My new bike came with a charge spoon copy. A saddle I usually get on with ok on 2-3 hour MTB rides, but as I’ve discovered on road it was not such a great experience… My favourite MTB saddle is an SDG Bel Air with to rails, I get on well with them and can ride for hours. Suspect the shape and the padding on them wouldn’t lend itself too well to a road bike though…

So… Reccomendations on a budget? Preferably cheap as poss as not too worried about weight or durability whilst I try out a shape…

Spotted the Selle Italia XO Trans Am, and the Selle Italia Q-Bik Trans Am, both for £20 at planet-x… They any good? They’ve both got a cut away in the middle, and if I’m honest, I suffer most from a dead feeling on this part of my anatomy so think a cutaway saddle might help…

Any advice?

What bike did you end up getting?

Giant Defy 2, a 2010 model, posted a pic of it in a thread I started on Monday

Just all too aware already how much more time I’m sat on the saddle on a road bike than on the MTB, percentage wise!

I’ve got one of the original Flite Titanium saddles knocking around somewhere, yours for £20 inc postage. Best saddle ever.
Post up here if you’re interested, I’ll send you more details.

Saddles are a very personal thing so you really need to just buy and try. Buy one if you don’t like it sell and try another untill you find your perfect sadddle. My preferences are fizik arione and a toupe but that doesn’t mean they will suit you.

Ed2001 – Member
Saddles are a very personal thing so you really need to just buy and try. Buy one if you don’t like it sell and try another untill you find your perfect sadddle. My preferences are fizik arione and a toupe but that doesn’t mean they will suit you.

wot he said ^^

I’ve tried loads and I’m finally happy with Fizik Arione on the road and WTB rocket V on the MTB

Fizik Arione, very comfortable and has a nice long, flat profile which helps to shift your butt fore and aft when you move from the hoods to the drops and vice versa.

Crazy-legs, cheers but whilst the flite used to be my saddle of choice when I was about 9 stone, I’m 12.5 stone now and flites don’t suit me any more!

Anybody else who’s a Bel Air user have any recommendations?

Grit your teeth!

Every fizik saddle i’ve ever tried had been way too hard, and too narrow for me. So yes, they are personal, I know this… Hard/narrow/flat saddles do not suit my anatomy though!

I tried a couple of types including the Specialized BG and ended up getting comfortable with the standard Noardman saddle! Get a good pair of shorts, not the most expensive but the best fit. Mine cost £10 and have done 100’s of comfy miles…

If you like the Bel Air then have a look at the Specialized Romin. It has a very similar profile. Although not cheap, they are very comfy.

Edit, I have Bel Airs on both my Mountain Bikes BTW.

I use a bel air for mtb’s and Fizik Arione for road and cx. I have a white arione with a red centre stripe for sale £40. Will send pic’s if your interested.

I ride Charge Spoons on all my bikes including the roadie, they just fit me rather well.

I’d second the Spesh Romin. I had a very scary few weeks of numbness following a sportive on a charge spoon, and swapped to the Romin as it has a groove all the way to te tip. They also do it in a 155 width which suits my wide arse. If you’ve got a friendly local specialized dealer see if they’ll do you a discount – there is apparently lots of margin in them for some reason.

I have Selle Italia on two of my bikes and love them. The only reason I don’t have one on my hardtail is that is came with an I-Beam seat post and saddle combo.

The C2 Gelflow is the most comfortable saddle I have ever used. I have an old Flite Gelflow Titanium on my roadie that is still going strong and as comfy as ever.

diz – Member
I use a bel air for mtb’s and Fizik Arione for road and cx. I have a white arione with a red centre stripe for sale £40.

Same as this one Diz? 😐

hard a Fizik Pave in on my road bike, didn’t like it, got an SLR now much nicer.

Cheers again guys.

Really like the look of the spesh Romin. Very expensive mind, but my local spesh dealer already gives me decent discount. Will go try one out, though is it legal putting a spesh saddle on a giant? 😉

Already have some very good shorts, so it’s not that that’s the problem!

Diz, I’d rather ride without a saddle than on a fizik, they’re pure torture I find!

Bol, good to hear the Romin sorted you out after an uncomfortable time on a spoon. Spoons seen ok up to about 2 hours or so, after that they seem to start getting uncomfortable.

I use the WTB Rocket V on pretty much all my bikes, road or off road. It suits me fine for both (and I’ve cycled for 22 hours on it on the road). I’d’ve thought that you’d be fine to stick with whatever suits you on the MTB on the road bike too.

But hey, bike contact points don’t get much more personal! 😉

I’ve got a Q-bik and its horrible!

Usually ride a Charge spoon or Specialized Phenom

mboy – I’ve got a vendetta against Spoons – and love Romins. Got 2 now.

