That's how it felt for me the first two rides...different! But when the pUn did not come I was happy!
Printable View
That's how it felt for me the first two rides...different! But when the pUn did not come I was happy!
Okay, for those who may be interested in the Inform RL WSD saddle, here is my initial review. Sorry, but very long:
Overall impression: Why do women's saddles have so darn much padding?? Sheesh! Way squishy compared to the Arione. Otherwise, similar front to back profile - just ends up wider. Same transition front to back, so that is where I initially positioned it. In the end, I can't really tell that it's squishy, and I'm not sure what the bump up front is for, since I'm behind it. Doesn't seem to cause any problems. The two plastic mystery bumps underneath the nose don't seem to cause me any problems - I saw references to those somewhere, and how your shorts can hang up on them. No issue with that at all.
Ride 1: 15 mile shakedown ride, mostly flat, with a few rollers in the middle. Saddle level from front to back (including the nose). This put the back and notch area pointing down just a bit. It was awesome for 5 miles - no soft-tissue pain at all. Couldn't even tell I had soft tissue. Probably due to the unfortunate fact that the slight downward tilt had all my weight on my hands & arms, which started to get numb & hurt a little. I'm not sure just when both feet went numb. I stopped at the half-way point and leveled the back half of the saddle (level by eyeball, and almost perfectly level using an actual level when I got home). This annoyed the soft tissue a bit, and made me wish the notch was deeper. Oh, and in both positions, I was way more comfortable in the drops that on the hoods. I seem to have more access to the hoods than I'm used to. I want to use my drops more, so that part is good. The bad part was the sit bone pain when I'd ride on the hoods. Next morning: 2 saddle sores. One existing one getting to be a bigger bump, and a second one right next to another existing spot. Grrr. However, it was crazy hot & humid, and I had mountain biked in the morning, and waded in the lake in the late afternoon, on a hike. So basically in damp shorts for a lot of the day (not the same shorts, but all damp).
Ride 2: 20 miles, mostly flat. Split the difference between the 2 positions on the first ride. Better, but 1 numb foot (and my shoe was already looser than normal, so it wasn't that). A little discomfort up front. Still pain in back when I was more upright on the hoods. Felt like I had no power. At all. Total lack of oomph. And never really comfortable on the saddle. Still with the saddle sore bumps.
Ride 3: 44 miles, flat to hilly, with one big hill. Had DH check my KOPS position, and he figured I could go back slightly. So I moved it back, maybe 5 mm, but didn't measure. Felt pretty decent for 20 miles, then started getting general discomfort. Most of it not major, except feeling like I'm right on those saddle sores.
Ride 4: 19 miles, gently rolling. After talking to LBS guy, moved the saddle back a hair more. He thought maybe I should tilt it down a hair more too, but trying to isolate one thing at a time. Starting to feel a bit better. And the sores seem less angry. Still a tad bit of hand trouble, so I'm not sure about increasing the tilt.
Ride 5: 15 miles easy with DH (who is 3/4 of the way through chemo right now, so isn't exactly hammering): No problems. No sit bone pain. The saddle still doesn't disappear, but it's better. And I can ride in the drops without squirming.
So, with 113 miles on it, it has promise. I need to get some longer rides in, which I'm not sure I'll get in before the 30-day trial is up, but I guess I'll keep it. If it doesn't work, it was a good deal, and I can probably get most of my money out of it at the annual gear swap. I may tweak it back a hair farther, but the rails are pretty short, and I don't have a whole lot left. Part of my problem could be my mtb saddle, and the fact that I'm riding that on Mondays and Thursdays, and I know it's too narrow. While I'm more upright, and don't get some of the pain during the rides, it may be irritating areas the road saddle finds later? I may talk my Monday friend to switch to road biking for a couple of weeks.
If it weren't for the $60 price difference, I probably would go for the less-padded RXL. I do think I want new shorts, but that's another can of worms.
Last Sunday's 33 miler got really bad. First 10 miles was okay, then got gradually worse until I had pain from my hips down to my knees. DH thought maybe it was nerve pressure somewhere. Whatever it was, that was the first time I really ever wanted to just quit riding. LBS guy fixed me up with a men's Affinity 1 from his trial bin. We'll see how that goes. Only 2 short rides so far - the first one was not very good, but it was the day after the really bad ride, so I gave myself a couple days to recover. Today I didn't have time, so it was just a short ride, but it was pretty good.
