New Selle San Marco-great saddle

[kermit]

I finally found THE ONE. The new Selle San Marco Glamour Aspide Arrowhead K saddle is amazing. I bought it at www.TriVillage.com and I tried it yesterday. It is very flat and looked hard until I tried it. The seat area is perfect for my butt and the room for my legs is nice and open(no chafing). The nose is narrow but the cutout is in the perfect spot. The saddle flexes so it just conforms to your whole bottom. I've tried all the Terrys and they just fizzzled out and hurt. If you need a cutout but want a narrow nose and good support, give this a try.

[Raederlae]

I've been riding on a Terry Butterfly for some years now, but have recently developed a painful chafing/squishing issue. I was contemplating an SMP Glider or Stratos after reading reviews, but they are a bit pricey... Keeping my fingers crossed that this saddle fixes me!

[kermit]

I still love mine, dropped the nose a tiny bit which solved my mush in the drops. I love that its nice and narrow, no chafing. I have even stopped using chamois butter and less padding is better. Good luck.

[snookiepoo]

Kermit - just curious - what is your approximate sit bone width? Am I correct that the Glamour K Arrowhead is 140mm wide?

I am interested in this saddle, but a bit confused as San Marco has their own system called S.I.Z.E to find the appropriate seat - very unlike anything I have seen. Found info here:
http://www.bikesportz.com.au/product...ize_chart.html

Your saddle is listed a SIZE 245. My sit bones are approx 130mm wide - but according to their system this would put me in a SIZE 225 or 235. This would seem narrower than 130mm - doesn't make sense.

Any insight appreciated. Thx.

[indri]

Hello. I am new to the board. I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice.....I too have been on the seemingly-never-ending quest for a saddle. Looked at photos of the Selle San Marco Aspide Glamour K from someone's recommendation (Kermit I think?) and am considering ordering it...but what are those little stitched circle logo things on the seat? They look like you'd feel them. Do you feel them? I imagine they might not be felt under the padding of your shorts, but I'm paranoid about stuff you might feel.

To try different ones, do you just order a bunch from a catalog, try them, and send back what you don't like? One of the shops near me won't even let me put one on my bike and ride it around outside the store. Lame-o. I Can't see spending a small fortune and accumulating a stash of saddles that you don't like.

I guess my seat specs, from what I know now, are:
155mm
No sure about preference for short or Long nose yet...maybe long?
Prefer pear shaped
Don't like too much padding (not squishy) but not super hard either
Narrow nose
I think I like cut outs so far...only tried one.
No preference for look -- just not one with a little pink jumping lady on it like the Terry a guy at my lbs showed me. I mean, come on!!! Enough with the pastels already. Do they have to be on my bike saddle too?

I'm just starting to do some longer rides and after about 30 miles I really start to get squirmy. My bike came with a stock saddle...I think it's a Velo...it measures 150 mm at the widest part. The nose is too squishy foamy and pretty awful, and my sit bones are outside the edges. I'm doing a week long tour in Glacier Nat'l Park in a few weeks and I need to be able to do 90 miles on my saddle so I'm concerned about what I have.

I'm currently trying out a Specialized Sonoma from the other lbs and the 155mm width is ok, but I think the T-shape is what I don't like. It rubs too much just at the top of my thighs and I find myself sitting more forward on the saddle to relieve that, kind of defeating the purpose of having the width for my sit-bones. I can see it getting worse on a longer ride.

If anyone could give any advice in speeding up my search I'd sure appreciate it.

[VeloVT]

Hi Indri,
I suggest you start a new thread of your very own on this subject -- you will get more responses that way. You should also search, since there are many, many threads on saddle searching on this board (since it's a perennial problem ). Just a tip, lots of saddle threads are not actually in the "saddles/gear" topic (though it seems the most logical place for them...). You should check the cycling-related Open Topic, New Riders, maybe Health Issues, maybe Bikes... .

Good luck!!! I have a saddle I love but my boyfriend is having a hard time finding one now...

[indri]

Thanks Liza. I'll try that.

[Norse]

I would love to give this saddle a try but the Arrowhead K (cutout) version only seems to come in too small a size for my sit bones. I am currently using a 155 Jett, which works pretty well but by days 3 and 4 of a recent 300-mile ride, I was getting some chafing, even with lots of balm.

[kermit]

Even though the box states the measurements as 272 x 140 cm, the measurements of the widest part of the seat are almost 6'1/2". It has a slight curve at the widest part but I have heard other people state that Selle San Marco is sometimes wrong on the packaging. You might want to give it a try.

[Norse]

After doing some more research, it seems that for 2008 Selle SM came out with a Glamour Aspide Arrowhead (no "K) that is 155 mm wide and includes the cut-out. I may give this try.

I really, really want to love the Jett and it looks so great on my bike, but I am concerned that it is not loving me back.