Hey guys, been riding track for the past 2 months now. Loving it except I can’t seem to find the holy grail of saddles. Before getting on the track I was riding on a Fizik Arione CX which was ok. I used that same saddle on the track for about 4 weeks but found it put a bit too much pressure on the perineum/gooch area. I’ve used a San Marco Concor light for last few weeks and have decided its like hell. Almost no sit bone support and I came off the track without any feeling in feet and gooch, haha.
Can anyone recommend something similar to the Arione with perhaps some relief for down the middle. I’ve been recommended to try a Selle Italia Flite 1990, anything else?
saddles are a purely personal choice, dependent on your sit bone width.
get your sit bones measured in a store (any of them that stock specialized is probably a good start), then it’s trial and error. i figured out what i wanted that way and now have 143mm Specialized Avatar and Romin for the two bikes i need a good saddle for.
special-eds arse-o-meter is a marketing tool, it’s useful because it comes with a really nice chair that is useful to sit on when trying on shoes.
trial and error is much better than the saddle finder flip book.
I am going to be going down this path soon with the Kumo - trying saddles on alllllday. My MTB saddle is nice and comfortable, but I don’t tend to sit on that for hours at a time. Anyway… the end result will be sent to Mr Busyman and covered in pink elephant leather.
Look forward to a special ‘What saddle should EzyLee get?’ thread soon… soon ssssoooon. /voice fades out.
there is more to a saddle than just width, shape is the same, if not more important. ariones and SLRs and the toupes/romins I use are all basically the same width, except every time i sit on an arione i can see the future chance of children disappearing.
The saddle finder thing is definitely an alright place to start, but 9.999/10 it doesn’t pick what you actually need, or maybe that’s just my whingy customers.
a classic flite as an alternative with relief down the centre? I’d be careful taking any further advice from whoever gave you that pearl.
Wife had real good experience using bontrager sit-o-meter thing and I would recommend it to someone totally in the dark, for sure. Can return saddle and tr again for free up to 30days after purcahse, and do it again and again. Dunno for sure, but maybe specialized is the same? Bonty saddles are surprisingly light and nice. Plenty with relief through the centre.
I sat on Keith’s SMP and it felt like a Lazyboy couch, if you could ride a bike while on a couch. Was luxurious.
I’m probably going with a Cambium on the Kumo. It’s a traditional shape, is plush enough and felt great from the first moment.
It’s not a big issue for me. I seem to be pretty adaptable to saddles. I’ve had at least 7 in the past few years (that I can recall) and they’ve all be fine.
Gee you could take the piss with that, one of that stats the I keep track of is 3 month average mileage, peak was at 400kms a week, 3 months of that would kill most tyres.
