selle san marco vs. selle italia

[VeloVT]

Terry saddles are made by Selle Italia (or so I've been told by more than one person at bike shops).

Boyfriend recently got the Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow. It is a men's saddle, and is a good bit narrower (too lazy to look up specs right now but I would say between 130 and 135). I actually think it's pretty comfortable. This surprised me for two reaons: first, I usually really need a flat, flat saddle and the Flite is contoured and second, I normally hate saddles with cutouts. However, I can definitely tolerate this saddle (though it still probably wouldn't be my first choice). The cutout is fairly wide and the edges are not sharp at all. The cutout is kind of far back on the saddle though (there's a good bit of nose with no cutout). I actually think this may be why I can tolerate this cutout when usually I don't like them, but I could see how it might be a problem for women who are looking for soft-tissue relief. (Though if I really wanted a Flite, I'd probably still get the original one without the cutout).

The Flite Gel Flow seems to have a nice level of cushion. It's still fairly firm (much firmer than you would expect anything with "gel" in the name to be), and reasonably light, but does have a little padding. It feels less hard on your rear than bf's old Specialized Alias, although the Alias appeared to have more cushion if you pinched it. I actually have a theory that a good bit of how soft or hard a saddle feels has more to do with the shape of the saddle where it contacts your bones than it has to do with how much padding is actually there. This will be different for everyone because everyone's bones are shaped differently, but for me, a saddle that wraps down a good bit (i.e., is convex from side to side at the back, as my Arione is and as the Flite is as well) will feel much softer, regardless of how much actual cushion it has, than a saddle that is very flat from side to side at the back, such as the men's version of the SLK (haven't seen the women's version, so I don't know how they compare), or most Specialized and Terry saddles. A saddle that is too wide will tend to feel harder to me as well. I think it has something to do with the angle of my sitbones... or something ...

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention the Flite Gelflow -- I think it's a pretty nice saddle and if it's not too narrow for you, might be worth a try.