Pear vs T

[Veronica]

I guess I'm defective, because I don't see it.

http://www.wallbike.com/jpgs/finessegreentop.jpg
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddles/finesse.jpeg

Is this Finesse a pear or a T?

http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/selle_italia/2010/8789_i_1.jpg

SLK - pear or T?

http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/selle_italia/2010/10746_m.jpg

Diva - pear or T?

Veronica

[Catrin]

Thank you for asking this - I have not been able to tell the difference either...

[KnottedYet]

I had a great picture comparing my B67 and my Serfas Niva.

Photobucket ate it, because I didn't touch the account for so long. You look at the top view, not the sides like the pictures you put up.

From the top, look at the transition from the sit part to the nose. If it is gradual, it's on the pear side of the universe. If it's abrupt, it's on the T side.

[OakLeaf]

Well, I went downstairs to take a picture of the saddle on my old race bike, which was I'm pretty sure the first saddle Terry ever made - a gel saddle with the cut-out in the plastic frame, but not in the cover.

And dangit if it isn't nearly the same shape as my Jett, albeit a little narrower overall, including a very narrow nose.

Why, oh why, did Terry saddles go all pear-shaped - as the Brits would say - from such a promising beginning? :confused:

[ny biker]

What is the full name of the Diva in your picture?

[KnottedYet]

Well, I went downstairs to take a picture of the saddle on my old race bike, which was I'm pretty sure the first saddle Terry ever made - a gel saddle with the cut-out in the plastic frame, but not in the cover.

And dangit if it isn't nearly the same shape as my Jett, albeit a little narrower overall, including a very narrow nose.

Why, oh why, did Terry saddles go all pear-shaped - as the Brits would say - from such a promising beginning? :confused:

That's the kind of Terry I had, too. I loved that saddle. I can't ride the new Terry saddles at all, they chafe the bejeebers out of me.

[Veronica]

What is the full name of the Diva in your picture?

It's this one. (http://www.competitivecyclist.com/road-bikes/product-components/2010-selle-italia-diva-genuine-gel-saddle-5598.35.1.html)

Veronica

[snapdragen]

Why, oh why, did Terry saddles go all pear-shaped - as the Brits would say - from such a promising beginning? :confused:

Terry's got a new one out -- FLX.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h181/snapdragen/MsgBoards/flx-gel.jpg

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, now that's a pear shape!

Compare that to the first top view Veronica posted.

[zoom-zoom]

I made this graphic for my blog right before I ordered my Jett...I was looking for a way to compare them without having both saddles in front of me:
http://zoomy.smugmug.com/photos/803598933_gjaX3-O.jpg

I love my Jett...the SI Lady Gel Flow was WAY too wide and pear-shaped for my behind.

[nscrbug]

I love the looks of that FLX, but eeeks!...I don't think my butt would like the pear-shape of it. Now I'm bummed, because that was actually one of the saddles I was considering. :(

[Veronica]

I love the looks of that FLX, but eeeks!...I don't think my butt would like the pear-shape of it. Now I'm bummed, because that was actually one of the saddles I was considering. :(

TE has that one AND a 90 day return policy. :)

Veronica

[Biciclista]

http://www.bicycleapparel.com/images/seat.jpg

http://bandlbicycles.com/merchant/914/images/site/brookesgroup.jpg

[Biciclista]

I guess I'm defective, because I don't see it.

http://www.wallbike.com/jpgs/finessegreentop.jpg
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddles/finesse.jpeg

Is this Finesse a pear or a T?


http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/selle_italia/2010/8789_i_1.jpg


Finesse is pretty sleek, not a pear, but seems kind of narrow to support sit bones.

[QUOTE=Veronica;516050]
SLK - pear or T?

http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/selle_italia/2010/10746_m.jpg

Diva - pear or T?
Veronica

Can't tell from the angle on this Diva..

[Veronica]

The top two photos were both of the Finesse, just from different angles and different colors. It's 177 mm wide.

Veronica

[Veronica]

[QUOTE=Veronica;516050]


http://images.competitivecyclist.com/images/products/selle_italia/2010/8789_i_1.jpg


Finesse is pretty sleek, not a pear, but seems kind of narrow to support sit bones.



