My saddle is one of those cheap foam covered in plastic deals, and mobbing about on my bike has worn it down to the point where the foam is exposed. Any suggestions for saddles which are comfortable and durable? I.E. if it scrapes against the ground once or twice it wont be garbage.

Comfortable is a matter of personal preference, everyone's ass is different.

Go Brooks or stay off the street.

No one can ever recomend a saddle for some one else, not even professional bike fitters claim they can.

See if your LBS has a saddle demo program. Some online bike stores also do saddle demo programs.

eBay was my saddle demo program.

As for the durability, saddles are not designed to be scraped against the ground.

+1

I saw the whole $100+ saddle thing as a snob appeal thing, but I've been getting more into suspended leather saddles. Three of my five bikes now have them, and yes, they are more comfortable to me than the vinyl-over-foam-on-a-plastic-frame style of seat.

I've found that even a moderate amount of foam is pretty uncomfortable. You just need to find one with a shape that fits you and your riding position. I want to try a brooks soon. I'm on a Selle italia slr flow and it's way more comfortable than the padded one I used to have.

i just order a black charge spoon, theyre super fresh.

I'm in the same boat. I'd love to give a Brooks a whirl, but lack of cash is preventing that. For now my Charge Spoon is doing fine by my butt. It's hit the ground a few times and still looks fine. And it's actually pretty comfy.

There are 4 kinds of saddles; leather hammock saddles like Brooks that cradle your gonads, padded saddles that seem comfy when you first sit on them but when riding for a while they chafe, flat saddles like fizik where you move your butt forward or back to find the sweet spot, and curvy saddles like supercorsa concor and ponza where you adjust the tilt so that your sit bones are touching and nothing else is. I prefer curvy saddles.

You know, if the saddle is cheap enough, why don't you just get another? Since you obviously liked it well enough to ride it raw.

I love my Specialized Avatar but my butt probably isn't the same as yours.

After years of foam-gel-rubber-whatnot-padded saddles on MTBs, I've learned from my two roadbikes that a thin, flexing saddle offers just as much comfort, if not more - especially on longer rides, where the inner thighs don't get chafed up as much. My Trek 1.2 still has the same plain-black Bontrager it came with, and there's no reason to change it - after all, I'm not racing the thing. For my Hercules converstion, I replaced the awfully-uncomfortable padded saddle it came with, and picked up a used Selle Octavia from an LBS' discards-box. I've been very pleased with it, and got it next to nothing - I recommend visiting a few shops and roaming through their leftover-boxes.

Been eyeing a Brooks for a while, but I'm a fan of the thin saddle look: The Brooks' "skirt", the way the leather reaches down, might look classy on a tourer or city-bike, but doesn't gel with the rest of the bike's thin tubing and minimalism.

Try looking at a Brooks Swallow. It has almost no skirt.


A suggestion to the OP: Try looking at ebay sales for used Brooks, Wrights, Ideale and Fuji Belt saddles. They can be purchased at a much more reasonable price. I got a nice Wrights W3.N, similar to a B17 Narrow, for about $40. My first leather saddle came on a 1966 Raleigh 3-speed I got for next to nothing. Eventually the leather on the 44-year-old saddle tore and I replaced it with a new saddle of the same model (B72). The thing to remember if you buy a Brooks is that if you sell the bike, you can slap the old saddle back on and keep the Brooks for your next bike. So yeah, they're kind of pricey, but it may well last you for the rest of your life.

Or Velo-Orange equivalent, their Model 6

Did you hear that? That was the sound of a salary disappearing. Though the B15 Swallow Chrome is almost justifiable - and oh so pretty.

Looks like unpolished (for lack of a better term), "fuzzy" leather from their pictures, right?

if you want something cheap that the majority of the people like get either a:
1.) Charge Spoon
2.) Selle Italia Turbo Reissue

I'm currently riding a Brooks Swift on my fixed and a Fizik Arione on my roadie. Both are asstastic.

turbos are great saddles and the flite ti im currently using is great as well.

I had a Turbo reissue and it was an A$$ hathcet!! Goes to show you how everyone is different. The funny thing is, the original Turbo's were great for me.

The synthetic Turbo reissues didn't live up to my expectations either. However, the new 1980 reissue is made to the original specs and is much, much better.

I'm also really fond of my Brooks Team Pro.

i always loved the selle italia flite

Thats great to know. I was not aware that there were 2 different reissues. There goes another purchase!

+10000000000000000000000000000000000

No Turbo reissue for me either. Charge spoon is so comfy.

The 1980 Reissue just became available in the US about a month ago. I was skeptical at first but it's pretty awesome.