N+1? Do I need one? I want one…

[Emm]

@GovernorSilver 139492 wrote:

So I’ll wait about 6 months before making any decisions on the saddle – mainly because of how after some time, I “forgot” I was supposed to be sore from riding. November was 6 months from the day I bought the Uptown 8 and starting riding on it, and 5 months from the day I started commuting on it.

Don’t wait that long–you could develop saddle sores and have bigger issues. I kept a stock saddle too long and regretted it for weeks after while I healed the painful side effects from it. So give it a few weeks to a month. If you’re still sore, just go to the bike shop and drop the $100 on a new saddle since being sore longer than that seems kinda unusual. Trust me–it’s soooooo worth it to get a new saddle. I believe Revolution Cycles has a 30 day return policy, so you can try it out, and exchange it if the new one still makes you sore. I’ve had to replace all the stock saddles I’ve bought, and I’ve never regretted the decision.

[rcannon100]

What makes for a good saddle? How does one shop for a saddle?

[GovernorSilver]

@Emm 139547 wrote:

Don’t wait that long–you could develop saddle sores and have bigger issues. I kept a stock saddle too long and regretted it for weeks after while I healed the painful side effects from it. So give it a few weeks to a month. If you’re still sore, just go to the bike shop and drop the $100 on a new saddle since being sore longer than that seems kinda unusual. Trust me–it’s soooooo worth it to get a new saddle. I believe Revolution Cycles has a 30 day return policy, so you can try it out, and exchange it if the new one still makes you sore. I’ve had to replace all the stock saddles I’ve bought, and I’ve never regretted the decision.

Ooh, I don’t want to be knocked out of commission by a misfit saddle – especially with Washington All-Stars first place position being challenged by Omaha Velocity!

Duly noted – I’ll shorten my saddle window to end of June. Thanks!

[wheelswings]

eh, saddles are overrated.

[GovernorSilver]

There was a “recommend a saddle” thread on another forum. One of the responses was, “You don’t need a saddle. Just sprint all the time”

[rcannon100]

Bike Radar Saddle Reviews

Outdoor Lab Saddle Reviews

[mstone]

@rcannon100 139548 wrote:

What makes for a good saddle?

Leather

[hozn]

@rcannon100 139548 wrote:

What makes for a good saddle? How does one shop for a saddle?

Sportfit lab out in Herndon has a saddle demo program.

http://www.sportfit-lab.com/bike-seat-demo.html

I have tried many saddles. The sit-bone system seems to yield good fit guidelines for Specialized saddles, but these end up being pretty personal decisions. Now that I have found Saddles that work, I only buy those. My favorite saddle on the commuter and the mtb is the Specialized Phenom (a MTB saddle). Koobie also makes a great saddle in the Xenon, but the nose is wide and stitching poorly placed; it rubbed holes in bike shorts so I had to change. Tried their top-end alpha saddle but didn’t like it at all. Great company, though.

[KLizotte]

For the first time in my life I suffered from sciatica from a poorly fitting stock saddle when I bought my present bike. It simply hit a nerve the wrong way. There was no mistaking that I needed to do something immediately. I suffered through five saddles before I found my savior. I used and abused REI’s return policy while I tried various ones out and got a feel for what works and what doesn’t. I eventually settled on a Selle Italia one that I got online. Now when I see the same saddle at a significant discount, I stock up.

And yes, you do need to measure your sit bones width. I did it by sitting on a piece of tin foil laid across a one inch piece of foam (on the coffee table because I needed a hard, level surface); then measured the indentations. The things you learn about yourself in this sport!

[huskerdont]

Saddles are so individual that you have to sit on them to see, and even then, you need to sit on them for a while to see so one might feel fine in the shop and not end up working. Or, it could cause tenderness at first until your sit bones get used to it. So many people swear by the grooved saddles, but the grooves actually create pressure points on me that put things to sleep better left awake.

I really liked the Selle Italia Kit Carbonio SLR, but found they weren’t lasting long before they started flexing too much. I’ve since found that the Fabric Scoop Elite Shallow is perfect for me. Starting today, I now have that saddle on three different bikes. Put it on the Masi CX Comp last night and it feels good, though after one ride I see I need to adjust the height a little and perhaps slide the saddle back a bit.

[Rockford10]

During my bike fit at Revolution one of the benefits was getting to try a bunch of saddles. I bought the one I liked the most during that session, but left knowing it was returnable (to Bontrager) if I didn’t like it for the first 30 days or so. You might consider that option.

[bentbike33]

Since I’ve had this seat, I have not had any saddle soreness, even after being off the bike for 3 months following foot surgery a couple years ago.

Others may have trouble fitting it to their frames, however.

[rcannon100]

Took advantage of Bikenetic’s Salsa Demo day. Rode DIRT’s recommendation a Salsa Warbird.

First answer, yes the bicycles clearly feel different.

