After 3000 miles on my stock Cannondale Saddle I think my butt has had enough pain and numbness.

At first I thought it was because of my $15 shorts, but I just got some high quality Castelli stuff and no change.

What saddle is usually the most preferred by most people?

I know Brooks saddles are supposed to be some of the best, but man! Those things are UGLY. My max price is around $60-80 so nothing fancy. Thanks!

What saddle would you consider pretty? Your butt covers it anyway...

Everyone's different.

Get your sit bones measured, pick a saddle that fits them, ride. If it doesn't work for you, pick another, and so on.

Good point Greg. But are Brooks saddles really that good?

And do most bike shops allow you to test saddles? My dad is telling to just get a Fizik Arione from Amazon for $127. Good price?

I have a Fizik Arione which came wirh my new bike 3 weeks ago....Used it once. You can have it for $50 plus shipping. Depending on where in So Cal you are , it could even be picked up

I don't know if they still do it or not, but Competitive Cyclist has/had a demo program where they'd send you several of their best selling saddles for 10 days (i believe).

Take this, before someone else jumps on it.

(That someone else maybe being me... )

Here is the saddle still on the bike.

fizik antares or airone

Specialized Romin I think would be the best for the buck.
Personally I like the Brooks Pro and love the looks. The Romin is a good comfortable saddle for the price.

The Fi'zi:k Arione and Antares were both crappy saddles for me.

Many bike shops have demo saddles. Some charge a fee that can be put towards the price of whatever saddle you end up buying from them, some will let you try them for free (but you still have to give them a credit card). Fizik and Specialized both have test saddle programs.

My but likes specialized saddles. Take advantage of whatever demo programs you can find. Ive spent alot of money trying to find a saddle that works for me. In the end pain in the arse, feet and hands are all bad so do whatever to get something your tush likes.

No, that has been discontinued for a long while now.

Specialized Romin saddle is the best I've sat on. 10+ hour rides and still comfy. Various sizes available and the shop can measure your sit bones when you're there using a special sitting pad. They have a version of it that is $80'ish.

Specialized has some fancy text about how the Romin was designed by scientists to prevent 'man problems', if that's worth anything to you.

Brooks makes a good saddle but there are other good options. You have probably seen the Brooks B17 which would appear bulky on a race bike... check out the Team Pro, Swift or Swallow models (used).

I would recommend visiting a Specialized dealer & sitting on their butt-meter to determine your sit bone spacing... that will help you figure out the size saddle you need. The Terry Fly series of saddles is often mentioned as a comfortable option and it comes in @ your price. Fizik, Specialized, and Selle Italia are other brands that get mentioned often. You'll want to take the saddle on a few long rides, hopefully your local shop has a demo program (you may need to pay a little $ to demo).

I also like most of the specialized BG saddles my ass has been on.

Sending PM, ok, I don't have enough posts to PM.

Uhm, if you live anywhere the 909.
t o m h e d y (at) h o t m a i l

bummer...that was a good program

Can only say good things about the Specialized Romin Saddle I bought. Beautiful little thing.