I've been using a fizik aliante saddle for 2 years. I think it would be perfect if it had some way to relieve soft-spot pressure. I've not been able to find anything with a similar width (137mm) and padding. Any thoughts?
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I've been using a fizik aliante saddle for 2 years. I think it would be perfect if it had some way to relieve soft-spot pressure. I've not been able to find anything with a similar width (137mm) and padding. Any thoughts?
Soft-spot pain is probably from you weight-bearing on the soft-spot instead of on the ischial tuberosities of the pelvis.
Padding would just mash into the soft-spot and probably feel worse.
It might be useful to measure your center-to-center of your sit bones (this is what the butt-o-meter at the LBS measures) AND your outside-to-outside of the bones AND do a "cut out" test.
If your bone center-to-center matches the span of the center-to-center of the saddle cheeks, AND your outside-to-outside is 10 or 20 mm LESS than 137mm, AND you don't need a cut-out... then I'd start looking at top contours (less domed, more flat) before I'd even start to consider more padding.
(I'd suspect your Fizik is too narrow, and if the measurements seem to bear that out, I'd just get a wider version of the same saddle you already like)
I'm off to my LBS after work today to get measured. I'm certainly not considering a saddle with more padding, I agree it would feel worse. I actually tried a Ruby thinking less padding was the answer to my pains and it was hell for my sit bones. But, again, maybe I got the wrong size ...
Pressure on your sit bones hurts at first but if your weight is balanced properly on them, your tissue adapts and the pain tends to disappear with regular riding.
Pressure on your soft tissues never fades away and in fact can get worse over time and actually damage your nerves there.
Every Spring my first few rides cause my sit bones to feel SO sore...but after a few rides all pain is gone and I feel great for the rest of the year's riding.