The Warbird… I would call it “delightful.” The BB is lower and therefore I kept bottoming out – pedals hitting the trails at the Lorton MTB trails. Something I am not used to. The wheel base is clearly longer. I could feel it in the turns and had trouble holding some of them. The handlebars felt in a more comfortable place. I very much enjoyed the – is it lower – gear ratio (easier up hills). Whether the Warbirds funky seatstays did anything, I have no idea. In short, delightful.

I immediately rode my bike on exactly the same trail. The Green Bike is a CX bike which means race configuration. It definitely felt more aggressive – more nimble – more agile. It was snappy in the turns. And it felt more stiff. Basically Green Bike felt exactly as you would expect a CX bike to feel. One big difference I noticed is that with the Green Bike, I felt top heavy compared to the Warbird!.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11754[/ATTACH]

Is the difference enough to justify the Warbird as N+1. Not sure about that. It did clearly answer that the bike is going to feel different.

Oh and Salsa seems to pretty much stock WTB saddles – which is also what is on Green Bike. All the saddles I rode felt fine – if not small. No bike I rode on Saturday strained my hamstring. I am increasingly convinced (having eliminated every other cause) that the reason I hate the Bad Boy is the saddle is slippery – I cannot hold a position on my sit bones – I slide down until the side pushes into my hamstring and tightens it up. 10 miles later ouch.

Oh….. and Salsa had a fattie Beargrease. Everyone LOVED it. So much so I never got to ride it because people were having so much fun. I think the Beargrease won the popularity award for the day. I also rode a dual suspension mountain bike – which I had never ridden before – – – > ha ha ha ha – – – > OH THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I also had never ridden a 1x before. So instead of a shifter on the left side there is this little button. Hummmmm. I have never seen that little button before. I wonder what that does! OOOPS! Dont push the little button! 😮

[Sunyata]

@rcannon100 139647 wrote:

The Warbird… I would call it “delightful.” The BB is lower and therefore I kept bottoming out – pedals hitting the trails at the Lorton MTB trails. Something I am not used to. The wheel base is clearly longer. I could feel it in the turns and had trouble holding some of them. The handlebars felt in a more comfortable place. I very much enjoyed the – is it lower – gear ratio (easier up hills). Whether the Warbirds funky seatstays did anything, I have no idea. In short, delightful.

I immediately rode my bike on exactly the same trail. The Green Bike is a CX bike which means race configuration. It definitely felt more aggressive – more nimble – more agile. It was snappy in the turns. And it felt more stiff. Basically Green Bike felt exactly as you would expect a CX bike to feel. One big difference I noticed is that with the Green Bike, I felt top heavy compared to the Warbird!.

Glad you enjoyed the Warbird. I was bummed to not get a chance to ask you how you liked it (I was having way too much fun on the Redpoint!). The field trails at Laurel are pretty deep in a lot of spots so that I even pedal strike on my rigid Niner (but more so on my FS Yeti), so I am not sure it was the bike as much as the trails.

I am really curious to know what you will decide to buy (or if you will just stick with the green bike). Living vicariously through other’s new bike purchases keeps me sane while I wait for my Warbird!

[hozn]

@rcannon100 139647 wrote:

The Warbird… I would call it “delightful.” The BB is lower and therefore I kept bottoming out – pedals hitting the trails at the Lorton MTB trails. Something I am not used to. The wheel base is clearly longer. I could feel it in the turns and had trouble holding some of them.

(This sounds like it was a really fund event!)

What size JTS do you have and what size Warbird were you riding? I ask because the similarly-sized JTS seems to have longer wheelbase than the Warbird.

That said the nominal sizes don’t represent a good apples-to-apples comparison here. You were probably on a 60cm Warbird? I would probably ride a 60, looking at the reach number, possibly a 58, depending on how long a stem I wanted to fit — but I think you are significantly taller than I. (Actually, the Warbird wouldn’t fit my short femurs without a set-forward seatpost, so I wouldn’t get either size.)

One thing re: pedal strike. I think you get used to whatever you have, so I wouldn’t make off-road-obstacle-striking a very significant consideration. E.g. my “cx” bike has 78mm bb drop, which is significantly lower than any of the above and while I’ve certainly hit my pedal a few times, I’ve apparently learned how low it is and rarely hit it against rocks now. (I have never ridden the Lorton trails, though, so very possibly those just aren’t very good choices for a gravel bike … or a kids mountain bike.) I think pedal strike on the road is a more significant a consideration (since consequences are much greater), but I don’t really have a problem on my cx bike there either (again, I probably have just learned when I can’t pedal).

Finally, bear in mind that stem length can play a big part in steering responsiveness/twitchiness. (And bar width, though it seems that there’s more a physiologically “right size” there.) I was playing with mtb position and was surprised by how much difference 1cm in the stem made for how the bike behaved in corners.

[Author]

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