Skierchickie - I was in the similar boat like you were. I had the Bontrager Affinity. When I first started cycling nearly two years ago, I had the Terry Butterfly Ti with the cutout on it. It was comfortable for a long while, but then when I started to change my bike into a little more aggressive position (raising the seat, lowering the handlebars, etc), sitting on the saddle seems to get more uncomfortable. It seems that when I'm in more upright, the saddle is perfect, but once I go in the drops or more tight position, my sit bones seems to kind of slide off to the side slightly.
After a long while, I decided that it's time to start saddle trials. Bontrager was the first I tried. It wasn't bad. Felt comfortable for certain amount of time, then I start to fidget. The width of the saddle was perfect. After a few more rides, I realized that the sides of it is a little too sharp for me (got a big butt), and the indentation on the back part was bothering me really bad. Returned the saddle and now I'm testing the SI Diva. In a small way, I wished I did the research before buying because it turned out to be a lot more money at the LBS than online...however, this LBS has given me so much free service (free adjustments, free fitting, and little free stuff) even though I didn't buy the bike from them. So, I think it's fair.
When I sat on it for the first time, I was already SO comfortable! I'm looking forward for my first ride with it tomorrow. Did you ever think about trying Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (cutouts), or the Diva? A few of my women cycling friends swears on Selle Italia's products...and they're long distance cyclists.
I'm hoping that the money that I shelled out on this saddle will be worth it and thousands of miles...and for my first century.
Good luck!
Returned the Inform last week. The Affinity I'm trying is a lot better, but haven't ridden a lot of times since putting it on. Did a 58 miler a week ago. Got quite uncomfortable on one side, and leveled it a little 1/2-way through the ride. Seemed a lot better, but the damage was done, so to speak. Tweaked the tilt part-way back again, but haven't ridden it since.
CyborgQueen: I haven't seen the SI saddles in person, so haven't really considered them. Not sure about the cutouts - none of the Terry saddles I tried with cut-outs worked for me. Maybe I'll see something when I'm downstate soon. Unfortunately, $$$ is an object at the moment. Still rooting for the Affinity, anyway. Maybe I need to avoid women's saddles, because in all my trials, the men's models have been the best.
Reviving this thread to say that I am kicking myself for not having tried this saddle a VERY LONG time ago! Ugh! But I'm glad I have it, now. I picked one up on eBay for $30 and figured it was worth a shot. Oh, I think it's worth every penny!
I have only done a 10 mile trainer ride, but saddles always feel worse on the trainer than they do on the road and this saddle felt actually pretty good on the trainer. During my ride I noticed that my sit bones hurt a little, for a change. Up front I had minimal pressure and ZERO chafing. Chafing has been the big deal-breaker with pretty much every saddle I've tried.
I had previously tried the Affinity on my road bike, but didn't love it. Though it works great on my CX bike, which has me positioned a bit more upright. I always thought the Inform looked too pear-shaped, which is what kept me from trying it earlier, but it doesn't actually feel that way when I'm on it, which surprised me.
I'm really looking forward to the roads being cleaner and warmer for a good outdoor ride on this saddle!
I got to put the new saddle through it's paces on Sat. during an indoor cycling event to raise money for Livestrong. I rode a total of 3 hours and the only thing that was an issue was the alignment where PI shorts seams and saddle disagree a bit. Today I did a brief ride with a pair of Shebeest S-Pros that I LOVE, but the seams on those were becoming destroyed by the edges of my previous SSM saddle. Interestingly, the Bontrager saddle and the Shebeest shorts seem to be much more compatible (no seams in contact with the saddle, as far as I can tell), which is awesome, since I prefer the Shebeest shorts!
I tend to favor a T-shaped saddle. I have the Jett though I find that I get pushed forward quite a bit, no chafing though. The cut out is so small that I don't think it even counts on the Jett. The SSM Aspide cut up the back of my legs pretty badly. I am looking at the Bontrager inForm RL WSD 2010, my sit bones are 135 center to center. Not sure if I should go with the 140 or 150 size. Also the trek site only has the 2010 saddle? Should I look for a more recent design?
I think the Inform is being phased out. They're all on clearance at my LBS.
Wha...NO!!! All Inform models? Just certain ones? They can't discontinue the only saddle that works for me! :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
Take advantage of clearance prices and stock up! Another option is ebay -- bike gear tends to remain on there for way longer than it does in LBS's.Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
The Bontrager website still shows the WSD RL version, but not the R or RXL. My LBS has not gotten any new ones in stock in over a year.
You might want to contact Bontrager and ask them what's up.
