Fizik Arione & Terry Butterfly

[Cari]

I'm a cut-out girl. I've been riding the same saddle on all my bikes for a few years -- the Selle Italia SLR with the cut-out. It's very narrow and firm but is just perfect for me. Unfortunately, you can't buy it in the US so I have to scoop them up on eBay when I can.

Velogirl, which SLR do you use? I checked a catalog that has Selle Italia and found 8 different SLR models, two of which had cut-outs: The SLR XC Gel Flow and the SLR XP Gel Flow.

The Arione and the Butterfly are completely different styles of saddle. The Arione is a more aggressive race-style saddle. It's much narrower and firmer than the Butterfly.

Do you like your current saddle? If so, I would choose the saddle that's most similar to what you ride now.

Waverly: Velogirl makes a good point. Aside from the color they share, those two saddles are polar opposites.

Cutouts seem to be something you either love or hate. I have a Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (which looks a lot like Terry's pink Donna's Butterfly) that I used just once and put away. The cutout got on my nerves and since the saddle is short (as women's saddles tend to be) I felt like I couldn't move much while riding. I've done better on a Fizik Aliante and am about to try an Arione. But I did experience some numbness on an Aliante towards the end of a 3.5-hour ride. So definitely do your best to try before you buy.

A few days ago I e-mailed Veloputt to ask her how she was doing with her Arione, since she had mentioned somethink about it in an older thread. If she says it's ok, I'll post the relevant portion of her reply so you can read it.

Good luck with your search!

~ Cari