Choose the right saddle for you and your riding — our top picks for every type of cyclist

The Smanie GT 137 Saddle is described by Smanie as a neutral/medium position saddle, which is designed for those of us who ‘have a favourite riding position and love to stick to it for long periods of time’. It’s an understated but very comfortable saddle for day-to-day riding on tarmac and beyond. 

The Smanie GT comes in a single 267mm length and three widths: 137, 142 and 147mm. Our test model is in black, which is arguably the most practical choice, but you could plump for white if you prefer. There’s no carbon or space-age wonder materials here, just solidly engineered and well-conceived stuff, which also helps to keep the price competitive. 

A relatively broad, 3mm deep pressure-relieving channel also bodes well for comfort, while eliminating the soggy crotch associated with cut-outs on wet days.

Also available at Amazon.com from $50.96

The Bjorn Probka Saddle is a blend of carbon and cork and it highlights that you don’t need a lot of padding for a comfortable ride on a race bike. On appearances alone, the Probka looks like a saddle for pro-level racers who spend most of their time out of the saddle, or that it is designed to sit on a UCI-weight-limit-threatening build as a vanity project. Neither is true and for such a low weight, it has a surprisingly sensible rider weight limit of 120kg.

The upper is made from 8mm thick cork which has some natural shock absorbance which mutes a lot of the road buzz while still remaining firm enough to resist the power you are putting out. The carbon fibre hull, though, is rock solid, which is impressive considering the minimal thickness of its construction. And any movement in it is barely noticeable while riding.

It’s worth noting that should you require something specific in terms of the cork upper shape, Bjork does offer a custom option – something it’s able to do because it CNC-machines the cork padding itself.

The Bontrager Aeolus Pro Saddle is a unisex, race-oriented perch aimed at those who prefer an aggressive riding position, but it works just as well for longer, more relaxed rides.

It’s a well-made saddle that’s reasonably priced for the spec. It weighs 170g (145mm width) which isn’t the lightest of saddles, but it’s light enough for all but the most particular hill climbers.

Tester Rebecca said, “Whether I was down in the drops or on the hoods with my elbows bent I felt comfortable and, unlike with other saddles – where I constantly need to reposition myself throughout a ride or big effort – I felt really stable. There was limited pressure on my soft tissue.”

The Brooks B17 S is the women’s version of one of the company’s longest-running and best-selling designs, the B17. As the women’s version, it is 7mm broader in the rear and 35mm shorter. 

The weight (472g) and style of the B17 are best suited to the more sedate and less racy looks of tourers, commuters and hybrid bikes rather than leaner road bikes, and the B17 is indeed set within Brooks’ Touring and Trekking category of saddles.

Tester Lara said, “the saddle is so well crafted and shaped, that I experienced far less discomfort than with pretty much every other saddle I’ve ever ridden on. There is a cut-out version, the Imperial, but I found the B17 S sufficiently comfortable”.

Also available at Amazon.com from $123.12

The Brooks England Way is to make a saddle by stretching a piece of good-quality cowhide across a metal frame. The Cambium is a third path to enlightenment. It has the same basic structure as a classic Brooks saddle, but instead of a sheet of leather across the ends of the rails, Brooks has come up with a combination of vulcanised natural rubber, cotton canvas and structural textile for the top.

As well as the flexible, slightly stretchy rubber top, the Cambium provides its comfort by suspending you between the saddle ends. Regular saddles do this to an extent as well, but their rail ends are usually much closer together than the Cambium’s, so you don’t get as much of a suspension effect. But here, you have a real hammock effect and that makes the Cambium supremely comfortable. It’s quite a wide saddle and this isn’t one for weight-weenies at 418g. 

The Cambium is narrowly our top recommendation when it comes to Brooks saddles, but we’d also highly recommend long-standing classics in its range like the classy B17 leather saddle, a favourite with cyclists of all types for over a century. You’ll find it further down the page, with a link to our review of the women’s version.

Also available at Amazon.com from $144.01

Very light meets very comfortable with the Cadex Amp saddle and tester Tom says, “the Cadex is a hard-to-beat intersection of light weight and comfort. Sure you can get significantly lighter, but these are very minimalist, unpadded affairs. The witchcraft of the Amp is that it’s a very decent volume of saddle, and very comfortable, for not very much weight at all.”

Cadex is the recently revived sub-brand of Giant, and this saddle is not an attention-grabber but when you turn it over, there’s some pretty impressive engineering. The rails stretch almost the full length of the saddle, and the underside looks like it’s one piece. Perhaps it’s two or more pieces, but it really looks like one piece.