This one is actually the SLK. It's 145 mm - plenty wide for my sitbones and I don't hit the saddle with the inside of my thigh as as I pedal like I did with the Finesse.

Veronica

[Biciclista]

Veronica, you have a saddle that you love and it fits you. You should be overjoyed. I know you put thousands of miles on it. Enjoy.

Don't worry about those of us who are in unbearable pain on similar saddles.
BTW, you can see some great pear shaped saddles in that JPG I posted above.

[Trek420]

That's what's so great about cycling, everybody is different. There's a perfect saddle out there for every butt ;) :p :rolleyes:

[OakLeaf]

I think they should let us make butt molds out of playdoh and send them in to 'saddle' central so we can be matched up with our perfect tushey-rest.

:D Making a butt print helps a lot with sizing, but I think shape is more about the motion of your legs.

Really, 3-D printing is very far advanced right now, and saddle shells would be a perfect application. I'm betting the day isn't far off when we'll be able to go to a bike shop, sit on a machine and pedal for a while, and have a custom saddle within a week.

[OakLeaf]

I realized that people may be getting hung up on the language, since it is a matter of gradation, and after all, a pear has a sort of T-shape.

So how about thinking of it as T vs. wedge, like that Terry VLX or this Cobb?

http://www.cobbcycling.com/images/v-flow_dimensions.jpg

[indysteel]

:D Making a butt print helps a lot with sizing, but I think shape is more about the motion of your legs.

Really, 3-D printing is very far advanced right now, and saddle shells would be a perfect application. I'm betting the day isn't far off when we'll be able to go to a bike shop, sit on a machine and pedal for a while, and have a custom saddle within a week.

That would be very, very cool!

[Owlie]

Glad I'm not the only one. I see pears in everything, even the Brooks in the first post. The only ones that don't look like pears to me (much) are things like this (http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/7/37/29860), and they look like spoons to me. Or am I just strange?

[nscrbug]

Glad I'm not the only one. I see pears in everything, even the Brooks in the first post. The only ones that don't look like pears to me (much) are things like this (http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/7/37/29860), and they look like spoons to me. Or am I just strange?

Nope...not strange at all. I think they look like spoons too.

[KnottedYet]

I found it!!!

This is for Veronica, I found the picture I posted when we last had this conversation in Feb of 2007! Hooray! (I thought it was lost forever...)

Look closely at the two saddles. Both fit me. The one on the left has a cutout, a wide nose, a wide (pear or wedge, however you want to think of it) transition, and forward edges to the "cheeks" that curve as they go out, which further emphasize a gradual transition.

The one on the right has a narrow nose, a narrow abrupt transition, and even the forward edges of the "cheeks" are almost straight angled lines, further emphasizing an abrupt transition to the sit zone.

I know it's hard to get out of binary "black and white" thinking, but pear and T are gradations. One person's pear (in my case, the saddle on the left which chafed the ever lovin' heck out of me) is another person's T. (compare my Serfas Niva to the saddle Oakleaf posted. Can you see how my Serfas Niva is a T compared to that saddle?)

[KnottedYet]

By the way, due to artifacts of the light and how I was standing when I took the picture, the clearest parts of the saddle images are to the left as you view them. (which would be the right sides of the saddles as you would sit on them.)

There is an imprint line along the edge of the top surface of the Brooks, and the skirt is visible under that. The saddle skirt is vertical, even though you can see it in the picture. The Niva doesn't have a distinct line along the edge of the top surface, but the contrast with the white wall isolates it nicely. The skirt of the Niva has confusing white racing strips on it, ignore them and just look at the other side of the saddle.

ETA: Awww, look, you can see my toesies in the bottom right corner! Aren't they cute? :)

[Trek420]

Awwww :)

[malkin]

Re: saddles in pic in post #27

Even if the one on the left were as wide as the one on the right, I'm sure I'd chafe, because my bones would sink in rather than perch on top like they do on a Brooks.

Maybe I could fit my sit bones with pointe shoes like a butt ballerina!

[OakLeaf]

butt ballerina!

:eek::D:D:D