What’s your favorite saddle?

[bikeboy1tr]

E139C9A0-8CBE-4AD6-8072-DB20E2D80464.jpegMaybe I got paranoid, I don’t know..
If you see athe the picture the left rail is hugged nicely by the clamp.
The problem seems to be that I have to force the right rail to fit in the other clamp.. and I’m skeptical!

Sorry for the late reply but I was just looking at my full carbon rails today when I removed it and noticed they are not at the same width as the mount either but not quite as misaligned as yours are. I never noticed when I originally mounted the seat to the bike but the rails do spread as you push into the mount groove with some flexing of the seat and I have at least a 1200 km on this seat now. The reason I removed the seat is I am having some trouble with the seatrails sliding backwards in the mount. Going to try and stick some very fine emery cloth in the grooves where the rails sit in the mount.
Have you gotten anywhere with SMP with the issue at hand. Seems strange that the chinese saddle has the right rail width and yet the actual manufacture does not.

[alber84]

+1 berk lupina. weight content and on top supports up to 100kg!

[wai2fast]

Discovered Bjorn Sedlo saddles at NAHBS 2018. I now have their saddles on all three bikes in my stable.

[Ringo]

@bikeboy1tr
The knock off has the half of the original’s rails. That’s why it mounts so easily.
I spoke to the seller/distributor and I send them photos and I measured the rails.
They said that rails were ok and they will adapt on the mount when torqued in the clamp.
I did it and everything went good.
I went for a ride and I need to adjust the nose because it’s little high. Other than that there’s no problem.
You all were right and I was just overreacting!!
By the way it’s the best thing I ever bought for cycling.
Guys find YOUR saddle! It’s crucial!
Powermeters, wheels etc come second..

[kgt]

[bikeboy1tr]

@bikeboy1tr
The knock off has the half of the original’s rails. That’s why it mounts so easily.
I spoke to the seller/distributor and I send them photos and I measured the rails.
They said that rails were ok and they will adapt on the mount when torqued in the clamp.
I did it and everything went good.
I went for a ride and I need to adjust the nose because it’s little high. Other than that there’s no problem.
You all were right and I was just overreacting!!
By the way it’s the best thing I ever bought for cycling.
Guys find YOUR saddle! It’s crucial!
Powermeters, wheels etc come second..

@Ringo I noticed that when I clamped my saddle in the mount that the slightly misaligned rail on the right side moving into the groove also slightly pushed up the sitting surface of the seat on the right side. This created a pressure point on my sit bones right side. In order to correct this and to prevent the rails from sliding in the clamp mount I have glued 800 grit emory cloth in the mount groove on one side to shim it back to level. My rails also had some kind of clear coating that was not very smooth so that has been buffed off as well. I was kind of surprised when I put a level perpendicular across the seat and it was showing that it was off.
So at any rate this is a heads up in case you get some pressure points one side or the other because it may have distorted the saddle somewhat when clamping misaligned rails. I still really like this saddle so I wont give up on it and I will do whatever it takes to make it right.

[Schadenfreude]

I've now had a couple of rides on the SQ Lab Ergowave 612 - the first was short at 15km, and the second was ~40km. So far, I think I mostly like it. I feel absolutely no pressure on the soft tissue, which has plagued me with most of the saddles I have tried (probably around 10 saddles).

There is one issue I am having, which I'm hoping the few Ergowave experts here can help with. I am feeling pressure on the pubic ramus, but pretty much only on the left side, which is weird. I feel like it's resting on the hard part near the edge of the saddle, just where near the wing part of the saddle starts near the nose. I'm using the 12cm version at the moment, because my sit bones measure at 10cm and added 2 based on the size guide. I'm wondering whether I should swap it out for the 13cm, but have no idea if that will help at all. Luckily, there's a retailer in Australia that has a 60 day return policy on these saddles. It might even be that I'm sitting on the wrong spot. The saddle is moved as far foward on the rails as it can go (which is actually advised against by SQ Lab, but I don't feel I have a choice), and the angle seems good.

[tabl10s]

Hi y’all,
I’m in the market for a new saddle and I wanna ask what is your favorite saddle?
I have a Selle SMP full carbon replica and I’m going to buy the original since it’s WW enough and super comfy!
I did many 200km brevets without an issue and despite it looks ugly and threatening my butt likes it a lot!
But before I pull the trigger I wanna know if there is something better I should consider.
Money is not an issue.

Carbon:

Gelu P1.

Standard:

S-Works Power.

