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There have been a lot of threads about choosing a saddle and it seems that there is no alternative to trying out a few until you find your perfect perch (sorry) but suppose you are finding your current saddle uncomfortable, how do you select the next one to try? Can you tell if the one you have is too narrow, or is it just the "wrong shape" somehow? And then what do you look for on the shop website (assuming you don't have a handy and well stocked LBS) to select the next one? Is there a rational way to choose? Or just close your eyes and click one?
Oh-ho!
I've tried soooo many in the last 12 months I genuinely wondered about trying to write a post about it!
For me, although my sit bone measurement would suggest a 143mm saddle, I think I tend to roll my pelvis forward more than average (anterior pelvic tilt) which means I spend more time on the narrower parts of the sitbones. That would be all fine and well but most saddles seem to taper from wide to narrow too quickly, so my sitbones very quickly run out of room. The results mostly in chafing as the lack of support results in rocking, or even low back pain for the same reason (lack of stability).
So I've been through a very expensive process of finding a saddle which is wide enough at the back and tapers gradually enough to the front. A chopped off TT saddle like an ISM might have done it, but lack of support at the front of the sitbones seems to result in hand and arm pain, hence not getting on at all well with an SQLabs saddle which effectively leaves nothing under the sitbones forward of the main point of contact. I guess this is why the people typically using chopped off TT saddles have aero bars and arm rests!
'Curve' from side to side reduces chafing on the inside of the leg but decreases available width and support, so I found e.g. the Specialized Power Arc was 'effectively' too narrow.
'Curve' from nose to tail seems to restrict how much you can move, when you're sat up the tail of the saddle is trying to push you forward, if you're tucked down on the rivet you're sat on the upslope of the nose which is uncomfortable. I guess you would need to learn your own particular flexibility here, if your lower/mid back is flexible then I think your pelvis can stay more static.
Edinburgh Bike Fitting/ Douglas Shaw does some good videos on saddle selection on Youtube, focussing on what shape you should consider depending on your position/ body type etc.
My top three 'triangular' saddles which provide support and stability throughout are:
Fizik Terra Argo - gradual taper, remains relatively wide right up to the nose, a wee bit too curved fore and aft so not ideal on a road bike (too fat and padded for the road bike anyway!).
Selle Italia Novus - gradual taper, remains relatively wide right up to the nose, flatter than the Terra Argo from nose to tail so allows more freedom of movement between sitting up and tucking down. I had a gravel one but the extra thick padding was causing chafing I think, fancy trying a firmer model on the road bike again.
San Marco Aspide - very gradual taper in the 140mm model but sadly for me I think this is just slightly too narrow as I find myself sitting right back on the wings to find width. The 155mm version tapers to sharply so you just end up sat on the narrow nose again.
I could easily tell you what saddle I'll buy next, or at least I could if Fabric would just make a Scoop Radius with a cutout. Still the only saddles I've tried that are comfortable. I've got a a 143 on the road bike and a155 on the mountain bike. Sit bones are approx 105 mm apart so in theory I should be on a narrow saddle but I'm not sure how much difference width makes to me. It seems shape front to rear and curve side to side are what I need to be right. I don't seem to get any issues without a cutout but I'd still like to find a comfortable saddle with one
Ive always found it trail & error, slowly honing what aspects of a saddle I do and dont like and thus ending up with a lot of accumulated saddles. Cost isnt indicative of comfort as my current favourite is the £15 Trek Verse Short that came on a Trek bike of my wife's but does tick all the boxes: short length, fairly wide nose, cutout, bit of squidgy/soft padding, flat across the top (front to back)
I'm about to go through this with my road bike saddle as the stock Boardman one is getting no comfier after a year of ownership!
On my MTB I've finally swapped my stock Vitus saddle for my old battered Specialized BG Avatar 143mm and it's so much better. Not sure what the current specialized saddles are like but with this one I had my sit bones measured then bought the recommended saddle and it's been perfect on every bike I've had it on. Bought it when I first got into MTB god knows how many years ago. The stock 143mm on my old Langster was great too so I'm tempted to go spesh again unless they've messed things around.
Luck!
Tried stock saddles. Fine
Tried a brooks b17- horrific.
Seatpost snapped and the saddle was run over buy a car.
Put the brooks back on, it wasn't that bad. Got an absolute soaking. Saddle was suddenly amazing and stayed that way from 1997-2024 when it was nicked.
I went to chromag saddles on MTB for jumps as the brooks was a bit pokey.
Currently
Brooks b17-
2* Brooks b17 flyer. ( Like a b17 with massive springs at the back)
2* chromag leather
Chromag durable top, not as durable as the leather ones
Selle Italia copy of brooks swallow.
Fabric something or other on jump bike. Bought because it was pink to match some bar tape. Horrible on my road bike and fine on the jump bike as I mostly don't sit down.
Previously
Specialised body geometry, wbt rockets. Fine but too narrow for me. Brooks rubber c17- horrible
So good luck! Specialized saddles always seem to have their fans.
Controversial opinion but saddles are an indicator of your position on a bike. Some saddles are better/worse at highlighting it than others, but the better your position on the bike, the greater the number of saddles you'll get on with.
I've heard stories of people turning up to a bike fitter with over £1000 of saddles in a box all of which they didn't get on with. once the position was corrected, about 80% of those saddles were just fine.
Am I a total freak in that I only remember 1 saddle in over 35 years of riding that has been properly and instantly uncomfortable and a few others that have become so only on longer rides/repeated days of riding?
It's not even like I'm consistent.