It’s a short-nose saddle that’s 245mm in length and features a blunt nose which drops away in a gentle curve. It’s reasonably curvy – not too much, but curvier than the Prologo – and certainly not as flat as a Fizik Arione or Vento Argo. It even kicks up a bit higher and a bit steeper than an S-Works Power.

The Fizik Tempo Aliante R5 saddle is the latest model in a range that’s been around since just after the millennium, and at £109.99 it sits around halfway up Fizik’s catalogue in terms of price.

The saddle has varying levels of padding in different areas, Fizik using what it calls a ‘double-density foam, firmer on the ischial bones and softer on the nose’. This works well in conjunction with the extra width at the rear and Fizik’s Wing Flex feature, which allows for some flex in the saddle’s sides when you’re pedalling. 

Tester Laurence said, “I’m not the most precious person when it comes to saddles, but I have to give the R5 its due in the comfort stakes. I experienced no numbness or discomfort, even on the indoor trainer, where I spend the vast majority of my rides seated”. 

Also available at Amazon.com from $126.96

The ISM PR 1.0 saddle is an unusual shape with its split nose and a wide rear platform, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a great saddle for keen riders and racers, offering excellent support and comfort. 

The PR in the name stands for Performance Recreation, and ISM says it’s as comfortable on hybrid bikes as on race bikes. The split nose design creates two separate sections to support the sit bones independently, reducing pressure on the soft tissue in the perineal area and ensuring maximal blood flow.

ISM recommends you build up the distance slowly when changing to this saddle, simply because it’s so different to most. Tenderness isn’t uncommon when switching to this saddle and is not anything to worry about; it is simply because you sit on this saddle differently, shifting pressure from soft tissue to pubic rami bones.

Also available at Amazon.com from $139.88

The KranX Base 145 Road and Commuter Saddle is a comfortable and likeable budget saddle that doesn’t do anything wrong at all, other than being a bit heavy. It’s a great option for, well, road and commuter bikes.

The KranX range of saddles stretches to four models, which are effectively the same design in four widths: This model, measured at 145mm, is the narrowest and is aimed at road riders and commuters. There’s a 160mm mountain bike and commuting version, and two wider saddles (170mm and 199mm) aimed squarely at the leisure and comfort market. 

The base is pretty flat side to side with a slightly concave profile front to back. There’s a central cut-out to ward off any excess pressure that could cause numbness, and the wings are rounded off toward the edges. It’s a normal length at 275mm, and the nose is neither particularly wide nor particularly narrow.

The Prologo Dimension AGX 143 T4.0 is an impressively comfortable saddle that’s well-made and comes in at a decent price overall. AGX stands for ‘adventure, gravel and cyclocross’ but even if you aren’t a gravel rider, the Dimension AGX 143 T4.0 makes a great saddle for the road with a bit of extra padding. 

The shape works well to create the ideal saddle for all kinds of riding. The AGX has a curved upper which gives you something to push against when you’re climbing, while its ‘shorty’ design and nose dropping slightly ensure minimal pressure on sensitive areas. A large central cut-out also helps blood flow.

The Dimension AGX features a carbon fibre shell underneath the foam padding and a microfibre upper. The T.4.0 model’s rails are made of 7mm diameter chromoly steel. This makes the T4.0 the heaviest saddle in a three-saddle range; a Tirox rail option comes in about 45g lighter, with the carbon-railed Nack model around 60g lighter.

Also available at Amazon from $93 shipped

The Repente Artax GLM is a lightweight, high-performance saddle suitable for on and off-road use. While it might look minimal, tester Matthew found it to be extremely comfortable. 

Selle Repente is an Italian brand that is gaining significant traction. One key feature of the saddle that sets it apart from most other designs is its transition from the forward leading edge of the wing toward the nose and the way the top rolls over in a smooth downward curve, as opposed to some more angular blunt sided designs. This all helps to reduce rubbing and abrasion on the legs while pedalling and combines to make it a seat that works all day long.

The comfort-improving features of this saddle include an open central channel and the RLS attachment system. Repente designed this to initially allow the base to be separated from the rails for possible replacement, but they claim comfort is also increased.

Repente saddles have impressed us both off and on the road, and the Spyd 3.0 is a fantastic option for very long rides. It’s not too expensive for a carbon-railed seat either. 

With its subtle channel in the middle to relieve pressure, our reviewer found the Spyd 3.0 exceptionally comfortable for endurance riding. It has carbon rails and a carbon-reinforced shell material to save weight, and would be suitable for performance riding on or off-road.  

