Saddle help- ?Terry Beetle, Liberator Y

[Thorn]

If you try it, please post a review. I've been hoping a local bike shop would stock one so that I could see it and compare it to my current saddle.

I've been riding a Selle SMP Strike Lady. It is wide enough in the back and not a tractor saddle, but still a little too soft. I'd like something a little firmer, but it will be hard to lose its generous cutout.

[anakiwa]

I wound up purchasing 2 saddles: Avocet O2 Air (women's model) and the Terry Beetle. The Avocet arrived first and was put on the road bike. The Terry is now on my old touring bike (used for commuting and dirt road rides).

First to answer the question about the rails- I haven't looked directly (and I've now sold the Finesse and can't), but I suspect the rails are longer (or something about the saddle makes it less important). Before giving up on the Finesse I had it shoved as far back as I could get it (I have a straight Thomson post so that wasn't that far, but it was at the limit of what I could do). With both of the 2 new saddles, I'm not at the the limit (either fore or aft).

Avocet: So far this seems to be the saddle for me. It's far lighter than any saddle I've ever ridden, but still wide enough in the rear for me. I've done one longer ride (70 miles) and it still felt good at the end. It definitely needs some more test rides of significant distance (I'll post another update at some point), but I'm really hopeful that this saddle is the one for me.

Beetle: Definitely has potential. I have yet to ride it for more than 11 miles at a time and therefore can't comment on how it holds up for distance rides. It seems quite comfy. I can say that I did commute to work, then to a group run, then home one day wearing tri-shorts (much less padding than my typical bike shorts) and it felt fine. The material used to cover it is a little different (not as slippery). Definitely worth a try as well if it seems like the profile is right.

[Triskeliongirl]

Thanks for the update! At this point I ordered the beetle and will post a review. I do plan to take advantage of the 30 day return if I don't like The avocet is also very interesting, since it is also quite light. If I don't like the beetle, I'll try that next. Who did you buy your avocet from? Is the 30 day guarantee from avocet or the vendor?

[anakiwa]

I got the Avocet from a random tandem place in Kansas City called Precision Tandems- I think it was the last one they had, but they might be willing to order one. The saddle comes in both a titanium railed and a Cro-mo version. I had originally been hoping to get the titanium one and this particular shop had one in their inventory (it turned out that while it was listed in their inventory, they'd actually sold out of the titanium one and when they checked with Avocet for me it was unavailable). Anyway, they pointed out that the cro-mo version is only 20 grams heavier and I went with that (and again it's still lighter than any saddle I've ever had). I'd google Avocet O2 Air 40 women's and I think you'll find a few options. (Or ask your LBS if they can order it.)

I haven't asked how returns work. I'm generally learning that 30 days isn't near enough for me (it took me a year to give up on the Brooks). Fortunately neither the Avocet or the Beetle were super-expensive.

[Triskeliongirl]

Well, for me the beetle was a no go, packed it up and returned it the day it arrived. So, what is good about it is that it indeed has a wide rear like the Brooks Finesse. But, what didn't work for me is that it is wide throughout, and that the transition between rear and nose is too far forward, so I still couldn't sit back enough or my thigns would hit the transition area. Also, the rails are short, so I still couldn't get it far back enough. Furthermore, the fabric cover is just plain yucky. I guess its what its advertised as, a low end recreational saddle, and what I was looking for is a high performance saddle for those of us with wider hip bones. It also made me realize that my broken in leather Brooks Finesse suits me better than a non-leather saddle, since I have been able to break it in with my twisted sit bones from my accident, so for anyone with non-perfectly symetrical anatomy, a Brooks really does have advantages. The only reason I was considering a change is that the rails on my Brooks Finesse are also on the short side. Its fine on my bike with a shallow seat tube angle, but I was hoping to get a tad further back on my bike with the steeper seat tube angle. In the future, I will make sure all bikes I buy have a seat tube angle that is compatable with my Finesse! I know the B67 is longer (per Lisa's post) but I didn't want the extra weight. And I have invested a year breaking in my 2 brooks finesse saddles............ I know another super laid back seat post is an option, but at this point I don't want to spend more money on a bike that doesn't fit me, so I'll put up with it until I can afford another bike.

[anakiwa]

I finally did a longer ride on the touring bike this weekend sitting on the Terry Beetle (BF and I went blueberry picking 30 miles away and I needed to ride the touring bike so I could use the panniers).

Overall, the shape suits me fairly well- it's wide in the rear which I need, and not too wide in the nose. The way the wide part tapers to the front may not be perfect, but it seems to fit better than the Terry Liberator and I've sat on much worse. The saddle did support me well enough- I rode 60 miles without feeling like it was caving in.

Here's the one problem- the cheap cloth covering isn't slippery enough (making it harder to move around on the saddle). At first it seemed like I could just get used to it. Over the course of the 60 miles though, I realized that this is an excellent way to promote chafing (normally the shorts slide over the saddle- in this case the shorts stick to the saddle, meaning my bottom has to slide over the shorts---chafing).

So my overall thoughts- it's fine on the commuter bike (and I've done worse), but sooner or later I'm going to need to replace it with something that I can ride for greater distances.

Triskelion- if you're still hunting for a saddle you might want to try the Avocet. It's still on my roadbike- I'll post a full review after the century we're planning on doing this weekend.