Saddles – Is there much difference in comfort

Just buy an Arione
Or a PX
Just buy an Arione

Or a PX superlight

Quote:..would it be right or

..would it be right or wrong to think the lighter you go the more uncomfortable it is going to be due to less padding or does the shape and profile compensate for this?

It’d be wrong! Less padding is often more comfortable, if you’re riding for any more than 15 minutes.

Look at it this way:

– humans have an endoskeleton – hard bones inside, soft squishy stuff on the outside.

– soft padded saddles are the same.

– the load is carried by the two skeletons – the human and the saddle.

– therefore you need to get hard interfacing with hard. e.g. sit bones with saddle frame.

– add any material between the two hard elements, and it must be compressed, to allow hard to meet with hard.

– now imagine you add twice as much padding (foam, gel, whatever) to the saddle.

– the amount of human soft tissue remains the same.

– but now you need all the soft stuff to compress MORE, for hard to interface with hard. Not just the foam padding, but the human soft stuff, too.

– by this theory, gel should be marginally better than foam, if it is able to flow inside the saddle – i.e. the padding deforms rather than compresses. The gel moves out of the way of the two skeletons.

– except, of course, that some gel might move medially relative to the sit bones – towards the middle of the saddle – thus filling out the space between your sit-bones, adding pressure just where you don’t want it!

The solution is a firm saddle. Hard meets hard easily, and all the soft stuff isn’t too squashed.

For me, the ideal saddle is the Rido. Others love the Fizik brand. It’s a very personal thing.

Nice summary futurefunk, of
Nice summary futurefunk, of the main 3 Fizik Saddles the Antares seems to be the least popular and yet its the mid shape. I find the Aliante unbearable others think it’s like a sofa. I can’t get out of the end of my road on a Selle Italia! Pro logo take some getting used to but get there in the end. The important thing is not who made the saddle, but that it supports your sit bones by being wide enough but doesn’t rub by being too wide, but you are likely to get better results through changing the tilt of one saddle than changing brands, if it’s applying pressure on the nose of the saddle try lifting the nose up, the converse of what you’d think but this will rock your pelvis back and force you on to your sit bones. Good luck

As everyone will say, saddles
As everyone will say, saddles are a very personal thing. Every’s ass is different, so what might work for me, won’t work for someone else. I’ve tried plenty of saddles through a LBS saddle rent/buy program (tried Specialized, Selle Italia, and Fizik saddles). I ended up with a Fizik Antares. I seem to find flatter saddles more comfy.

Then again, after a couple hours on any saddle, I get a bit sore. It gets better as I get more time in on my bike though.

Best to try a bunch of different saddles if you can. Or borrow a friends saddle for a few hours. I have friends who love their stock saddles.