Selle SMP Strike TRK Lady Saddle

[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.

[RoadRaven]

Thanks Thorn.
I am doing some measurements as I find them of the various Selle models (5 of this style) and other similar seats with such cut-outs. Then I'm going to go and talk to a couple of the LBSs and see what they can do for me.

You know, I hadn't even thought of contacting Selle themselves - rather obvious but it hadn't occurred to me. Thanks for that prompt, Thorn. I'll do that too.

I really need to do something. I have been puzzling about why this is suddenly an issue as my current saddle (same on both my bikes) has been comfortable til now , and my only conclusion is that along with a slight increase in time in the saddle, I must also be out-putting more power in my specific training and am def outputting more power in my racing. More power must equal more pressure on parts of my body including how I sit on the saddle...

[koala]

It's been a week, and I'm still testing this one. The verdict is: promising, but undecided. I have been stuck indoors riding the trainer in the basement, and so far have had a couple of really good rides, a couple of okay rides, and one really bad ride. The bad ride I cross off to an inadequate chamois for a saddle this firm. You definitely need good padding to ride this saddle. You also need to experiment some with tilt. I've done flat, some nose up, a little less nose up, & a little down. Flat & down are out, just a little nose up seems to be the most comfortable. You need to play with it until you get this cradling feeling. It's hard to explain more precisely, but when you get it right, you will know it.

I need to get outdoors & try it. I'm hoping to get out this weekend for maybe a 40-mile hill ride, which will tell me a lot. I have a couple of concerns. One is that the tapering in towards the nose is a little wide, even on the skinny Stratos model, so I'm concerned about getting rubbed. Second, the rails around the cutout are quite firm. They don't hurt, which is why tilt is so important to get right, but I am always aware of them. This might go away if I'm riding outside & busy thinking about other things. Don't know just yet, will write more when I have more to report. So we'll see....

[Andrea]

Keep us updated! I am still on the fence about buying one

[postiechic]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few of us watching this thread with interest. I'm a member of the " quest for a comfy saddle club", as many of you are. I'm very tempted to by a selle smp of some sort but reluctant to shell out big bucks for something that may have a negative result. Again, like many of you I'm slowly building up a collection of unwanted saddles. The last one being a jet 143. I so had hopes for the jett being the right one. wrong!
So, I'll keep reading, watching, researching and thinking. In the meantime I get totally envious/jealous of those who hop on a new roadbike and "love it to bits" from the very first ride. Sigh

[alpinerabbit]

It's been a week, and I'm still testing this one. The verdict is: promising, but undecided. I have been stuck indoors riding the trainer in the basement, and so far have had a couple of really good rides, a couple of okay rides, and one really bad ride. The bad ride I cross off to an inadequate chamois for a saddle this firm. You definitely need good padding to ride this saddle. You also need to experiment some with tilt. I've done flat, some nose up, a little less nose up, & a little down. Flat & down are out, just a little nose up seems to be the most comfortable. You need to play with it until you get this cradling feeling. It's hard to explain more precisely, but when you get it right, you will know it.

I rode the evolution model yesterday for 55k. BTW this was from IXS, who obviously licensed the patent off SMP. Same make, except no stitching on the leather.

my girly bits were very happy - either top bar position or drops. The sit bones hurt, but not bad, they could get used to it.

What worried me a bit was a feeling of numbness around the sitbones and most importantly, could it be too narrow for me - I felt that if I did not ride rather to the back of the saddle I had pressure on the "inside" of my sitbones if you know what I mean. I do hope this does not mean it is "wedging my pelvis apart".

For some reason the composite felt better; although it has exactly the same shell construction. Now the wider models have more padding and I don't think that's the way I want to go. I can test as many as I want four weeks at a time :-)