New Selle An-Atomica saddle

This saddle was recommended by several of our T Estrogen women. I bought one and tried it today for it's first ride. Went 30 miles and one problem is totally gone....sit bone pain...but another has emerged. I feel as if the leather edges of the saddle are chafing the labia area as I peddle from side to side. I have adjusted it a myriad of ways and can't seem to find a sweet spot where the edges of the cut out toward the front of the saddle don't rub those
tender areas.

Rather than writing the Selle folks I thought I would consult the forum first for some input from those who ride with this saddle. It's an amazing structure and I feel sure it must be a minute adjustment between the discomfort and the sweet spot of comfort.

If any of you who use this saddle could offer any suggestions or input I'd be most appreciative. My hope is that with this saddle I can start going longer distances. I have been limited to about 50-60 miles thus far with saddle pain as the limiting factor in going longer/further.

Thanks for the suggestion of the saddle and now i just need help with the fine tuning...I hope.

Happy riding!

Jaquelin

I am going to suggest that your saddle may be too high.
You should have no rub. No movement at all. Your sit bones and everything should pretty much be stable on that saddle.

When your pedal is at six o'clock, is your leg totally straight? Try lowering the saddle a tad so that your leg is slightly bent, and see if that works?

Here's an interesting video showing how the slot sides do move with your anatomy as you pedal:
http://www.selleanatomica.com/Setteb...D%20081304.wmv
Be warned- what you see is the tan undersides of the saddle....not bare skin! :eek: :D It's kind of weird looking, but you can see how it moves around quite a bit.

Uh, thanks for the warning on that, Lisa. It was by far the weirdest thing I've seen in quite a while... :eek: Does make those saddles more interesting, though.

I took the edge off mine with a fine half-round file.

Thanks for those comments. I am tempted to use the fine half edge file too as the inner edges of the open area are quite sharp and hard. Tom, the owner and designer of the saddles assures me that with more work to find the sweet spot that it can and will be found. It's counter intuitive but as I tighten the tension the discomfort lessens. The "hammock" feeling that can be had with a softer tension set seems related to the issue. I am also playing with the dimensions between my old fit and the new one with this saddle. Tom suggests not to have a professional fitter look into it as they don't understand the dynamics of this saddle.

I do not think the seat is too high as there is a good bend in the knee when fully extended. It's quite a different feel than any saddle I've had so it might just take some time to acclimate. Thanks much for the comments.

I think there are plenty of professional fitters who DO know the ins and outs of that saddle!

If I can't figure it out myself with trial and error I will consult one of the good ones in a nearby bike shop. thanks.

I don't know if this will help at all, but I thought maybe you might want to see how mine are set up.

Gorgeous Bike!! Oh yeah, the saddle is gorgeous too. It looks from the pics like you like yours rather soft with that 'hammock' in the center. I find I have to tighten it a lot so that there is little give. I went back to my old saddle today just for comparison and though it hurts my sit bones (reason for the change) I appreciated the way it made it all work for me.

What I learned from this is perhaps I do need a professional fit again to fit it as the old one was fit to me/my bike. I am VERY sensitive and if I am not fit perfectly to the bike almost everything hurts. I think the new saddle which is larger, wider and longer than my old one must throw off the fit just enough to make everything hurt (elbows, wrists, hands, crotch, etc,)

Did you find you adapted to yours right away or did it take time to find the right fit? I am waiting for Tom and his crew to return from Europe later this week and hope to have a longer conversation with them about the ins and outs of what is happening.

Thanks for the pics. I love your bike and the saddle looks wonderful on your bike. To be continued....

I guess I should have said "bikes" not bike. I was into the saddle when I first looked and then came upon picture #2 and noticed that bike.
:o

Thanks! The bikes are my pride and joy. I love them both so much, it's hard to decide which one to ride.

I had the saddles put on by the guy at my lbs who also has one, so he knew this saddle. As soon as I got on, it was ohhhhhh :D happiness! My old saddle was like a block, so this was profoundly better.

If you look closely at the pic of the brown one, you can see the tension bolt. It's almost all the way in still on both of them. I recently (like 3 months ago) tightened the red saddle by maybe 3 turns, and that over did it, and my sitbones were not happy. I loosened it again 2 turns, and still I needed to re-adjust. Now it's comfy again. The reason I added tension wasn't that I was uncomfortable, but that the cut-out was starting to overlap.

As sunken as mine look, I'm actually on my sitbones. Maybe that's the key--the slinging makes room for your anatomy? I put the question mark because I'm really not sure of why it works.

Let us know how the fitting goes. If this isn't your dream saddle, I hope you find the one!

Jaquelin,

I can't help you with your problem, and I really hope that this is not an inapproprate post.

But, in the end, if you decide that you don't like this saddle, I would be happy to discuss buying it from you.

Lynette

I was thinking of buying a Selle An-atomica, but opted for a Brooks instead. I'm liking my Brooks as of right now, I just haven't broke it in yet, but I was wondering what size sit bones everyone has that rides a Selle An-atomica? My sit bones are like 145mm and was wondering if the Selle An-atomica would possibly be a good fit? I would have to get the clydesdale version (whoever thought that up, sucks) because I'm about 185lbs. I think I would like a cutout. I know I can get one on my Brooks, but I'm not sure if I want to do that or try out a selle an-atomica. Any suggestions would be great! I've also been eyeballing the Selle Lady Strike SMP TRK, the cutout looks great but the nose looks huge. I found a website that selling them for $51 and some change!

I am a 144 mm., think my husband's sit bones are a little bit wider but not much. We LOVE these saddles and have put them on all our bikes. I have been meaning to post about our complete Selle An-atomica conversion. They are the greatest.

You are only 5 lbs. over their suggested weight limit for the regular saddle. I don't think it would be a problem if you got that one instead of the "Clydesdale", especially if you are increasing your exercise activity.

salsabike--have you had any problems with the an-atomica stretching out too much? I've read somewhere here on a post that one individual went through 2 an-atomica during the warranty period due to theirs stretching too much?