Stoker Saddles
 

So far so good on our Speedster! We have 120 miles in now.

The only concern at this point is my wife’s saddle. She has a Selle Italia Lady Trans Am that doesn’t seem to be working out; she gets a rash where her legs meet her bottom. She thinks the Trans Am may be too wide at the back.

Her road bike has a Serfas Woman’s Dual Density Pro. Unfortunately, this saddle is no longer available.

Any suggestions on saddles for a woman? I’d like to get the Trans Am off rather than tweak it since I should be able to return it at this point.

Thanks
-murray

You sure there aren't any NOS Sefas sitting around? I did a quick search and a few Etailers list a number of Serfas Dual Density models, including at least one with a DD Pro...
http://www.bikeusa.com/MERCHANT2/mer...SerfasPDDW-TIB

Could be a dead link or old info, but then again, you never know.


As for other models, any of the Terry models. They, along with the Selle LDY TA, seem to be the saddles that we hear most women recommending to each other. Additionally, Terry has a great warranty / return policy.

Terry's homepage: http://www.terrybicycles.com/product...s&sc=For+Women

Team Estrogen: http://www.teamestrogen.com/categories.asp?catID=24

Note: Team Estrogen lists all of the various saddle dimensions (length x width) which may be of help given the suspected Sella TransAm width issue.

Damselfly looks to be their most narrow women's saddle at 5.1" (130mm), a full inch more narrow than the very popular Terry Butterfly Ti. For comparison, the TransAms are 6.2" (158mm) wide.

Note: Our Selle Italia TransAms -- Debbie's LDY model and my ProLinks -- are the discontinued, non-GelFlow models. The feature a traditional seat foundation with the TransAm anotomical cut-out and a leather cover instead of the gel inserts. I tried a Gel model and wasn't happy with the feel or the cover's durability and have stocked up on the discontinued models whenever I've found them on sale. It took us 5 years to find the "right saddles" for the tandems, going through untold numbers of other saddles in the process (an expensive proposition). I've since adopted the very unusual ProLink saddle for all of my bikes to eliminate change-over issues when moving from tandems to singles and road to off-road. These replaced a slew of the Flite GelFlow saddles that I was fortunate enough to find buyers for via Ebay. However, from earlier experiments, I still have two left-over Sella Italia Flite TransAms if anyone is interested. One is a standard Flite TransAm and the other is a MaxFlite (a bit wider) TransAm. Neither have the gel inserts and both are in like new condition.

Hi Murray,

As it happens, my wife tried a Serfas Dual Density Pro for a while and never found it as comfortable as the Serfas that is on her mountain-bike, so it's currently not in use. If this is the right saddle, maybe we could work something out?

If that's not the one, I see there are some others listed on ebay (and cheap too!)

That said, I hear that the seat preferred on the road bike is rarely the preferred seat on a tandem.

http://www.sheepcamp.com/images/ddpro.jpg

That's definately the saddle! I'll talk with my wife and see what she thinks. How much would you want for the saddle?

-murray

Got a Brooks that you're not using?

Nope, I've got a couple Avocet O2's, but they both have a lot of miles on them :rolleyes:

Even if it doesn't work on the tandem, I think my wife would like a spare road saddle since they're not available.

-murray

How about $20?

PM me your address quick and I'll send it USPS today.

Murray,
I think you need to send your wife over to my house so I can check out that rash?!?!?!

Trust me, it's not a pretty sight :eek: :eek:

-murray

Congrats on the breaking-in of your Co-Mo Speedster!
Saddles are a very individual thing; as someone stated before, what a stoker rides on a single seldom works out on a tandem. Most stokers seem to sit a bit more upright (a bit less lean-over space as captains backside gets in the way?).
As Mark says, when you find a saddle you really like . . . buy a couple spares as by next season it will no longer be available!
However, having said that, Kay put 30,000+ miles on a Brooks B-72 when she broke a saddle rail; replaced it with another B-72, but she never got comfortable on that one. Tougher cowhide maybe?
Anyway, if stoker's happy, that's all that counts!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/Zona tandem