[PrimO]

Whats the go with the shorter and wider saddles like the prologo dimension? I just measured sit bones at 10.5cm, have been riding a prologo scratch 2 with cutout for a few years but find I still get a bit of numbness and soreness on the sitbones - its definitely setup correctly though.

I had the Kappa PAS and Kappa Space on my two road bikes and while they wear reasonably comfortable, I got numb on longer rides and was having to constantly 'adjust' myself and stand out of the saddle to get blood flowing again. I spotted a second hand (albeit practically new) Dimension on eBay for £25 and bid £30 and won it (I didnt realise they were almost 4 times that to buy new) and decided to give it a go and instantly felt comfortable on it. I set it 30mm closer to the bars than the Kappa. I can now ride 4hrs + with no numbness at all so i went and bought another (from a member here) for my winter bike and then bought a knock off/replica from Aliexpress for my hardtail MTB as i wanted to be on the same saddle on all my bikes.

If you are unsure then buy a cheap knock off from Aliexpress and see how you get on with it and if you want you can then buy the real thing however i can find absolutely no discernable differences between the genuine saddles and the knock off so if you can put up with the 60g weight difference then stick with the knock off. For €17 delivered you cant really go wrong.

[wilwil]

I've now had a couple of rides on the SQ Lab Ergowave 612 - the first was short at 15km, and the second was ~40km. So far, I think I mostly like it. I feel absolutely no pressure on the soft tissue, which has plagued me with most of the saddles I have tried (probably around 10 saddles).

There is one issue I am having, which I'm hoping the few Ergowave experts here can help with. I am feeling pressure on the pubic ramus, but pretty much only on the left side, which is weird. I feel like it's resting on the hard part near the edge of the saddle, just where near the wing part of the saddle starts near the nose. I'm using the 12cm version at the moment, because my sit bones measure at 10cm and added 2 based on the size guide. I'm wondering whether I should swap it out for the 13cm, but have no idea if that will help at all. Luckily, there's a retailer in Australia that has a 60 day return policy on these saddles. It might even be that I'm sitting on the wrong spot. The saddle is moved as far foward on the rails as it can go (which is actually advised against by SQ Lab, but I don't feel I have a choice), and the angle seems good.

I tried an Ergowave active and bought 130 cm which was too wide. My sit bones measure about 96 mm but advice on here said buy bigger than they say. A 120 may have been okay. Their measurements arent across the width of the saddle but across the usable area, so their 130 is more like a 140 and the 120 more like a 130. When I first sat on it it felt good but after two hours I couldn t wait to get off. I wasnt aware of any movement with the active system and I hated the medical symbols all over the place.

[Kjetil]

FWIW I measure 98 mm on the Specialized Ass-O-Meter and l like the Selle SMP Composit and the Specialized Power (the narrow version with minimal padding (Pro, S-Works)).

[Schadenfreude]

I tried an Ergowave active and bought 130 cm which was too wide. My sit bones measure about 96 mm but advice on here said buy bigger than they say.

Thanks for this. What in particular made you think it was too wide? I'm worried that if I try a wider size, then it'll be rubbing on my thighs instead...

[nickf]

Bontrager xxx full carbon saddle. Love it. Need to order another for my checkpoint.

[leandrofresh]

I’ve done pretty much the same. I’d say I’m running it about .5 of a degree up at the front to avoid any sense of sliding forwards (even as a sensation). The placement of the sit bones is clearly superior to anything else with zero sense that there’s pressure on the perineum.

This version weighs in a 207g, so around 37g heavier. I’ll gladly accept that.

As a bikefitter I would advise against riding a saddle with 5º nose up. That will cause back problems, power loss, unability to use some muscular groups, hamstrings shortening, genital pressure, poor feet control, hip muscles and glutes inhibition, and many more problems. Maybe you don't experiencie all that now but the problems will increase in time. If you ride the right saddle a 0º or -1º angle will do just fine, if you keep sliding forward its more a weight balance distribution problem related to saddle setback, excessive reach or insufficient stack. Maybe too long stem, too small frame, or too big. 99% chances of being right, I work with pro teams with professionals that have been in the bikefit market for more than 10 years and with all our experience combined we just had one case in which the saddle needed to be pointed 1º up, and it was an old person, so eficciency wasn't the main concern. For sure we will never see a case with 5º, im pretty confident about it, not with the actual human body and current bike geometry. It's not saddle related, most likely frame geometry, stem related, even cleats in some extreme cases.

[Kjetil]

Didn't you write .5, i.e. 0.5 degrees up, guyc?