Saddle woes

[Jiffer]

So, after a long search and many test saddles, I finally settled on the San Marco Mantra. Funny thing is, my husband did too. Who'd a thunk it?!

Well, his Mantra started squeaking horribly, so he exchanged it for a new one at no charge. It was at that time that I got my first Mantra. Then his second Mantra started squeaking and then full on "broke". Some part underneath. Then mine started squeaking and is on it's way out.

Ughhhh!!!! Obviously, there's a defect in these saddles, so now we are on the search for a new saddle. He is currently trying and thinks he may like the Selle Italia Turbomatic Gel Flow and thinks I should try it. The problem is, from what I can tell, it only comes in black and white (half of each) ... and I really just want black (or pink ... or black and pink).

Does anyone have any suggestions of saddles to try that are similar to the San Marco Mantra and the Selle Italia Turbomatic?

[kermit]

That's a tough one! Sorry to hear about the forever squeaking, that sucks! Try looking at an SI SLR or FLite, Max Flite if you need wider. Those are about the closest you'll get. Specialized toupe or ruby. Good luck!

[tongue_tied]

But you liked the saddle otherwise?

[nscrbug]

Hmmm...those two saddles have a fairly big difference in width. The San Marco Mantra is listed as 135mm, and the SI Turbomatic Gel Flow is shown to be 153mm...that's going from a fairly narrow saddle to a fairly wide saddle. Have you measured your sit bones to see which width of saddle would be best for you?

[OakLeaf]

Also, just going from the pictures, the SSM is extremely pear-shaped, while the Turbomatic is extremely T-shaped (and I totally covet one, but I'd probably take a black Sharpie to the white side, too).

Not quite sure how both of those saddles could work for you...

[Jiffer]

Well, just before leaving for a snowboarding trip, so not riding for several days, hubby took both our Mantra's back to the LBS so they could order new one's to replace them under warranty (his for the 2nd time). I had already ordered two other saddles from Performance Bike (satisfaction guarantee, FYI, so we could send them back any time after any amount of use for a full refund). Those saddles came while we were gone. So, over the weekend I ended up trying the Selle Italia Signo Gel Flow, which was horrible for me. Then I tried the Turbomatic, which was better, but still painful after some time on it. At about mile 10 of a 40 mile ride on the Turbomatic we stopped so hubby could move it back for me. I jumped on his bike to try out the Selle Italia SLR. Nope. Not working either, though he seems to have settled on that one for now.

Then at about mile 16, when the discomfort was getting more intolerable, I came to the horrible realization that I had a 65 mile club ride the next day and would NOT be able to tolerate riding on any of the three saddles we had in our possession. I said, "Is there a store anywhere in the universe within driving distance that might actually have a black Mantra in stock that I could go to TODAY and buy?" As it turned out, our main LBS had one. YES!!!

So, while my "parts" are still recovering from two rides on two wrong for me saddles ... I had a reasonably comfortable 65 miler on another Mantra. And I get to have my "black" saddle.

One other note. San Marco told us that the problem has been fixed, so we shouldn't have trouble with squeaking or breaking saddles anymore. Also, our LBS told us they were told the problem was only in the white saddles, not the black ones. WEIRD!