They look mad but after a few days just work. Not great on a mtb tho – catch your baggies.

btw – BikeRadar (can I mention that??) have a saddle swap thing going on in their road forum. Might be worth a shot?

I did a try before you buy from Chicken Cycles with Selle Italia .
As long as you don’t scrape it along the road or a cafe wall, send it back and try another model. Now this was a couple of years ago ,so I don’t know if they still do this service . I tried 3 saddles before going for .

This

Done thousands of miles on it now and it has been great.

I’ve got a Q-bik and its horrible!

What was wrong with it?

Teetosugars. No that one has gone onto a cx bike, this one was bought of eBay brand-new and is two rides old. Just to good for the cx and does not match any other bikes in the collection. Thanks for trying to be a smart arse but don’t bother in future.

+another for the Romin, I tried all the Fizik saddles (LBS demo) and all were great for about an hour but went downhill after that. Maybe I jsut needed to use them for longer and adapt but I then tried a Spesh Romin and was good from the start and stays fine up to around 3 hours (longest rides I do), if you have a local Spesh dealer they should be able to get you a test one (make sure you get the right width though).

I get on ok with Fizik Arione & Pave for up to 6 hrs, have used a Selle San Marco Rolls for 13 hours in the saddle with no pain, worth using Chamois cream / Butter as well

Reccomendations on a budget?

My recommendation is not to be on a budget.

Seriously. Skimp on EVERYTHING else but get the saddle that works, regardless of cost. Otherwise it’ll be misery and you might as well not bother.

I’m not the leanest chicken in the shop and I suffered from numb balls terribly. I figured out that too much padding (and flab) ends up putting excess pressure on your perineum.

So, the Grips recipe for long-term willy-sensation-preserving success is:

1x Specialized Toupe Gel in the right width for your bum (get measured)
1x the best shorts you can afford (pref. Assos – expensive but incredibly durable so not in the long run)

Then tilt the saddle forwards slightly so most of your weight is on the sit bones and NOT on your perineum. Your hips are in a different place when on the drops and the hoods, so you have to find the mid point. Too far forwards and you’ll slide onto the nose and squish your perineum or find your wrists or shoulders ache from holding your body back; too far back and you’ll just be sitting on it.

Road bike fit and setup is FIENDISH if you don’t want something to ache or go numb eventually.

My recommendation is not to be on a budget.

LOL

You fancy sponsoring me? 😉

On a serious note, I know where you’re coming from. “Buy cheap, buy twice” and all that… But the issue here is I don’t want to invest a lot of money in something that ends up not suiting my backside sooner or later anyway. I’d rather buy something cheap, and if the shape fits, then go out and buy the expensive version that’s going to last a long time a couple of months later. Money is a bit tight at the mo too, but I’ve always got a couple of bits and pieces I could sell on to pay for a nice saddle, but I definitely couldn’t see myself spending more than £50 on a saddle ever to be fair! Don’t know how some of them are more than double that, what do you get for you money?!?!

I use a Selle Italia SLR XP, it seems comfy enough and it only weighs about 150g. Dont know how much they cost though.

Fair enough, I understand that – but I’m talking about getting a 30 quid saddle over a 50 quid one because of the extra 20 would be silly if it means you hate riding your 1000 quid bike.

Toupes are 50 online anyway.

However I’d seriously recommend Specialized saddles as they have a big well thought out range organized by type of riding and type of bike – so you can see which one is aimed at you from the packaging. Plus they do different widths to fit your sit bones – you wouldn’t ride in the wrong sized shoes so why ride on the wrong sized saddle?

And if you go to a Specialized store they shoudl sit you on a bike and let you try it. Ignore discomfort in your sitbones – they toughen up. If there’s any pressure on your perineum then it’s not good.

Why not stick the Bel Air on the road bike first to try it out?

Fizik Aliante is their widest road saddle. I just got one to replace an Arione, liking it so far. The Arione was OK for short rides but not so good after 2hours or more.

If you like the Charge Spoon (which i use on most my MTB’s) have you considered the Charge Knife (which i have on my roadbike)?

I’ve been happy with mine although again, saddles comfort is a personal thing.

Another for Spesh Romin. I have had mine a month now and putting in 150 miles a week with no problems.

i have the spoon fitted to all my bikes – same for bum on all bikes

Yet another Romin user here. While the stock saddle on my Defy 2 looks like the Spoon I have on my mountain bike, it definitely has more padding and just doesn’t work for me on any rides beyond an hour.

As others have said, the spesh concept stores have demo saddles. They’ll also be able to measure your sit bones and advise on the best width and model depending on the sort of riding you do and the amount of time you spend on the hoods vs the drops. May sound excessively scientific, but it’s worked for me.

My shoes, helmet and gloves are all spesh so I had no qualms about putting one of their saddles on my giant. It’s probably the best thing on it!