Am learning a lot about my ageing back and saddle choice.
A while ago I tried a Bontrager Aeolus with a kicked up tail, wide cut out and broad nose. I remember commenting to a pal at the time that I was finishing long days in saddle and my back still felt great. Problem was, the nose was TOO broad, so it had to go.
Have experimented with a few others but definitely now think the swoopy style is the style for me, a flat Selle Italia Flite was torture after half an hour!
I can see the benefits of the Selle SMP saddles but just can't get past the looks of the cost. Is there anything that shares those features in a more normal looking saddle? The Fizik Aliante Versus looks pretty damn close but the reviews suggest they are prone to cracking... ☹
The SMP "beak" is a bit gimmicky the Specialised power achieves the same goal by just being shorter than a standard saddle.
Yeah, it's the beak that confuses me, other than preventing snags it seems a bit redundant and looks terrible!
The Bontrager seemed to achieve the same as the Power by just being shorter so I guess if the nose of the power is narrower than the nose of the Bontrager then it might be good enough, better yet the Power Arc which is swoopier?
I thought I'd gone off short saddles due to being too fixed in one position but maybe I just didn't have the Bontrager adjusted right, I felt I could ONLY ride in an aero tuck, sitting up felt all sorts of wrong...