I've seen adverts for 3D printed saddles, including by Posedla. Theirs have a nice big perineal cutout, which could be a good idea. Anybody have experience of a custom-printed saddle?
I get on OK with a Charge Spoon/ Madison Flux saddle, but I'm thinking of trying something like this...
Not custom but I use the Romin Mirror on road and gravel bikes. I've looked at the Posedla but it's pretty expensive unless you're dealing with a lot of saddle discomfort (for me I'm OK up to around 7 hours on my current saddle so it's more just curiosity about if the custom one really is much better).
If you could benefit from a bike fit anyway (and a lot of saddle discomfort stems from a poor fit not the saddle) then it could be worth putting the money towards that instead and doing a saddle pressure mapping (inc. saddle try outs) during it. That said I did that last year and the conclusion was (after trying 6 or 7 other saddles) that my current saddle worked best for me...
Given a spoon doesn’t have a cutout, then it would seem worth trying a cutout saddle to see if that achieves what you want before splashing the big bucks on a custom one! Specialised power comp is the default suggestion for a more aggressive road/ xc position. In those positions I find a cutout makes a huge difference.
I got sent a Samassi saddle to review last year, I really like it so much so I am still using it, they have a few different sized options. Discount code if anyone wants one.
SAMASSI.US Do they change the shape of the saddle shell, or is it the same shape but just the padding that changes?
I've gone through a LOT of saddles in the last year, perhaps getting a bit obsessive about chasing perfect comfort, and I've concluded that differences in the shell shape, not the padding, are most critical. I had assumed that the custom saddles were just custom padding, not shape.
I bought the mid-ranged Ryet one (honeycomb padding but plastic base) for my gravel bike but found the 3D printed padding too soft around the edges of the cut out, to the point where it crated two painful pressure points. Replaced with it a Fabric Scoop which suits me perfectly.
Samassi use different shells, they have a lot of size options now, they are pretty good if you contact them they will advise on best options.
a lot of saddle discomfort stems from a poor fit not the saddle
+1 to this. When I had my Ribble I was having all sorts of saddle issues and tried lots of different ones and couldn't get on with any of them. Now I (think I) have my fit a bit more sorted and when I go back to those saddles suddenly they all work for me. Some are better than others, but I could get on with all of them now.
Since I have a few now though I've become a bit of a serial saddle swapper which is probably a pointless habit. But one other thing that threw me was my saddle moving in the clamp. I'd try something new and it would feel really good, and then feel like it got worse over the course of the ride. I'd think it was back to the drawing board, but it turned out the angle was changing and the nose was creeping up. I recently also noticed my seat post was slipping a bit!Â
