Rockhard saddle with no cutout advice please

[malkin]

Who are you?

that is:

How do you ride?
How buff is your bum?
What's your distance range?
How wide is your sit bone span?

[g19]

My centre sitbones are about 110 mm's. But should one take the centre as a fact or also the outside measures. Never found a answer on that one though even from lbs's.

The similarity between walking and cycling (long distance or being active for long hours a day) is that the longer you walk (and ride a racingbicycle) than the more support you need for both.

The key q'n maybe what is being considered long ... For me a short ride is anything less than approx. 50 miles and a long ride is approx. 100 miles and more. If someone else disagrees in what is short/long than obviously than there is also the difference in what kind of saddle one is using and what is perfect and what not.

Anyway it's not wrong it's just a difference in how each sees what.

As for how wide sitbones are is for me not the #1 choice in buying a saddle as for me other items are more important like:
- How long is your ride
- How many hours does one spend in the saddle
- What is the riding style
etc etc and than there is the choice in how wide a saddle should be.

It should never be the #1 choice on choosing a saddle, but than again that's me how i look at things. This however does not automatically result in finding the perfect saddle the first time, but one can eliminate a lot.

Yes, saddles are trail and error and very personal, but by working your way thru a list of (something like the list above) one can save yourself a lot of trouble and effort in working with saddles that have a small change in being perfect (exceptions are however always possible).

Further more i find reviews helpful although it requires a bit of careful reading thru the lines in what people actually are saying and see things as a guide line than they can be helpful otherwise one could end up with a pile of near new saddles as few saddles can be tested thru lbs's. Also it's important to know if a man is giving the review or a woman.

This post is not to prove i'm right and others are wrong it's just a sharing in experiences and i hope this is the way how we look/read things and that we are able to help each other so we don't have to invent the wheel over and over with all costs and negative experiences included.
With each other for each other.

Keep on cycling

[OakLeaf]

I think what we were all trying to say is that if a saddle doesn't fit, then it's never going to be right, no matter what kind of riding you do or how short your rides. From the discussions we've had over the years and my own personal experience, it seems that for relaxed cruising under five miles, most people can get away with almost anything, but for ANYTHING else, a saddle has to fit, whether your idea of a long ride is 30 miles or 300K, and whether your idea of a hard pace is 15 mph or 25.

It's true that your riding position affects what part of your sitbones contact the saddle. That's why when I made my butt-print, I circled the whole shape of my sit bones, and take the print with me saddle shopping so I can lay it over various saddles.

With a 110mm width, you may very well fit on an uncovered carbon saddle. Do you know anyone that has one that you could try, maybe? Or is there a shop with a SI test center near you? (or have you already eliminated SI's entire line?)

[g19]

"I think what we were all trying to say is that if a saddle doesn't fit, then it's never going to be right, no matter what kind of riding you do or how short your rides."

No disagreement here, as only i have my own 'filtering list' in finding a what could be correct saddle approach then the well just try it approach.

"but for ANYTHING else, a saddle has to fit, whether your idea of a long ride is 30 miles or 300K, and whether your idea of a hard pace is 15 mph or 25."

Again i agree, but the point is when reading reply's from other people about saddles when one does not tell what there time spend in the saddle is or the milage they do then you get a disappointing experience just by the not given information. That's my point. When somebody spend about the same time in the saddle as the person that's looking for a saddle than there is a good change the saddle choice might work well.

Sadly i have no other options to test a hard uncovered carbon based saddle like the smp or so.

But than again a new day new options

Who knows what tomorrow will bring ...

[tctrek]

+1 on the San Marco Glamour Aspide. I have one on each of my road bikes. It's so minimal that it's hard to think it can be comfortable, but I absolutely cannot ride on anything else. Cutouts kill me and forget about any gel or padding. I also wear minimal shammy - ie: Castelli Kiss or a tri-type short with small/think shammy.

I'm not saying this is for everyone! Each butt is different!

[g19]

After giving the rolls a try it failed due to the contact with the girlie bits.

In my search i finally came on a site where there was many good review from tri riders and knowing that they are in a almost impossible ride position it got my attention.

To make a long story short i got myself this one the ISM Breakaway


After a 60 mile ride today i can only conclude that regarding the girlie bits this is fantastic. NO pain whatsoever. The large 'hole' really does the trick.

However there is a price to pay as always. Now all the pressure comes to the sit-bones and it was something i could really feel today however this is something that must get used to and it will no doubt eventually.

So my biggest complain has been solved regarding my girlie bits and now the focus is on some fine-tuning the saddle and see/feel if the ride can be as comfortable as possible.

And yes the saddle is hard although one can indeed press with the thumbs a little bit in the saddle, but make no mistake that it is hard on the sit-bones when riding.

So far so good.

[kermit]

Cool. I almost went that route and know a ton of people that love those. They all say the same thing, your butt will feel it but will get used to it. Keep us posted.