tetonrider

In a nutshell, I'm struggling to find a MTB saddle that works for me for extended climbs (up to 2h of climbing, alone). The reason I'm posting in the road forum is to reach roadies who also MTB (like me), and to reach those who may be familiar with the road saddles that I like and dislike.

Summary of Road Saddle Experience
Without going through a whole saddle history, on the road bike I have disliked the Fizik Arione (felt good for the first few miles; too narrow as rides got longer), was luke-warm (sometimes it was OK, others not) about the Specialized Toupe in 143, and get along very well with the Fizik Antares.

The Antares is fairly flat fore-aft, and the widest part is also flatter laterally (as viewed from the rear of the saddle).

Typical MTB rides
On my MTB, a typical ride is ~3,000 feet of climbing, followed by a long descent. I ride XC/AM/light DH. I prefer to sit and spin on the climb -- not even get out of the saddle at all. On the way down on my rides, I'm often barely on the saddle. I ride a bike with 6" of travel (front & rear).

What I've tried recently on the MTB
Where I am in the process:
* WTB Lazer V Pro -- never felt good; too much padding? Went numb.
* Fizik Gobi XM -- Numb 10 minutes in. Realized (too late) that it's based on the Arione. That makes sense. Flat fore-aft, but very narrow and steep lateral drop-offs. (~130mm wide)
* Fizik Aliante Gamma XM -- Getting better...would start going numb after 20 minutes or so. ~142mm wide (better) and rounded (laterally), though nowhere near as dramatic as the Gobi. Felt it may have still been a touch *too* rounded. I wanted to like it. This saddle has a bit of a hammock feature as viewed from the side.

Should I accept that with any saddle, on any extended climb, i'm going to HAVE to get out of the saddle every 20 minutes to avoid going numb? I feel like that shouldn't be the case.

Any MTB saddles that are similar to the Fizik Antares?

I have the carbon-railed Antares on my road bike. I do NOT want a carbon-railed MTB seat (or really any carbon on my MTB saddle, given what I descend).... but perhaps I should take the Antares for one MTB climb (and maybe even descend via road) just as a test.

Thanks for leads on saddles that are relatively flat laterally and at least 140mm wide.

EDIT to add: On my road bike, I lean more forward (even during climbs) than I do during climbs on my MTB. I'm not sure if the implication is that I might need a saddle even *wider* than the 140-142 range (and still flat).

stapfam

I ride road and MTB and I settled on a Selle italia Flite Ti as my saddle of choice on the MTB. When I went road- I got the Gel max version for a bit of padding and both saddles feel good.

But I hate to say it- I get out of the saddle to give the butt a rest on the road and the MTB.

Except on the Tandem- That thing does take a bit of co-ordination between the two riders to do anything so butt breaks can be spaced a bit too far apart for comfort. I am more upright on that thing and use a slighly wider saddle- but after about 6 hours- any saddle hurts. Especially on the long offroad climbs on rough trails.

Tapeworm21

Specialized Phenom. Try it, love it, respect it.

tetonrider

thanks. to be clear, i'm looking for a very specific recommendation of saddle based on similarity to the fizik antares (or the criteria i specified), rather than a general 'i like this saddle.'

i appreciate the reply, but if im failing to see the connection of the saddle you mention to my request, i apologize.

thanks.

Tapeworm21

Expand your horizons.

tetonrider

i've done a bunch of searching and testing on the road bike to figure out the dimensions that work. does the saddle you mentioned fit the criteria i described? (honest question)

if so, i will look into it.

if it's just a "this saddle works great for me" and you didn't address my desired characteristics, i'll take a pass on "expanding my horizons" in that direction for now.

i'm not saying that a saddle that does not match my desired criteria will not work; rather, i'm saying that i think my desired criteria from the road bike will give me the best chance for comfort on my MTB. (i've tried saddles within the last 6 weeks from specialized, azonic, fizik, and WTB, so i'm not merely being brand-loyal).

thanks again.

Tapeworm21

Phenom comes in a 143 width, awesome cutout to fix numbness, and fairly sharp cutouts.

Width is VERY important on a saddle, maybe even try a 155 depending on how upright you are. Look at a Fizik saddle and notice its "dome shape." Guess what that dome shape does to one's "Taint." Bad things, hence the numbness.

But whadoo I know. Hell, your saddle may be too high and mashing all your goods into the saddle as you pedal.

Duke of Kent

I don't get it.

Why can't you buy another Antares for your MTB?

Plenty of people ride the same saddle on their road bikes and MTBs.

tetonrider

thank you for the information. i appreciate the clarification. the phenom doesn't come in a 155 (that i can see), but you might be right about needing something even wider -- particularly given that i have a more upright position.

not all fiziks have a dome shape. the arione/gobi does. the aliante is much less so, and the antares doesn't have it at all. in fact, the aliante is more like a hammock than a dome.

you could be right about the saddle being too high. in installing the new seat the other day, i did raise things up a touch, but it causally felt good in terms of leg extension. i'll take another look.

will also investigate phenoms.


you have a fair point and i would do what you say, but for one issue. i'll try to be more clear:

currently, fizik only makes 2 models of antares: one has carbon rails, and the other doesn't. both have carbon reinforced bodies.

given that i ride my MTB at reasonably high speeds on the descent, and sometimes the wheels are leaving the ground (i will do jumps and drops; i'm riding some freeride/dh trails after pedaling up). i really don't want carbon on anything related to my MTB. i know many folks have success with it, but i also know what and how i'm riding. i particularly don't want it on my saddle.

also, the antares retails for $200 (you can get it for cheaper), and putting it on the MTB means that it could be a disposable part. i don't want that, either.

