Selle SMP Strike TRK Lady Saddle

[Andrea]

I'd like to keep this thread alive because I'm considering one of these.

I've tried a selle an-atomica (wasn't happy with how much the leather stretched, already had it replaced once under warranty, now having the same problem with the new one), Brooks (even after breaking it in, was not comfortable up front), several Terrys, and other randoms, all to no avail!

I've got very wide seatbones and large inner thigh muscles that tend to get sore/bruised feeling from rubbing if a saddle is too tapered in the middle (as opposed to more T shaped like a Brooks). It poses a problem because most saddles that are wide in the back are wide in the middle as well. Any of you riding the SMP TRK have any of the same issues that I've had?

[Thorn]

Welcome to the potential love-hate relationship with the SMP. The Lady Strike is wide in the back (supports 140cm/5.5in sitbones without a complaint), but the nose is also wide.

Every now and then I keep searching the web trying to find someone who sells the Allay saddle in the wider widths (http://www.allaysaddles.com/line/sport.htm). On paper, it looks like the perfect saddle....well, on paper...errr...on the LCD screen.

[Andrea]

Welcome to the potential love-hate relationship with the SMP. The Lady Strike is wide in the back (supports 140cm/5.5in sitbones without a complaint), but the nose is also wide.

Every now and then I keep searching the web trying to find someone who sells the Allay saddle in the wider widths (http://www.allaysaddles.com/line/sport.htm). On paper, it looks like the perfect saddle....well, on paper...errr...on the LCD screen.

I think I'll be ordering one from Gottaridebikes.com. There's a shop here in Memphis that carries the Allay saddles, and had the wide one last time I looked. If you called them, they'd sell you one & ship it to you. It's http://www.rbscyclery.com. That's the next one I'm going to try if the SMP doesn't work out.

[RoadRaven]

Andrea, I'll be really interested in hearing about how this goes for you.

I have not been able to do much more about this since I started the thread, as it is summer/school holidays here still. But I am back to work in about 3 weeks so will get back into research then when I am in town every day

[koala]

OK Raven, we're about to take the Selle SMP plunge here. Received in for testing are both the Strike PRO & the Stratos models. I did not order up the TRK Lady model you're interested in, I feel it is way too wide for me. I have skinny boy hips & narrow sit bones, so I ordered accordingly. The PRO is the most padded of the men's saddles, & the Stratos has a little more padding than the skinniest of the men's saddles. My husband is having saddle issues, too, so we are both experimenting & swapping saddles back & forth. Which means that two of us will end up with sore behinds & go limping in to work over the next week or so.

I was first with the PRO. We set it up dead-level, and learned afterwards that can be a terrible mistake with the SMP saddles. The cutout is superb, the entire front area disappears. However, it thrust all the body weight on the two tiny little sit bones, and was excruciatingly painful. I gutted out an hour on the trainer, & ground down a lot of teeth in the process. Next day we tilted the nose up just a bit. That helped a lot, it spread out the weight some onto the glutes by supporting the back end of the butt. Still, it is not the right saddle for me, as it is too wide & I get whacked in the back in the crease area.

So the PRO moved onto my husband's bike, and tomorrow I get to debut the Stratos. We'll see how that goes....

Stay tuned...

[RoadRaven]

Thats great, Koala
Thanks for the details

The cutouts certainly look excellent which is primarily why I am interested in this type of design

(My partner just asked "how can something that isn't there look excellent?" )

Am looking forward to your next instalment and hoping you and your husband's buts aren't getting too uncomfortable in the "testing" process

[Thorn]

This weekend I found two sellers of SMP that run demo programs. Granted, neither will do you much good, Raven, as they are both based central-US, but perhaps it might be worth contacting Selle SMP and asking if there is someone on your side of the world that does the same thing. I wonder if this is a new marketing strategy for them?

One place is a bike shop out of Chicago (cbike.com). For $20 they will let you test ride the saddle for a week. The other is a tour operator that runs high-end tours in Italy (cycleitalia.com). Their overall price for the saddle is higher, but they'll let you test ride for a longer period.

Just a thought.