Bikeradar article on choosing saddle

Wicklowrider

For anyone wondering if theres a scientific method to choosing your perch:

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/health-are-you-sitting-comfortably-30179

petethedrummer

Found this bit interesting:

"If a rider is flexible, they need a flat and long saddle shape, so we offer the Arione. The Aliante suits someone with a more rigid spine, with the Antares best for those in between"

I have a rigid spine and although I don't have a Fizik, the saddle I have most resembles the Aliante. So there may be something to it.

velo.2010

If it says Bontrager and its pointy, that'll do for me!

DirkVoodoo

petethedrummer wrote: »

Found this bit interesting:

"If a rider is flexible, they need a flat and long saddle shape, so we offer the Arione. The Aliante suits someone with a more rigid spine, with the Antares best for those in between"

I have a rigid spine and although I don't have a Fizik, the saddle I have most resembles the Aliante. So there may be something to it.

It convinced me. Rigid spine too.

I bought an Arione because it looked better than the Aliante I had been using without fuss for 2 years. First ride on the Arione and I ended up with the numb sensation that Fizik predicted, I'm not flexible enough to keep pressure off that area when riding an Arione.

So, I bought another Aliante and again, no fuss.

Yes, it's slightly simplistic to break it down, but at least it gives you a starting point which is something a lot of manufacturers don't do outside of a pricing structure. I want the most expensive, therefore best, saddle just doesn't work.

Sr. Assumpta

velo.2010 wrote: »

If it says Bontrager and its pointy, that'll do for me!

Tried to resist, sorry, it was a Chandler moment......

velo.2010

:eek:
Sister Assumpta may the Lord have Mercy on your Soul.

doozerie

petethedrummer wrote: »

Found this bit interesting:

"If a rider is flexible, they need a flat and long saddle shape, so we offer the Arione. The Aliante suits someone with a more rigid spine, with the Antares best for those in between"

I have a rigid spine and although I don't have a Fizik, the saddle I have most resembles the Aliante. So there may be something to it.

I have a flexible spine and flexible hamstrings and my Arione, which initially I liked when I first put it on the bike (several years ago now but it has seen little use since then) became an implement of torture in recent months. It seemed to become worse when I re-jigged the bike setup by raising the bars and shortening the reach - the resulting effective wider width of my sit bones in my more upright sitting position might have been the cause of the increased problems, but the increased problems also coincided with some harder training spins on the bike while riding with a group (almost all of my previous riding on that saddle was solo so I was riding at my own pace). So the effect of harder riding might be showing up a fundamental mismatch between the saddle and me.

Also, the Arione is a 134mm saddle whereas by the Specialized size guide I need a 143mm saddle - I don't know whether the Specialized size guide is of any relevance whatsoever when looking at saddles from other manufacturers though. Whatever the reason(s) though, the Arione isn't working for me at all so flexibility is only one factor in its suitability and by my experiences flexibility seems to be an unimportant factor. I've replaced that saddle with a Specialized Romin Expert 143mm and so far that one has been working well, though it's too early to say whether it is really right for me.

I have an Aliante on my other bike, and while this seemed fine initially it has caused me significant problems (some extreme discomfort, some numbness) during races, so again when riding hard. I'm persisting with that one though, for now at least, in the hope that my tweaking of fit and saddle angle will resolve the problems. It could simply be that Fizik saddles just don't suit me though, and I certainly find myself wondering about the reliability of their spine concept (for me anyway) - the Specialized saddle size guide just seems a lot more logical to me.

doozerie

Out of curiosity, has anyone who takes a 143mm saddle according to the Specialized size guide tried a standard (134mm) Prologo saddle, particularly the Scratch Pro? I know that width is only one factor in whether a saddle works for a person or not but I'd be interested to know whether a 134mm Prologo is simply too narrow for someone who'd take a 143mm Specialized, whatever about the other factors.

Lumen

doozerie, not to address your question directly, but I have both 130 and 143mm Toupes and they're both good. 130 on race bike, 143 on the others.

I did my sitbone measurements using play-doh in a zip bag.

doozerie

Lumen wrote: »

doozerie, not to address your question directly, but I have both 130 and 143mm Toupes and they're both good. 130 on race bike, 143 on the others.

I did my sitbone measurements using play-doh in a zip bag.

I found your thread from some time back where you described your process for doing your sitbone measurement and where you also provided the Specialized figures for what saddle width was recommended for which measurement. Thanks a lot for posting that as it really helped me when deciding recently on what to replace my Arione with. It's hard to find detailed information online for some of that stuff and many reviews make no reference to it either, unfortunately.

As a matter of interest, did your measurement suggest a 143mm saddle for you (can't remember from your earlier thread) and if so does the 130mm saddle ever cause you problems at all? The difference in comfort, so far, between my Arione and the 143mm Romin has me thinking that any 134mm saddle will simply not work for me at all but I may be jumping to the wrong conclusion - my judgement may be impaired by my Arione-induced Post Traumatic Saddle Disorder.

Lumen

doozerie wrote: »

As a matter of interest, did your measurement suggest a 143mm saddle for you (can't remember from your earlier thread) and if so does the 130mm saddle ever cause you problems at all? The difference in comfort, so far, between my Arione and the 143mm Romin has me thinking that any 134mm saddle will simply not work for me at all but I may be jumping to the wrong conclusion - my judgement may be impaired by my Arione-induced Post Traumatic Saddle Disorder.

My sitbone width measured between 80-110mm, depending on position (80=racing, 110=victory salute).

The Specialized BG fit guide suggests a 130 saddle for a sitbone center to center width of 100 mm or less, a 143 saddle for a sitbone center to center of 100 mm to 130mm and a 155 for a sitbone center to center of 130 or more.

I find 130mm less stable than 143, but it feels like the difference between a swivelly stool and a bench. When racing I am more concerned with other facets of my inadequacy than saddle instability.

doozerie

This might be of interest to anyone considering a Prologo saddle - I've been trying to find some online recommendation from Prologo themselves about which of their saddle widths suits a a particular sit bones width, but with no luck so far. And neither retailers nor reviews focus on this either, from what I have seen, however I did find the following from this retailer which, although they state themselves is not an official recommendation from Prologo, might provide some useful guidance:

A 138-145mm width saddle is recommended (by us, not Prologo) for those with sit bone widths between 95 and 130mm. This is an average width. If you are narrower, say 70 to 90mm, then consider a narrower Prologo saddle, which we can special order (we currently don’t have the narrow demo models, but would consider bringing some in if requested). If you are wider than 130mm, then you might consider an unpadded suspended leather saddle like a Brooks or Giles Berthoud “Touring” models. Visit this page on my blog for details on how to measure your sit bones.

Those figures make sense to me, based on my own limited experiences, but Prologo's apparent reluctance to make such a recommendation themselves might suggest that it may be an over-simplification, that maybe sit bones width is not very relevant. It would be very interesting to hear from riders of Prologo saddles who have measured their sit bones width, to see if their experiences tally with the figures suggested above.