex. I've been really happy with it.


Phenom, probably twice the padding of the toupe, and significantly more padding on the nose for climbing. I could probably ride it for the road and not notice any real difference between it and the Toupe. I'm a light rider though.

uspspro

I like both. I have the Phenom on my tandem, since I am seated more on that thing, than on a typical road ride on my solo bike.

I have the Toupe on my roadie.

I got the Phenom for the tandem, because I liked the Toupe.

icyclist 

I have both saddles, and I use them on two bikes.

Essentially, the Toupe is a little slimmer and a little lighter than the Phenom, so in theory the Phenom should be a little more comfortable, and it is listed as a mt. bike saddle.

However, while the two saddles are similar, there are variations with each model. There is a version of the Phenom which includes gel.

fbxcore

I was between the Toupe and the Prologo Nago Pas, ended up with the Prologo, might be worth checking out if your shop carries it. Cheaper and better build quality, not quite as much flex and a slightly less pronounced cutout.

ridethecliche

I really dig these flat saddles with a bit of a rise on the back.

My first 'real' road saddle was an SLR and I loved that for over a year. Then it started giving me saddle sores. Turns out that it was cracked. I got a replacement for it and it did the same thing. A Spree of them on the exactly same spot.

Since then I've started out this search again. Pity, because other than that one (huge) annoyance, that saddle was perfect. No numbness, no nothing.

So the search continues. Everything till now has been giving me numbness. Aka, no good!!!


Thanks for all the feedback!

Fbxcore, team sponsor shop is specialized and another LBS sells bonty stuff, so I'd rather give them a try first as they're good to me. I've never seen prologo saddles at either of them unfortunately...

BostonWest

I've been riding the Phenom on my roadie for the past 8 months. It's better than the stock bontrager my bike came with, but I'm still not completely sold.

landshark

Toupe on the road bike. Phenom on the TT bike. Great saddles, both.

fordmanvt

Phenom has slightly more padding, and lists for $85 vs. $150. I went straight for the Phenom on my road bike.

sstorkel

I bought a Toupe Gel for my road bike and hated it; absolutely the worst saddle ever!

My Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Pro came with a Phenom SL. On the MTB, the Phenom works great! At some point, I may give it an audition on the road bike but I suspect that it won't work as well there due to the completely different riding position...

af2nr

I guess it just goes to show that everyone has different preferences. My Tarmac came with a Toupe but I have been riding a Toupe Gel for the last couple of years so I asked the shop to swap it out. They didn't have one in stock so I used a Phenom SL for about a week while waiting on it to arrive. I did a crit the day after I got the bike and the Phenom seemed fine. The next day I did a 45 mile road race and it was a pain. I also did another longer ride that week and it still was uncomfortable to me.

As sstorkel said he hated the Gel but likes the Phenom and others have liked the non gel Toupe and Phenom. To me it seemed the Phenom had too much padding and not enough flex compared to the Toupe Gel? I had also considered the ProLogo saddles but figured if it's not broke...

Jynx

Essentially it is a toupe with more padding on the back, a lot more on the nose and a much stiffer shell that doesnt flex.

Here is the thread I made: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ghlight=phenom

CEE

The toupe hurt my sit bones. I decided to try the phemon thinking that the extra padding would help, and it did. The only problem I have is that the phenom has a thicker nose and rubs against the inside of my shorts