I agree. I was a whole hearted fan for the first six months. Then it seemed the pain just kept getting worse but only on the side of my hip surgery. The numbness relief was great. Not in any way trying to disparage what is likely a wonderful saddle for most.

I love the toupe, and have ridden it for years, but am curious about being more locked into position (with the slight curve). I give it 50/50 odds of being better than the toupe, so at some point I will have to sample it as well. I'd be curious if anyone has tried both (after liking the toupe), and what their reaction is.

That's it!!!! that is exactly what i'm looking for!!

Did you read post #5?

I tried the toupe, avatar and the romin and sl, all are hard as concrete but i guess you do enough miles on them you will get use to the pain.

i was thinking more long term, but wasn't specific enough, i guess...

The Toupe vs Romin thing comes up frequently on BF, and seems to be rough numbers 50-50 split. There have been a couple comparison threads, many folks who have tried both, and it all boils down to personal preference. I am in the Romin camp, by the way. I first tried it on a Sirrus, and hated it with the upright position. When I put it on a bike with a healthy saddle to bar drop, I loved it, and now plan to stick with it on every bike (provided the bike has an aggressive enough position).

Edit: for what it is worth, the x-ray on a saddle photo is like horror movie creepy. Freaks me out.

I rode each of them for several weeks, every day, via the Test Saddle program.

TS, let me tell you first hand, the Romin is NOT a flat saddle. Yes, you do sit on your "sit" bones, but depending on which one you get, the padding is nonexistent.

If you want a flatter seat profile, go with a Toupe model from them.

I personally switched to a Selle Italia Gel Flow, very similar to the Specialized Toupe. It is flatter, but has a good gel padding, but not as exaggerated of a channel down the middle. So far, happy with the seat compared to my Romin, that is for sure.

The Romin is very curved, then when putting your weight on it, it flexes more curved. I always felt like I was falling/sliding forward. To get that to go away, I had to tip it ridiculously upward, which then defeats the channel relief purpose because now it is jamming into your goods.

All I can say, you gotta find a bike shop that carries many styles, and let you return it for a full credit to switch to another seat. Most of my LBS do that.

But I just took a chance on the Selle online and happy with it.

Good luck.

I posted in reply to the TS, but this applies to you. If you think a curved is going to help you, I doubt it. When you put your weight on a flatter profile seat, and a curved one, they flex and bend. I couldn't take the Romin anymore after a short time with it. Too much curve/flex, and my model had little padding. That makes for sore sit bones.

I got a Selle Italia Gel flow, which is real similar to Specialized Toupe, flatter, the channel is not as exaggerated down the center, but the flex still "curves" the seat some when on it.

My Romin is going on eBay...but everybody is different.

I've ridden the Toupe for awhile and just bought the Romin (swapped Toupe to my second bike). My reason for switching was that getting super low in the drops/going on the rivet put too much pressure on me and I read the Romin had a longer groove to help this. I'd also never ridden a curved saddle and wanted to try it. I loved it, but only felt a very minor improvement when forward and in the drops/getting low. The curve felt a little different, but immediately comfortable (I never had the issue of feeling pushed forward by it). Then I rode my other bike with the Toupe again, and it felt great as well, better than before actually (which wasn't all bad). I believe it was because my position is less aggressive on the second bike vs the race bike. So that combo seems to be working out very well for me. but with all things saddles - YMMV.

i've had the Romin for 2 weeks now. So far it's great!!!