Currently running
- Brooks Cambium C15 carved (135 wide) (gravel bike). Very rounded profile, lots of sag in the middle, zero padding and slippery
- Some short nosed Sellle Italia thing (145 wide) (road bike) very flat profile, no flex, virtually no padding with a grippy surface. Paid peanuts for it as I think it's end of line
- WTB Volt (MTB) a bit squashy but £5 in CRC fire sale.
I must have had 20 others that were at worst OK for a days riding. Multi day I always suffered on pedally days before I moved to cut out saddles for road and gravel bikes
Hated beyond all words
- Horrendous nastiness of some Fizik thing in the late 90s
Chamois cream, good saddle position and shorts and perhaps adequate padding around the bones 🤔 possibly help
Like the poster above though Specialized also make a great range of saddles.
My dad has all sorts of expensive touring bikes. I think every one of them has a simple Specialized holed saddle at about 145 wide and my son has a good 2-3000 miles on one of those on his road bike too.
I wouldn't buy any new saddle without a hole. Riding pal who has a medical background in urology really bent my ear on this. MTB is my only one without
saddle comfort has become the bane of my life at present.
40 odd years of riding, all comfy, now got a horrible saddle sore so off the bike. no saddle i have is comfy.
b17 aged saddle got soaked from new when touring in holland....rode it wet and it moulded and is comfy...... But i came home and spent a week riding the mtb on a selle saddle..... this caused the saddle sore.
currently considering buying one of these to try and fix it.
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or converting to a recumbent full time.
My favourites are SDG Bel Air on MTBs.
Specialized body geometry in the appropriate width for road and gravel.
Mrs Bruce mostly get on with Specialized BG.
I always fiddle with saddle tilt and front to back position until it feels right on the bike.
Any saddle seems to work fine for me, but I prefer the look of the Specialized Power so i run those in whatever width I can get cheapest. Paid a tenner for one on Marketplace recently!
I think the trick is to have painful wrists or hands and then you don't really notice what's happening under your arse.
I think the trick is to have painful wrists or hands and then you don't really notice what's happening under your arse
Sure that's not a saddle thing? I was surprised how much the right saddle improved comfort all over the bike!
I must just be lucky , Charge Spoon always worked for me now the Madison Flux which is basically the same.
I think the answer to the OPs question is that you need to get to a shop. I realise this might not be easy but maybe combine it with a trip for another reason. The Trek store in MK had a member of staff who knew stuff and lots of saddles. I think they also did an exchange if you weren’t happy in 30 days. Obviously phone before planning the trip
Interesting topic which I've been on recently on the road bike. Always loved an old skool Flite but the lack of cut-out was causing a few issues. I threw on an ancient Flite Gel Flow which worked, but was brick like in weight and so a short term solution. Tried a Spec Power and hated it.
So I threw some details into ChatGPT and explained what I liked, what I didn't and it suggested 2 to try. I've now tried 2 of the 3 (Spec Toupe, Flite Boost Superflow) and both have worked well.
Might be worth trying to narrow down the choices.
I find SQ Lab saddles in the correct size and type just work for me. They put your weight on your sit-bones, where it should be. They come in 10mm width increments and the SQ Lab site is great on how to measure your sit-bones and which size saddle to choose for different bikes/riding positions based on that.
Prior to that I just tried stuff, I guess. It's also true that a rubbish riding position/bike fit will tend to cause undercarriage problems anyway, but width, profile, cut-aways etc all make a difference. With hindsight, I put up with a lot of uncomfortable saddles over the years because I didn't know any better.
Anyway, all my current saddles are SQ Lab and I'd buy another one tomorrow, no question. I do have a Bontrager Aeolus on my road bike, but I ride it so infrequently that I can't remember how it feels except that it's way more comfortable than the Fi'zik it replaced.
I've never done very well with saddles. I had a chat with the fella in the local bike shop, who do the ProLogo 'measure your arse and try a selection saddles thing risk-free' and at some point I'm going to give that a go.
I've never done very well with saddles. I had a chat with the fella in the local bike shop, who do the ProLogo 'measure your arse and try a selection saddles thing risk-free' and at some point I'm going to give that a go.
I have several surplus saddles lying around here if you want to try any. A couple of well-regarded Fabric ones I think, a Fizik or two and a Charge one styled to look like a Christmas pudding with added jingle bells, though the bells have gone slightly rusty and no longer work 😢
The biggest realisation for me was that the cost of the saddle is irrelevant, it's the shape that matters. I struggled with the default saddle on one bike (GBP 80 or so retail) and swapped it for Charge Spoon (Madison Flux, GBP 20-30) which has become my "go-to" choice. If I were going to look for something different, I'd start with Specialized. There's no harm in sitting on a few bikes in your LBS to get ideas - the default saddle will usually be something with a broad appeal. If I were buying different saddles to try, I'd start with the cheaper ones!
Otherwise... 1. A bike fit looks like a good idea. 2. Fully custom-made looks attractive but it is expensive (e.g. Prosedla at GBP 300-500).
“Am I a total freak in that I only remember 1 saddle in over 35 years of riding that has been properly and instantly uncomfortable”
I can’t recall having a problem with any saddle. Maybe I don’t sit down enough?
Otherwise... 1. A bike fit looks like a good idea.
I've seen a van around these parts (Alnwick) apparently a mobile bike fitter. I suppose it's down to the individual how good they are, but has anyone tried one out? How much should I expect to pay for a fit and what should I get in return?
Maybe have a look at the My Velofit app/site, AI, DIY fitting, Phil Burt seems impressed and it's a sight cheaper than a full bike fit with a random.
I can’t recall having a problem with any saddle. Maybe I don’t sit down enough?
I reckon that you've just never sat on that one model of Fizik saddle. Gave it to a guy I knew. He rode it once and binned it.
