Saddle question

[Orange utopia]

I just spent about an hour going through all of the older discussions about saddles and I know it is a very personal thing but I want to try and mitigate the expense of just blindly trying one saddle after another.

I have had my road bike for 12 years and have had the Terry butterfly Ti on there for almost the whole time I have owned the bike. It has been great fit for me and while I haven't used the bike very much in the past 9 years the few times I have, maybe once or twice a year, I have always been able to just get on and ride fairly comfortably for rides up to 30 miles so I know it is a pretty good fit for me on my road bike.

I did buy a cromoly version to put on the new Utopia but something is holding me back from installing it. First, it seems a little different then my old version. The measurements are the same so it might just be the different cover finish is throwing me off but it doesn't really feel the same to me in my hand, almost squishier. But what is really concerning me is that my position is so much different on the Utopia. I am afraid that the more upright position might mean that isn't the best saddle.

Do you find that you need different seats on different bikes?

The stock Bontrager has to go but I was thinking about asking the shop if they could replace it with the women's version and trying that out first. The bike came with the evoke 1 which is horrible so I am wondering if anyone here has used the evoke 1 wsd and found it to be okay?

I also have 2 old but in good condition men's WTB saddles. One is the SST that came on my old mountain bike that I kept on there. I don't remember significant problems but i do recall it would start to bother me after longer rides, like more then 10 miles or so. I also have a WTB speedV that my DH bought years ago but never used. It is a cheapy but I looked it up and it gets good reviews.

So far I have managed to ride on the evoke for anywhere from 5 to 20 miles but it hasn't been comfortable. I don't have problems with my girly parts so much as my site bones hurt for days and days. So that means I just need something wider right? I think the butterfly and both of the WTB saddles are wider and I am sure the evoke 1 wsd will be wider too.

Sorry this got so long, i am just trying to noodle this through as i read all of the information out there. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[ny biker]

What kind of bike is the Utopia? And what width is the Evoke that came with it? Are you uncomfortable while riding, or just sore afterwards?

I tried an Evoke WSD last year. Long story, but even though it's meant for a more upright position I tried it on my road bike. I was able to do long rides on it, but was generally not comfortable and felt bruised afterwards. The topography was wrong, and also I think the nose was too wide. I am planning to try it on my mountain bike one of these days.

Bontrager offers a 30-day guarantee so you could try a WSD Evoke at no risk. You should be measured first if you don't already know your sit bone width. There's a good chance a stock men's saddle is too narrow for you.

If you bought the Butterfly from a source that offers a comfort guarantee, I'd say it's worth trying that, too.

[Orange utopia]

The Utopia is called a dual sport by trek/Gary fisher so I guess it is a sort of hybrid leaning more towards a mountain bike. I am not sure what the width is on the Evoke 1. I know the Evoke RL comes in different widths but I am not sure about the version they put stoke on the bikes, it isn't on their web site separate. I will try and measure it later today.

My DH picked up the butterfly for me from a LBS I will have to ask them if I can try it out and still return it if it doesn't work. I am also going to call the shop where I bought my bike and see if I can try and WSD evoke today. Thanks

[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?

[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]

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.

[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.