There are two width options, so most cyclists should find an option that suits them, and some of the parts are replaceable: rather than being a single piece of carbon or glued together, the rails, base and cover are all screwed together. This means you can swap the top out if it gets very worn, or upgrade the rails if you’ve gone for the alloy-railed version. It’s a clever bit of design.  

If you want something versatile and super comfortable, the Spyd 3.0 if an excellent option. 

The SDG Bel Air V3 Overland Lux-Alloy Saddle is a great ‘do anything, go anywhere’ sort of saddle that’s very much at home on trails and gravel tracks – or rough back roads and winter streets, for that matter.

It weighs 234g which isn’t going to impress those running the fastest, lightest gravel or XC bikes they can, but if you’re speccing a more regular bike (or even a winter trainer), it’s not going to trouble you at all. The rails are ‘lux-alloy’ aluminium, while the base is ‘nylon glass’, which we assume means glass fibre-reinforced plastic.

Tester Steve says, “The slightly flexy rails and base, in combination with the injection-moulded EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) foam padding, result in an instantly comfortable ride. Which you may or may not find comfortable. I found it excellent, with a great combination of pedalling-efficient firmness and shock-absorbing give.

Both the central pressure-relieving channel and the nose itself are on the wide side of things, but far from excessive, and very supportive in all the right places.

Also available at Amazon.com from $89.99 shipped

The Selle Italia Diva Superflow (known as the Flow when we reviewed it) has long been a go-to saddle for bike shops helping solve women’s bike comfort problems and still represents arguably the best combination of features, though it now has considerably more competition than when it first appeared.

The key is the large, pressure-relieving cut-out down the centre of the hull. That’s the feature Selle Italia designates as ‘Flow’ or ‘Superflow’ in all saddles with it, because the idea is it lets blood flow easily to the soft tissues that get squashed by most saddles.

Under the synthetic leather cover there’s gel padding for support, and this saddle is available in two widths: 135mm and 160mm. Using Selle Italia’s idmatch system, you should be able to get one that fits your sit-bone spacing.

As mentioned above, check out our women’s saddles buyer’s guide for more recommendations.

Also available at Amazon.com from $103.50 shipped

Selle Italia’s saddles have some of the longest names on the market and with this new 3D-printed model it’s got even longer. The SLR Boost 3D Kit Carbonio Superflow may be a mouthful to say, but it is light, comfortable and well-made. But boy, is it expensive!

Benefits over a traditional foam or gel saddle upper are noticeable, as this model has small variations in the 3D-printed pattern in different positions across the saddle, which results in greater firmness in some areas, and a bit more give in others.

The 3D-printed mesh styled upper is firm enough to give you good support, but there is just enough compression to take out minimal undulations in the road without it feeling like it is sapping performance, and the flex in the ‘wings’ of the shell allows your legs to flow through the entire pedalling stroke without hindrance.

There are two widths on offer: 130mm or the 145mm, and the saddle is 248mm in length. 

Also available at Amazon.com from $412.73

The innovative Selle San Marco Shortfit 2.0 3D Carbon FX is extremely comfortable but comes at a very high price, although it’s on a par with other 3D printed saddles.

Tester George writes, “It isn’t the lightest, but the combination of comfort and power transfer is something I haven’t really experienced before. This is an insanely expensive saddle and there is no getting around that, but if money’s no object and you’re looking for something eye-catching and comfortable then it is definitely worth trying.”

The main selling point of this saddle is the 3D printed ‘cover’. Rather than taking the traditional route of putting padding where it needs to go on the saddle base and covering it in leather or another material, the Selle San Marco’s 3D printed cover is a lattice of interconnecting ‘threads’, with spacing varying throughout to alter the cushioning in different areas to provide optimum comfort and support.

Also available at Amazon.com from $399.99

The Specialized Power Pro with Mirror is a high ticket price, but it’s a cleverly designed saddle. It has a 3D-printed upper and a honeycomb structure designed to keep your sit bones comfortable and supported. 

This Pro version is a bit cheaper and a bit heavier as it has titanium rails as opposed to the carbon fibre of the S-Works, and a nylon-injected base (with 15% reclaimed carbon fibre) instead of the full carbon fibre of the more expensive model. The upper is exactly the same over both models, though.

Tester Stu said, “It took a bit of getting used to, but overall, I’m impressed with the comfort levels and the shape of the Power Pro with Mirror. It feels different to a standard padded saddle, but in a good way, offering that feeling of suspension thanks to the small amount of movement in the upper, while still being supportive”.