whats the pros and cons of a hard saddle? ive currently got a WTB squidgy thing which is good for the first 10 miles or so but gets numb and painful when you spend any more time on it, especially on the road and i was wondering why most Roadbikes have them small thin things on..

Don’t think there’s actually any correlation between the amount of saddle padding and comfort.
I think width and the curve of the top section are more important.

This is very comfy with flat bars, wide, flatish, but may as well be made out of marble:

Comfy with drops, rounded, but very well padded, it’s great, I can see why people love them:

Second proper ride on this today:

Feels like I’ve been violated by a Blue Whale.
Some adjustment required, I think.

For a saddle to be comfortable on a long ride it needs to be the right shape so that your weight is on your sitbones and not on other tender bits. A soft saddle isn’t really any shape you squish into it so your weight is supported by everything not just the good bits – thats why they are comfy for a little while but become uncomfortable over a longer ride

I don’t like a lot of padding, ends up being unsupportive and chafey against my boney arris.

It’s all about the shape.