Different Saddle Needed - Any Suggestions ?

San Marco ponza - excellent, hardwearing saddle and cheap, I have tried the charge spoon amongst others but the ponza has been really good to me and well worth the £25 they cost!

should add I'm 100kg and do 12 hour rides

charge spoon £20 cant whack it

Before you give up on your existing saddle, try tilting the nose down slightly. If the doesn't help tilt it down some more. In my experience it is amazing how tilting a saddle in this way allows you to transfer the pressure to your seat bones. Don't go mad but try a few iterations of tilt. If you feel you're going to slide forward on the saddle you have definitely gone too far, and it's probably time for a new one.

Rido saddles are worth a look - the mark 1 is cheap as chips and really comfy. The lt (light) costs a bit more, save it for your best bike!

Tried loads to suit my rather heavyweight (14.5st) ass!!

Fizik Arione ... mmm, expensive and lasted for just two summers before it literally broke in half! Selle Italia Flite ... hard and frankly darned uncomfortable. Fizik Pave ... soft and slushy till it gave in the middle and rode like an old hammock.

Best of all? You've already heard it said here - Charge Spoon. The cheap version is just perfect ... in the wet, in the heat and as far as you ever want to ride. Exceptional value for money and satisfaction that goes way beyond all of those £70-£100+ jobbies. Gets my vote every time.

Another vote for the Romin Pro Evo.
I will say though that you have to get this saddle set up just so. If you get it right you forget its there.
Any jaunty angles and you soon know about it.
Also not sure that test sit on in a shop will help with some saddles. I sat on the Romin in the shop and immediately said "you must be joking".
It's light too.
I got mine from Sigma Sports in Kingston, they do a 1 month no questions asked return on Specialized saddles, so you've got nothing to lose.
I had a Brooks but as I shed the pounds the shape of the saddle became slowly but surely more uncomfortable.
Personally I would'nt put a Brooks on a 'racing' bike. A tourer or similar for somebody who's riding shape is settled then fine.
Deffo get your sit bones measured.
Such a personal thing a saddle .

Find a bike shop that will let you take a test saddle away for a few weeks and properly test it. If you don't have much time then a roller/turbo session can be a good test as you don't change position as much as when you're out on the road.

I've tried two Fizik saddles, a Cobb V Flow Plus, a Selle Italia SLR Superflow and am currently using an Adamo Breakaway which is a more road orientated version of their time trial saddles.

For me the Adamo has been far and away the best. No problems after three hours, as opposed to problems after twenty minutes with the other saddles. I must ring Bristol Bike Science, thank them for their patience, and place my order.

Charge Spoon Ti it's the daddy of all the saddles, Ok I did snap the rails on one during a race last month, but it already had about 5years in it before it went

I have one on every bike I own.

I had the same problem. Tried a few saddles. Got close with one of the Fizik saddles (forget which). Selle San Marco Mantra with its giant cut-out was the solution for me.

Only downside is that it is expensive. I bought both mine on eBay, figuring with the first one that if it did not suit me, I could just sell it again on eBay without having made a sizeable loss.

I've also heard good things about Adamo saddles, but I have no idea whether they are any good for general road riding, or whether they are really triathlon/time trial specific

Planet X superlight Team.

Can't really go wrong for the moneys.

Another vote for the Romin...like it a lot.

Test the test saddles.

After checking bike fit, don't forget to make sure your clothing is suitable - jeans will give me some "issues" while decent shorts don't. Also are you riding your bike 3 times a week? There's a bunch of minor muscles that get firmed up (and comfy) and cause soreness if you don't keep them in shape.

I have suffered from numb nuts on a variety of saddles in particular the Fizik Arione and the Charge Spoon. I found the Specialized Romin Pro Evo worked for me with the cut out removing all numbness even after 4/5 hours. I think it is worth looking to get your sit bones measured or doing it yourself to get the correct width.

Charge Spoon

I agree with pretty much all that sorebones has just said and making sure the saddle is in the right place and at the right angle is the best thing to do.

That said something I've noticed recently is saddle width is related to weight, mine, so a wider saddle if I'm fatter and the narrower option if I'm carrying less weight. Current fave saddle is the prologo scratch which handily comes in 134mm and 143mm widths I've also got on well with the fizik aliante in the past too despite being able to place my palms on the floor next to my feet.

But check the bike setup first

The best advice I could give is to get a bike fit if at all possible, or at the very least get someone experienced to check out your position on the bike. So many saddle issues are in fact nothing to do with the saddle, but rather your position on it. For example, if the height or fore/aft position are wrong, it can dramatically increase the pressure on your sit bones or perineum. You might find that with a bike fit, the saddle you have is actually the one for you.

If you cannot get a bike fit, try and get to a Specialized stockist that have the sit-bone measuring tool - essentially a pad you sit on that leaves an imprint to tell you what width should be ideal. Specialized also have a range of saddles with a cut-out to alleviate pressure on the gent's luggage area.

From personal experience I would not purchase a Fizik based on their spine concept. It assumes that flexibility is linked to body shape, which may be true in general, but ignores sit bone width. Fizik would suggest I need an Aliante, whereas I find the Arione by far the most comfortable. Many Fizik stockists will have demo saddles available to try for free and I would highly recommend you go down that route before spending your hard-earned.

you will have heard how comfortable Brooks are - they mild to you and flex with movement better than nearly anything I can think of - that said i put a specialised Romin saddle on my road bike and it wins hands down for me. The test is going on a turbo trainer and doing an hour and a half sat down - result !! no tingles numbness anything. Great value for money too and light in weight but as a big lad weight may not be the issue.