ISM Saddles..any opinions?

torydiver

Hi Folks,
My first post,
Been cycling for about 12 months now, road bike, generally to keep fit,

By my ability(in my 40's,new to cycling) I feel I was doing reasonably well by the autumn (80 - 150 km per week) depending on work and weather,

However, I have never been comfortable on my saddle.
Have tried 3 different makes (Boardman-came with bike, Charge Spoon, Selle Gel flow max) all very different but with little improvement to comfort,

Got fittings from LBS and local club guru - I feel like I am on a good position on the bike, its just the increasing saddle discomfort especially after more than 1 hour in the saddle.

Heard Sean Kelly mentioning about "ISM" saddle during commentry of Tour de France....
Been Looking at them recently and am considering possibly trying one.

I appreciate that one persons armchair is another persons knife edge,
Was wondering if anyone on here has any experience/ opinion of ISM saddles, or maybe suggest something else to consider.....
Thanks......

Beasty

I have the ISM Adamo on my TT bike - is's a godsend. I can now walk properly after a 25m TT, and numbness is a thing of the past

Would definitely recommend them, but you may also want to experiment with saddle position a bit - point slightly down, or move very slightly to one side or other. Move it up or down a few millimeters - for some people it can make a big difference. Only change one thing at a time though, and if that doesn't work go back to where you started and change something else, to help isolate what, if anything, improves things

torydiver

Beasty wrote: »

I have the ISM Adamo on my TT bike - is's a godsend. I can now walk properly after a 25m TT, and numbness is a thing of the past

Would definitely recommend them, but you may also want to experiment with saddle position a bit - point slightly down, or move very slightly to one side or other. Move it up or down a few millimeters - for some people it can make a big difference. Only change one thing at a time though, and if that doesn't work go back to where you started and change something else, to help isolate what, if anything, improves things

Thanks for reply,
Got bike on the turbo trainer at present,
Will try some of your suggestions....

smacl

I haven't tried the ISM, but have been through a few saddles on a similar journey myself. These have included the Kellys that came with one bike, a Ridley that came with another, a Brooks flyer, a Selle Gel flow, and more recently an Allay saddle. The Brooks has been the only truly comfortable one, wish I'd bought a Brooks B17 for the second bike instead of the Ally tbh, but got drawn in by the ad. FWIW, I'm 46, 12St12 and 6ft.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on, might just try an Adamo Century myself next time I'm looking.

Lumen

I have an Adamo but only use it for TTing. It's partly a workaround for the fore-aft regulations, but more generally I think requirements for TT saddle are quite different than normal road bike saddles.

I find the Charge Spoon comfy enough for commuting, but for any distance I find the Specialized Toupe (non-gel) saddles amazing. Others will differ, obviously.

IMO use of gel padding in saddles is counterproductive, at least for men. I don't know nuffink about womens bits.

moby2101

Hey

Have you tried using some chamois cream ??

loads of different manufacturers here

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=chamois

It works wonders....

torydiver

moby2101 wrote: »

Hey

Have you tried using some chamois cream ??

loads of different manufacturers here

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=chamois

It works wonders....

I use chamois cream,
It does help but i dont have any issues with chaffing,
I do believe its finding a saddle that works for me,
Sent an enquiry to a shop in uk that stock ISM saddles,
Waiting for reply......

Plastik

Base2Race in Ballymount have at least one model of these saddles in stock. Was only looking at them on Thursday last.

doozerie

I second the recommendations for testing different saddle angles with your existing saddle(s) first. If it works then it'll save you a lot of grief, as well as expense.

One of the things that I found made the biggest difference for me was finding a saddle of the appropriate width - despite being small and thin, I found that a 143m wide saddle was best for me whereas a lot of "standard" saddles are 134mm wide where your sit bones rest. This thread has some useful info on Specialised's approach to measuring saddle fit, and this has worked well for me.

Incidentally, I found that with my Specialised Romin Expert tilting the saddle so that the middle third of it is level (which leaves the back third tilted up a little and the front third tilting down a little) was very comfortable. During a subsequent bike fit the fitter tilted the saddle to make it level across its full length and this has reduced the comfort of the saddle for me - it's still more comfortable than my previous saddles, but this perhaps demonstrates that even a saddle of the "correct" width can be a problem if the tilt is "wrong".

Oh and despite finding my Specialised saddle comfortable, I find my 143mm Prologo Scratch Pro even more comfortable again which might support the theory that once you find a good width of saddle for you that this measure will apply across the products of different manufacturers. Mind you, I've only put that theory to the test across two manufacturers so it wasn't exactly a scientific test.

torydiver

Got promptemail replies from trybike store in UK,
Nearest seller I could find,
Recommended the Typhoon or Century,
Stated ther were pretty similar in design,
Off to do some looking on the web,
Thanks for everone who responded to thread so far,
Advice much appreciated........