That is really odd. And I like my Affinity on my CX bike, but on my more aggressive road bike that dent is not deep enough. The Inform is much better.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
I might have to check this saddle out. My fitting put me in a much more aggressive position than I am used to, and PAIN is the result. I'm not 100% sure it wasn't the shorts, but I'm resigning myself to the fact that I may have to buy a new saddle.
What year is yours, Zoom? And does anyone know what, if any, the differences are between the 2010 and 2009 versions? The 2010 is still 109. The 2009 is $24.99. The only difference I can see is the rail material (Ti vs steel.)
You know, I wish I knew what year mine is. I think I threw out the packaging. The saddle has blue swirly design...looks just like the ones I see on their site, but those are black swirls. I think mine has steel rails (but I'm not positive).Quote:
Originally Posted by Owlie
2009: http://store.trekbikes.com/jump.jsp?...2C4%2C15%2C430Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
2010:
http://store.trekbikes.com/jump.jsp?...ProductID=2521
I have a feeling that the swirl color varies, depending on the width of the saddle...Though that would mean that if it was a 2010, they would be green..
Apparently they both have steel rails...I swear I was looking at something that said one has Ti...
Oh. Their own product page is confused. http://bontrager.com/model/09441. The part description says Ti, the product description says steel. Geez.
Hmmm...they look the same. I wonder if there is any marked difference, other than cosmetic...?:confused:
Given the reputation that Bontrager saddles have had in the past, I'd really like to know!Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
If it helps, with the Affinity and Evoke, the RXL and RL have ti rails, while the R has steel rails.
Originally I think there were at least 2 different versions of the Inform, in terms of the amount of padding. So there might have been a difference in rails, too.
The 2009 has blue swirls, the 2010 has white. I have one of each and there is zero difference between them as far as I can tell.
Zoom-zoom - why am I not the least bit surprised that the InForm RL is the saddle for you, too? ;)
SarahMN - if you are 135 center to center, I'd go for the 140. I'm 138 or so, and ride the 140 on all of my road bikes.
Interesting...I'm 130 and am on the 150. I've wondered if 1 size narrower would work, too... :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by GLC1968
I never tried wider in this saddle. In general, I'm always shooting for the narrowest saddle I can make work to avoid chaffing the upper thighs (which happened when I tried the Terry Butterfly and is the reason I switched to narrower men's saddles before Specialized and Bontrager started making women's saddles in widths).Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
Interesting. The men's version of the Inform RXL has Ti rails, but the inconsistency in the RL is still there. The $99 price tag on the 2009 would put it in line with the current lower-end Jett with cro-mo rails...but my Jett, which is the much older one (with the gray "sit spots"--I got it in clearance at the LBS), has a carbon (or carbon-reinforced, can't tell) shell and Ti rails...and was also $99.99 originally. Maybe the Inform is just the odd one out.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
The 2009 picture appears to say "Hollow SS" on the rail. So that's settled. Nothing on the 2010.
Interesting! I'm somewhere in the 125-130 range (I got one number, LBS got the other). I'm using a 143 Jett. I'm not sure I want to go too much narrower, but will I really notice 1.5mm on each side?Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
Hi know this is an old thread, but thanks to you ladies, I was fed up with saddle pains and I managed to find this saddle a couple of weeks ago; the 2009 version (one with the blue swirls). I have struggled with saddles since I started cycling. I went out yesterday for the first time and several times I realized I had forgotten I was on a saddle, which is a first for me. I barely had any soft tissue pressure, however I did notice I had some sort of saddle edging discomfort, as if the edge of the saddle chaffed against my legs. Not sure what it was, maybe it was just a first spin kind of discomfort. But to my amazement I did not have any sit bone pain and today I don't feel them at all.
My last saddle was a prologo scratch pro dea, which was the best I had found so far but if for some reason I was off the bike for over a week I would feel my sit bones again and lately the pain was constant and I felt bruised days after, so I kept on cycling with bruised sit bones, over and over again. I came across this old thread and I managed to find for $15 one of these saddles. I have high hopes for it, as if it didn't hurt the first spin I doubt it will get any worse. If this doesn't work I'm off to try the ISM saddle for my road bike. This is the 4th saddle, I just hope I don't have to move onto a 5th!
For me it seems to be that I have wide sit bones, you wouldn't think of it if you took one look at me as I have narrow hips, and I'm not really that overweight (maybe 5/7kg).
I just hope that this post helps others and fingers crossed this saddle turns out to be THE one, so far so good.