Bontrager Inform WSD

[nscrbug]

I'm a little curious about what happened with the Ruby. Is it sitbone pressure? You are a very long-distance cyclist. I can't imagine putting in the miles you do. Do you just need something a little more padded to accomodate the mileage? Makes me wonder if a Jett or Alias would work.

It does seem to be sitbone pressure, but also a teeny bit of girly bits irritation too. Which is what had me wondering about the cut-out on the Ruby. So today I rode 54 miles on the Affinity RXL and it felt very strange at first. But the longer I rode, the more comfortable I got. I can't yet say that it was "perfect", nor am I ready to take it off yet, either. I'll leave it on a bit longer and see what happens next weekend during my longer rides.

[kermit]

That's how it felt for me the first two rides...different! But when the pUn did not come I was happy!

[Skierchickie]

Okay, for those who may be interested in the Inform RL WSD saddle, here is my initial review. Sorry, but very long:

Overall impression: Why do women's saddles have so darn much padding?? Sheesh! Way squishy compared to the Arione. Otherwise, similar front to back profile - just ends up wider. Same transition front to back, so that is where I initially positioned it. In the end, I can't really tell that it's squishy, and I'm not sure what the bump up front is for, since I'm behind it. Doesn't seem to cause any problems. The two plastic mystery bumps underneath the nose don't seem to cause me any problems - I saw references to those somewhere, and how your shorts can hang up on them. No issue with that at all.

Ride 1: 15 mile shakedown ride, mostly flat, with a few rollers in the middle. Saddle level from front to back (including the nose). This put the back and notch area pointing down just a bit. It was awesome for 5 miles - no soft-tissue pain at all. Couldn't even tell I had soft tissue. Probably due to the unfortunate fact that the slight downward tilt had all my weight on my hands & arms, which started to get numb & hurt a little. I'm not sure just when both feet went numb. I stopped at the half-way point and leveled the back half of the saddle (level by eyeball, and almost perfectly level using an actual level when I got home). This annoyed the soft tissue a bit, and made me wish the notch was deeper. Oh, and in both positions, I was way more comfortable in the drops that on the hoods. I seem to have more access to the hoods than I'm used to. I want to use my drops more, so that part is good. The bad part was the sit bone pain when I'd ride on the hoods. Next morning: 2 saddle sores. One existing one getting to be a bigger bump, and a second one right next to another existing spot. Grrr. However, it was crazy hot & humid, and I had mountain biked in the morning, and waded in the lake in the late afternoon, on a hike. So basically in damp shorts for a lot of the day (not the same shorts, but all damp).

Ride 2: 20 miles, mostly flat. Split the difference between the 2 positions on the first ride. Better, but 1 numb foot (and my shoe was already looser than normal, so it wasn't that). A little discomfort up front. Still pain in back when I was more upright on the hoods. Felt like I had no power. At all. Total lack of oomph. And never really comfortable on the saddle. Still with the saddle sore bumps.

Ride 3: 44 miles, flat to hilly, with one big hill. Had DH check my KOPS position, and he figured I could go back slightly. So I moved it back, maybe 5 mm, but didn't measure. Felt pretty decent for 20 miles, then started getting general discomfort. Most of it not major, except feeling like I'm right on those saddle sores.

Ride 4: 19 miles, gently rolling. After talking to LBS guy, moved the saddle back a hair more. He thought maybe I should tilt it down a hair more too, but trying to isolate one thing at a time. Starting to feel a bit better. And the sores seem less angry. Still a tad bit of hand trouble, so I'm not sure about increasing the tilt.

Ride 5: 15 miles easy with DH (who is 3/4 of the way through chemo right now, so isn't exactly hammering): No problems. No sit bone pain. The saddle still doesn't disappear, but it's better. And I can ride in the drops without squirming.

So, with 113 miles on it, it has promise. I need to get some longer rides in, which I'm not sure I'll get in before the 30-day trial is up, but I guess I'll keep it. If it doesn't work, it was a good deal, and I can probably get most of my money out of it at the annual gear swap. I may tweak it back a hair farther, but the rails are pretty short, and I don't have a whole lot left. Part of my problem could be my mtb saddle, and the fact that I'm riding that on Mondays and Thursdays, and I know it's too narrow. While I'm more upright, and don't get some of the pain during the rides, it may be irritating areas the road saddle finds later? I may talk my Monday friend to switch to road biking for a couple of weeks.