....so......i'm looking for a saddle with the profile of the antares, but unfortunately it can't be the antares.

Georgebowen

WTB makes some nice looking MTB saddles that are 140mm+ wide.

They are decently priced and look durable.

Like the WTB Power V which is 146mm wide and fairly flat adn under $50:

https://www.mtb-freeride.com/news/new....asp?NewsID=22

theextremist04

Carbon reinforced (at least from my experience) means plastic...and if you drop your saddle like you should for that long of a descent I don't know how you'd break it unless you laid the bike down hard.

NormanF

It just sucked Brooks discontinued the Conquest saddle. It was the Professional with springs and were ideal for my road and MTB bikes.

tetonrider

thanks for the suggestions.

the wtb laser i tried recently bugged me -- i think, perhaps due to too MUCH padding. i wonder about the power v. the width looks good.

a friend mentioned to me he uses the pure, and one thing he discovered (opinion) is that he only likes wtb saddles with no stitching on the top. in his opinion, the stitching makes those specific areas stiffer. in other words, he thinks my issue with the laser v pro might be not with the fact that there is too much padding, but rather that there is padding....and then the area around the "love channel" is stiff due to the stitching. again, it's just conjecture on his part, and i'm not convinced that that is what could cause me to go numb.




well, i'm not off the saddle 100% of the time, and i do hit some small drops while seated. perhaps you are right about the meaning of carbon reinforced.

all i know is that the saddle is one spot i do not want a carbon-related failure. i'm happy using it on my road bike (where there is minimal day-to-day abuse), but on the MTB, the impacts it is subject to don't inspire confidence. even if i'm wrong about the facts on that matter, the loss of peace-of-mind is not worth it.

tetonrider

now that a little time has passed, i wanted to post a follow-up for the archives (in case anyone is ever searching for a similar solution).

i wound up testing about $1,000* (retail ) in MTB-specific saddles recently, either through paid demo, borrowing from a friend, or buying/re-selling. i took at least one ride of 2.5-3h in each.

i know it's not scientific, but the best technique for comparison i could come up with was to do the same 2h climb and stay seated as long as possible. i noted the time when i first would go numb, as well as the amount of shifting/fidgeting i would have to do. i selected from a variety of options on the way down.

the shorts used were the same brand in all cases. (i.e., same level of padding)

here are the MTB-specific saddles i tried:

1. azonic hotseat ($50): i was able to ride for about 15-20 minutes before feeling like i was going to go numb; after that, i'd have to get out of the saddle and fidget a bunch
2. wtb laser v pro ($90): ~15-20 minutes (just didn't hit me in the right spots)
3. wtb pure v pro ($90): ~25 (too much padding?)
4. fizik gobi xm ($140): ~20 (way too narrow for me; turns out this is like the (road) arione, which does not work. thought the lack of padding would be better, but the narrow-ness got in the way.)
5. fizik aliante gamma xm ($140): ~35 minutes...getting better (definitely wider and flatter, but not wide/flat enough for me; slightly more padding than the gobi)
6. wtb pure v race ($60): ~40...slightly better (not sure why this felt different than the pure v pro. the pure v pro felt a little softer/more padded to me -- maybe that was it)
7. smp strike pro ($240): ~45 (radical design, but i was encouraged to give it a try by a very helpful person at a local shop. this felt AMAZING for the first 20 minutes, but then deteriorated a bit. in the end it was no better than the wtb pure v race for me; huge cut-out, staggering price)
8. wtb devo carbon ($180): rode for 20, 40, 60 minutes, seated, and was amazed. at around 1h, i started having to shift positions because the sit bones were getting sore....but no numb-ness. in the end, i rode for 105 minutes, seated, before i had to dismount, but not due to a saddle issue. (i can rarely clean a brief technical section approaches 20 degrees with a tight switchback.) i was able to get back on and finish the rest of the climb. wow.

i wound up purchasing the devo carbon. (i know i didn't want carbon, but i found it on sale for 50% of retail, so it cost me less than the non-carbon version.)

i found the devo to be fairly wide (~140-145), quite flat, and minimally padded (has just a bit) with shallow but noticeable center V cut-out. the shell has 2 X-shaped cut-outs below where each sit-bone would rest. presumably, this gives the shell a bit of flex (and adapt to the rider over time).

i found the relatively stiff shell to provide good power transfer. i did get sore, but that was me being stubborn for the sake of this test and seeing how long i could last before going numb. the fact that i lasted >1h (and just for comfort) without even a second of standing was impressive. with other saddles, i HAD to stand for a few minutes to return from numb-ness after 15-40 minutes, which would then start a cycle of required standing every 10-minutes or so.

i know it may be unreasonable to expect perfect comfort for 2h seated in one position, but the fact that i was going numb at any time highlighted that something was wrong with the fit. discomfort? fine -- adjusted through shifting positions or a brief period of standing. numb-ness? not good.

* ps i know it's NOT about the cost of the saddle -- i've just had a bunch of time to think while on those climbs, and on the last one i found it funny (staggering!) when adding up retail costs of all of these.

tetonrider

just thought i'd add that the problems i had with the pure and smp pro seem to have been that while they are relatively flat (laterally) and wide enough, the nose of each was too wide and/or thick (top to bottom).

the devo had a wide rear portion and was flat, with a slightly narrower nose -- or perhaps just thinner. for whatever reason, that combo worked best as it caused less interference with my thighs.

icyclist 

Phenom

+1