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I've come to realise that I have a very fussy arse, which has caused me to waste a lot of money on saddles that get used only once.
Does anyone know of a bike shop in the London area, or online, where I could loan a demo saddle for a few days to try before I buy?
LBS lets us do this... normally with lurid yellow perches...
Condor.
Or Specialised concept store in Covent Garden. They let you return a saddle and swap for another. relatively safe bet given the range of sizes, shapes and padding in the range.
It's a poor part of our chosen hobby! You find a saddle you get on with and they change it! Or stop making it! 😡
I think Fabric allow you to change a saddle if you don't like it - but only for another Fabric, so if you don't like any of them....
Also Bontrager did have some swap offer, but I can never find info about it.
The Specialized stores let you try and return the saddles providing they're in a saleable condition. In fact it's quite difficult to find one of their saddles that hasn't got clamp marks on the rails
Saddly the Specialized Concept Store in Covent Garden has now been turned into a generic Cycle Surgery.
Uh, I've heard good things about Fabric saddles - I'd be keen to test one out.
We need to start a saddle testing group as I bet if we all dug out the saddles we haven't got on with and are sitting in the shed we could probably cover nearly ever saddle make and model out there. You could then try tons of makes and models.
Fizik dealers should be able to offer the same thing as Specialized, with hideously coloured demo saddles.
I've come to realise that I have a very fussy arse, which has caused me to waste a lot of money on saddles that get used only once.
In my experience it takes a about 500mi to determine if a saddle is right for you or not, pretty impressed you can do that in 1 ride.
Chicken cycles used to do a TBYB with the Selle Italia range.
I tried 3 before I settled on a SLR Ti.
You just have to be careful not to damage them when testing.
In my experience it takes a about 500mi to determine if a saddle is right for you or not, pretty impressed you can do that in 1 ride.
planet x superlight turned my 'neath numb in a 9 mile commute!
couple of LBSs have a stock of saddles to try before you buy - all in weird colours and marked DEMO.
[i]In my experience it takes a about 500mi to determine if a saddle is right for you or not[/i]
Dunno about you, but I find it hard to put up with a chafed crotch for 500miles while I get used to a saddle.
Seriously, the only problem I get is from rubbing from the sides of the saddle - so a saddle has to be the right shape from the off or it's unusable. The seat part, yes, I can get used to that.