Saddle question

[ny biker]

I'm not sure, but I think the saddles that come with new Trek bikes are mid-width, which for a men's saddle is something like 135 mm. The widest men's is 145.

[Orange utopia]

Sheila, that is an impressive amount of bike seat knowledge! I needy digest all of that and see if I can even answer some of those questions. Thanks for giving me a lot to think about. I will look at the brooks More closely. For some reason I thought they were way more expensive then what you linked to. That really isn't that much more then the Terry and it is even less then what I paid for the Ti version of the Terry I have on my road bike.

[Biciclista]

Orange, have you tried all the saddles that you mentioned you have? those WTB saddles might just be the thing...

[Orange utopia]

I have tried the Bontrager of course and the WTB SST that was on my old mountain bike. The Butterfly is on my road bike but I haven't tried it on the Utopia yet. The WTB SST was ok but I know from before that I'd wasn't comfortable for longer rides.

My plan right now is to try and get a WSD Bontrager evoke as an exchange for the men's model that came on the bike and either use that or the other WTB (speedV) for this weekend's ride. I was going to take my road bike on Sunday for about 25 miles but I want to try to nail down this saddle issue on the utopia so I think i am going to take it instead.

I should have tried all of the saddles we already have around here before buying the Terry butterfly. now I don't want to return it until I know for sure I am not going to use it because my DH got a deal on it but I don't want to keep it just because it was a deal. So I need to figure out if it is something I am going to use or not. I don't plan to buy another saddle until I have tried all of the ones I already have.

[Biciclista]

so what makes you want to try a Bontrager?

[Orange utopia]

so what makes you want to try a Bontrager?

I don't know that I do, I just know my LBS will switch out the one that came with the bike for a WSD so I might as well give it a whirl. They are a trek only dealer and only have Bontrager products, otherwise I would ask them to direct me to a different choice.

[Biciclista]

seriously!! I had no idea that bike shops exist that ONLY sell Bontrager saddles... YIKES

I don't know if this will help or not, but every bike we've ever purchased (not counting custom ones) came with a saddle
that we ended up discarding. And they were not all Bontragers, but some were.

[Orange utopia]

NY biker, I am not sure if it was normal, new rider pain or not. It didn't hurt the soft tissue. There was maybe a little bit of tenderness there immediately following the longer ride but nothing that lasted. I had some slight chaffing on my right inner thigh but I think that was more due to the baggy style mountianbike shorts I was wearing. I didn't experience that on other shorter rides wearing the longer spandex shorts so I wasn't concerned with that. It just hurt for about a week after that longer ride to sit on the
saddle at all and it felt like the bones were bruised, not the tissue.

I switched to my old WTB SST and that was better but I haven't done anything more then 5 or 6 miles on that one and I know it isn't a good option for longer rides which I would like to do on this new bike. And really, the Bontrager Evoke 1 was ok (not great but ok) for those kinds of distances before I did the longer ride so I didn't really get much by making that switch.

[ny biker]

The Evoke is not a "stock" saddle. It is the Bontrager saddle designed for more upright (mountain bike) riding that comes in three different widths and 3 different amounts of padding. There are men's and women's versions of each.

http://www.bontrager.com/products/components/saddles

Trek ships many new bikes with Evoke and Affinity saddles now. They are nothing like the old stock saddles they used to use. They might not be right for a specific buyer, but they are based on Bontrager's Inform research and design.

[ny biker]

I would still like to know more about what hurts with the current saddle. If it's truly sitbone soreness, it could be normal for someone who hasn't ridden a bike lately. If the pain involves the pubic bone, then there's a problem with the width, shape or both.

I know there are lots of people here who are conditioned to hate all Bontrager saddles, but there's also an increasing number of women on this forum who find them to be quite comfortable, because the saddles they sell now are not like the old ones.

[Biciclista]

I know there are lots of people here who are conditioned to hate all Bontrager saddles, .

you talking about me?

you're right, of course.

[Orange utopia]

you talking about me?

you're right, of course.

Sorry Biciclista but it looks like I am going with a Bontrager although not the one I thought I was going to try. The shop owner gave me a bunch of different seats to try and I spent about an hour just trying one after another. The end result is I came home with an inform nebula plus. I am going to try this for a while and he said if it isn't doing the trick return it in 90 days and we can try another one. Pictures will becoming soon, maybe tomorrow before my ride.