AndyK 

I find my Alias comfortable, but depending on which shorts I wear, I can have some sit bone aches after a ride. I also think if the saddle is too narrow for your sit bones, it can cause pain in the sensitive area between the sit bones - seeming like sit bone pain.

Am I making any sense?

jrobe

"I think you probably have to get used to it."


Disagree. I can tell in 10 minutes if a saddle is good or bad for me. No break-in has ever changed my first impression (and I have tried bad saddles for way too long).

I can't stand the wider saddles where my weight is on the sitz bones. I need a saddle where most of my weight is on the perineum (middle of my crotch). My guess is that if you hate the Toupe, you are similiar.

I would try a narrow saddle like a Fizik Arione. I hated the Toupe (and similiar sitz bone saddles) but the Arione was pretty good. I also like the Selle Italia SLR, Selle San Marco Aspide Arrowhead and a few other narrow saddles like these. I am currently riding a Profile Design Elite which is shaped almost exactly the same as a Fizik Arione but it has more padding. I need more padding for long rides.

Keep looking for a different saddle. It took me about 10 tries to find the best one for me (all bought used on Ebay and resold if it didn't work - cost me very little).

ridethecliche

My issues on the SLR weren't to do with numbness, but with a little bit of a width issue that gave me a ton of saddle sores on one side. I'm back to an SLR (this time an XP) because it was the lesser of all evils.

Try the SLR if you haven't already. You might be surprised.

I've ridden the old flites and an aliante. I like the old flites and really wanted to like them more, but the issue with them was that I wasn't comfortable if I moved forward and got in the drops (caused numbness).

The aliante was okay. I don't remember what I didn't like about it. I have a feeling it would graze my thighs. I think I would have stuck with the aliante though.

This might sound silly, but try the forte pro slx saddle. The shape is similar to a toupe/slr, and it has a little more padding around the cutout area. I tried it and hated it, and then decided to put it back on. I rode it on the trainer last night and was pleasantly surprised since everything sucks more on a trainer.

ericm979

I found the toupe to be very sensitive to angle adjustment. Get it wrong and it's a terrible saddle. Once it's right, it's a grest saddle. But if I sit up and ride no hands, ouch.

If you don't have a micro adjusting post, chances are it won't be at the right angle for you.

For the foot pain, try moving your cleats back a few mm.

canthidefromme

First ride on my toupe, I made it 5 miles before I couldn't sit anymore. Now it's perfect.

That being said, I lowered it 3 mm and now my sit bones are sore again, which is better than numbness.

fauxto nick

I'm not going to give up on it I'm going to go out for a ride tonight and see how it feels, I'll give it a week or two if not I'm going to put my Arione back on there and give that a shot. I'll feel like an idiot if I go back to the arione after months of being off it and selling the one that came with the bike only to find it worked.

Here's the problems I had with previous saddles.

Arione:
Too much padding and when I really got into an arrow position it pushed up on my junk, also sometimes I'd get cranks in my inner thighs which in retrospect I think might have been bad form but something I haven't really got since I moved to the Antares.

Antares:
Fit great for shorter rides, but never felt AMAZING. I always felt like the edges of the saddle were too close to my sit bones and after doing one century on the thing I realized this saddle wasn't going to work for much more than short 30-40 mile rides and maybe 50-70 at the most. The Antares wasn't bed it just never felt amazing or right. It kinda felt like I was riding an incredible saddle but that was fit for someone else.

Toupe:
I decided to try the Toupe because it was a bit wider than the Antares but not a HUGE amount wider. I figured subsequently my sit bones would be more supported which they seem to be. I sat on the saddle last night in boxers so I could get a feel where my sit bones were making contact. I was thinking that possibly they were sitting right on the edge of the cut out and that was what was causing the pain but after feeling it out they're right where they should be. I've noticed that the Toupe strikes the sit bones on an angle and I'm wondering if this is the cause.

fauxto nick

Took it out again tonight moved the saddle back a bit and it was much more comfortable. I think it's a mix of my sit bones getting used to the less padded surface and that I was sitting too far back possibly. If it keeps getting better I'll keep it but I don't think it will be the all day 100+ mile saddle I was hoping it would be.

woodduck

stating the obvious, but make sure you check the distance from the rails to the top of the saddle, they can be different to up to 1cm between brands.

If you are used to a postion, it is never a good idea to change it more than a few mm a go over time to make 1cm, but not a good idea all at once.

And, re: saddles.

I have a old flite, gel flite, arione, regal, rolls, zoncolon, and a slr gel flow all on different bikes.

All of them give me no worries. I must be the opposite of just about everyone else that can't find something that doesn't hurt.

Never tried the toupe, doesn't look very comfy though

the_drain

what colour is it?

fauxto nick

I definitely checked that but thanks. For me the toupe made sense, it had lightly padded bands for your sit bones to rest on and that had a nice amount of give for shock absorption. Maybe I needed to get the gel one I don't know.

intence

You might want to consider the Phenom if you want more padding. I'm thinking about it as it's supposedly a slightly more padded Toupe.

Souplesse

I had the same issues with the toupe when I first got mine. But after playing with the seat angle a bit it is for me the most perfect seat. I just did two days of 100km this past weekend and the saddle worked great.

weavers

NathanC

I do love my SLR if you are a narrow fan. Very nice.

Cycho

You're asking for a saddle induced vasectomy, ED, and a host of other issues if you keep riding like that.

I googled it.

badhat

this week i put my toupe through a long weekend ride in the mountains, a 30 minute crit and a competitive hill climb

still love it

fauxto nick

It keeps getting better. 70 miles or so tomorrow as long as my foot is willing.

clutchy

i've done 3 centuries on mine, but i'll say it definitely took some getting used to. I played with the saddle position for a long time before it got it right.

You'll toughen up, but it does take time and once it gets there, it's just right.

i love my @ss hatchet.

robncircus

+1

Awesome saddle for me at least. Buy one at Performance. Try it. If it doesn' work, return and buy a different saddle. Repeat until you are comfy.

Rob

Dubbayoo

I love my Arione Tri2 even though I have a custom color regular Arione.

ridethecliche

To those looking for the Toupe with a little more padding or one for a backup bike, try the Forte Pro SLX.

fauxto nick

Was AMAZING today, I'm probably keeping it.

As for the foot pain I lowered my seat 1.5 centimeters. My last bike was fitted at 93 cm seat height from pedal to top of saddle. This new bike was fitted at about 94.5-95 cm I lowered it to 93 and it felt much better.

BAD news though, I genetically have the issue of getting HUGE calluses on my feet, I'm 24 and I've had a corn. Well I was scraping down some dead skin around where my foot has been sore with a "Pedegg" and found what looks like a fat corn or possibly foreign object far under a chunk of callus. I'm going to soak my feet next week and dig it out, NOT stoked.

Dantebfd

Your posts never lack an entertaining element, for some reason that last bit really made me laugh. Where else could you mention a future foot bath and have it seem perfectly normal?

fauxto nick

Haha right? Seriously though I get really bad foot genetics from my Mom and I have a feeling it's only going to get worse as I get older, I shouldn't have to worry about this stuff at 24. This def won't be a "scented candals with Enya playing in the back ground and the lights dimmed" type of foot bath. More like the "I'm laying on my back and someone is digging dead skin out of my foot with a knife/file while I scream" type of foot bath.

Dantebfd

:drool:

I watch my wife struggle with foot issues and am thankful that I have such glorious feet.

I have never had any real saddle issues but I was just given a 130mm Alias so I decided to give it a try- I just installed it and plan on testing it tomorrow- I have a feeling that I am opening a can of worms by trying new saddles.