Not necessarily.

Interestingly, Brooks womens saddles are just a tiny bit wider than mens but are quite a bit shorter ... they are designed for the days when women wore skirts to cycle. I'm a woman and prefer the Brooks mens standard.

But if you look at the widths of Terry saddles, you'll see that quite often the women's saddles are narrower than the men's. Very strange.

You've really got to look at the widths of each type of saddle.

The widths are key, but also the overall shape governs how you like the saddle. I've been riding a Toupe in 143. I decided to try my Selle San Marco Rolls after reading how all the Tour of Flanders riders like the old school saddles. Anyway, the Rolls is about the same width as the Toupe - but after 10 minutes, I couldn't stand the Rolls!

The round center kills the joy for me! Guess I am used to the nice cut out on the Toupe.

PS--Listen to Machka - she is HARD CORE (I checked her blog)!:love:

Awesome article!! Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the article! I just bought a brooks b17 online today, figured it would eventually conform to me, and i would not have to constantly worry about if there is something more comfortable out there.

Remember, don't judge it right away. It's like a baseball mitt.

One thing I didn't see here: what shorts / bibs are you wearing? Are you using chamois cream?

It's a system: shorts, chamois cream, saddle shape, saddle height, saddle angle, and how you ride. Yes, the saddle matters, a lot. But how you move on the bike (varying position, etc.) as well as the shorts and the cream matter, too.

I am using shorts, the performance branded ones that are foam padded, no cream. I only do so on long rides or if the shorts chafe. as for the saddle i've tried my best lining everything up with a plum bob and have the nose of the saddle ever so slightly tipped down to relieve my previous soft tissue pains.