Rosie has shipped!

[Thorn]

Be still my beating heart.....apparently the Terry Rosie saddle is now really available! It shipped! I got the notice in email (oh, I hope it isn't a joke). To those who have been [im]patiently waiting for the back order message to disappear, it has.

Gee, I ordered it in spring. I sure hope it was worth the wait.

[Running Mommy]

ahhh the rosie saddle... We have it in our test program here at the shop. There is much lore to that saddle here in the shop.
The boys made fun of the girl on the back of the saddle...
Look at it with a naughty boy slant and you'll get it....
Oh BOYS!!!!

[Triskeliongirl]

Can someone who has this saddle tell me how long the rails are, relative to the transition between the wide part and nose? For example the rails on the terry butterfly are long relative to the brooks finesse, but then I prefer the width of the finesse. If this saddle has long rails like the butterfly with the width of the finesse it would be terrific.

[Thorn]

TG: I'm not sure what you mean....do the following images help?

RM: Yeah, if I like the saddle, I envision covering up the logo. Sometimes you have to wonder what doesn't go through the marketing person when they design things.....

[Running Mommy]

thorn, what are you thinking about this? Have you "mounted" Rosie yet??
Oy... Now I sound like the boys...lol

I did just have a lady order one from me. She's got the tester on her bike right now.
But she did make a good point. She lamented that the 'ride like a girl' slogan was a bit patronizing.

[Thorn]

OK...for those interested, the preliminary report is...."OK". Not perfect, but "OK".

I currently ride a SMP Lady Strike. It has a wonderfully wide cutout, but is just a tad bit too narrow for me across the back.

Enter Rosie. Rosie is about the same width in the back as the SMP LS, but she's got a flatter top thus she provides a wider sitting platform than the SMP. That's good--the sit bones are sitting firmly on the saddle. Rosie has a slightly thinner nose and is a teensy bit less pear shaped than the SMP. That's also good as the chafing I get from the SMP is at the panty line. Rosie is also a tad bit less squishy than the SMP. Again, a good thing if you ride long distances. But, Rosie is not a firm saddle.

But....the SMP really spoils you with the cutout. Rosie is a flat-top Terry saddle with just a small cutout. The Terry cutout really just provides an escape route for the saddle padding, not really an escape route for your...uh..parts. I did do some riding in the full drops on the Rosie. I could ride in the drops and she was "OK"--there was pressure, but it wasn't overwhelming like, for me, riding a Brooks without a cutout.

However, riding an SMP spoils you. If I hadn't spent the last year on a saddle that removes all pressure on the girly bits, I'd probably be jumping up and down and cheering Rosie on. It is wide enough, there is some soft tissue releif and it isn't super squishy, but the SMP taught me that a saddle could be more in the soft tissue relief department. So, at this point Rosie is just "OK".

Oh, and yes, having a saddle have a person's name like Rosie is a bit odd. Yes, my bikes have names, but they have personalities. Do saddles have personalities independent of your bike? But, after a while you just start calling it by name and ignore those 13-year style comments that result. And, as for the pink "Ride Like a Girl"--if you're not a pink person (and, trust me, I'm not), I guess you try justify it....uh...."yeah, riding my bike makes me feel like a kid again"?