If it weren't for the $60 price difference, I probably would go for the less-padded RXL. I do think I want new shorts, but that's another can of worms.

[Skierchickie]

Last Sunday's 33 miler got really bad. First 10 miles was okay, then got gradually worse until I had pain from my hips down to my knees. DH thought maybe it was nerve pressure somewhere. Whatever it was, that was the first time I really ever wanted to just quit riding. LBS guy fixed me up with a men's Affinity 1 from his trial bin. We'll see how that goes. Only 2 short rides so far - the first one was not very good, but it was the day after the really bad ride, so I gave myself a couple days to recover. Today I didn't have time, so it was just a short ride, but it was pretty good.

[CyborgQueen]

Skierchickie - I was in the similar boat like you were. I had the Bontrager Affinity. When I first started cycling nearly two years ago, I had the Terry Butterfly Ti with the cutout on it. It was comfortable for a long while, but then when I started to change my bike into a little more aggressive position (raising the seat, lowering the handlebars, etc), sitting on the saddle seems to get more uncomfortable. It seems that when I'm in more upright, the saddle is perfect, but once I go in the drops or more tight position, my sit bones seems to kind of slide off to the side slightly.

After a long while, I decided that it's time to start saddle trials. Bontrager was the first I tried. It wasn't bad. Felt comfortable for certain amount of time, then I start to fidget. The width of the saddle was perfect. After a few more rides, I realized that the sides of it is a little too sharp for me (got a big butt), and the indentation on the back part was bothering me really bad. Returned the saddle and now I'm testing the SI Diva. In a small way, I wished I did the research before buying because it turned out to be a lot more money at the LBS than online...however, this LBS has given me so much free service (free adjustments, free fitting, and little free stuff) even though I didn't buy the bike from them. So, I think it's fair.

When I sat on it for the first time, I was already SO comfortable! I'm looking forward for my first ride with it tomorrow. Did you ever think about trying Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (cutouts), or the Diva? A few of my women cycling friends swears on Selle Italia's products...and they're long distance cyclists.

I'm hoping that the money that I shelled out on this saddle will be worth it and thousands of miles...and for my first century.

Good luck!

[Skierchickie]

Returned the Inform last week. The Affinity I'm trying is a lot better, but haven't ridden a lot of times since putting it on. Did a 58 miler a week ago. Got quite uncomfortable on one side, and leveled it a little 1/2-way through the ride. Seemed a lot better, but the damage was done, so to speak. Tweaked the tilt part-way back again, but haven't ridden it since.

CyborgQueen: I haven't seen the SI saddles in person, so haven't really considered them. Not sure about the cutouts - none of the Terry saddles I tried with cut-outs worked for me. Maybe I'll see something when I'm downstate soon. Unfortunately, $$$ is an object at the moment. Still rooting for the Affinity, anyway. Maybe I need to avoid women's saddles, because in all my trials, the men's models have been the best.

[zoom-zoom]

Reviving this thread to say that I am kicking myself for not having tried this saddle a VERY LONG time ago! Ugh! But I'm glad I have it, now. I picked one up on eBay for $30 and figured it was worth a shot. Oh, I think it's worth every penny!

I have only done a 10 mile trainer ride, but saddles always feel worse on the trainer than they do on the road and this saddle felt actually pretty good on the trainer. During my ride I noticed that my sit bones hurt a little, for a change. Up front I had minimal pressure and ZERO chafing. Chafing has been the big deal-breaker with pretty much every saddle I've tried.

I had previously tried the Affinity on my road bike, but didn't love it. Though it works great on my CX bike, which has me positioned a bit more upright. I always thought the Inform looked too pear-shaped, which is what kept me from trying it earlier, but it doesn't actually feel that way when I'm on it, which surprised me.

I'm really looking forward to the roads being cleaner and warmer for a good outdoor ride on this saddle!