I just bought a Felt Z35 and have been trying to get used to the seat that came with it. The best I can do is ride one day to work and back and take 3 days off to heal. Some of the guys at work that ride have told me its because the saddle sucks it has a very thin layer of gel on it and I need a better saddle with more padding. Here I was thinking I would just have to get used to the seat. The soreness for me comes from I believe the soft tissue just below a couple of bones in between the butt and the boys. It's killing me :)
So I went looking for some new saddles. I hear great things about the Terry fly, so I added that to my list first. Then I added some others. Now I have it narrowed down to three.

1) The Terry fly

2) The new Allay saddle from TOPEAK (im not sure if this saddle works its brand new and I have yet to find any reviews or anyone that owns one say if its a gimmick saddle or not)

3) And the one I am most leaning towards right now is the Selle SMP strike Avante. It has plenty of padding, a nice cutout in the middle to help with the soft tissue problem I have now, and seems pretty highly rated.

I would like to hear your thoughts on these saddles. The Selle is the most expensive which doesn't always equate to "best" but it seems to be the one that would be the most comfortable so I don't mind spending the money if its a great saddle since it does no good to have a bike if its too painful to ride :)

Thanks for any input folks!

Chris

More padding is generally not the answer. Often more padding means more rubbing. Not a good thing. How long did the bike shop take in the fitting process? (assuming you got it from a shop)

Recommending a saddle is hard because what is heaven for one is hell for another. On my two bikes I have a Fizik Aliante and a Koobie AU Enduro Gel. The Fizik came with my main ride and seems to be fine. The Koobie works fine too. For the money you might want to check out a Koobie.

One other thought would be to check E-Bay. If you buy a saddle used and don't like it you can turn around and sell it for about what you paid for it.

Ive actually ridden the Selle and Terry saddles you mention and prefer the Terry over the Selle. My first ride with the Selle, I was elated with it but I had on 3 layers of clothes. When i rode it with a single layer, it caused me a LOT of soft tissue pain and Im going to be removing it.

I think Im going to order an Allay and try it. If it doesnt work, I can always pick up another Terry. I really like the Terry saddles but they just dont seem to last. If you ride then a lot, they start sagging in the middle eventually and get very uncomfortable. I seem to go through one about about 4000 miles. Its like night and day when you swap the old one for a new one.

If it's only been several weeks or so, you may want to give yourself a little more time and try a few more adjustments with what you have.

I agree with the post above that more padding can = more problems. My experience with my TT bike was like that, I thought I could solve the pain issue with another saddle with a lot more gel. I found it worked for about 1/2 mile, then the rubbing started. I finally figured out that a very slight (about 1/8" max.) tilt down of the saddle nose was what I needed. I have since adjusted to my "stock" saddle with no more problems. Also, the tender areas do toughen up on their own with repeated rides, just work your way up on saddle time gradually.

If it's only been several weeks or so, you may want to give yourself a little more time and try a few more adjustments with what you have.

I agree with the post above that more padding can = more problems. My experience with my TT bike was like that, I thought I could solve the pain issue with another saddle with a lot more gel. I found it worked for about 1/2 mile, then the rubbing started. I finally figured out that a very slight (about 1/8" max.) tilt down of the saddle nose was what I needed. I have since adjusted to my "stock" saddle with no more problems. Also, the tender areas do toughen up on their own with repeated rides, just work your way up on saddle time gradually.

I appreciate the replies everyone. I'm willing to concede my lack of biking knowledge and accept your idea that maybe I just need to tilt the seat to find a better position. It is far cheaper than a new saddle and may do the trick. Ill go get some tools tomorrow from the LBS and adjust it down a smidge and see if that helps. As I read from another poster recently, it boggles my mind that "we can put a man on the moon but can't design a saddle thats comfortable". :) I'm willing to hang in there with this current saddle if the adjustment helps. I kind of wish this Felt branded Velo saddle had a cutout at least. That long nose is pressing right up against that soft tissued i mentioned. I feel like if I had a cutout saddle no more pressure == no more pain in the middle area of tissue. Thats the only place ive got soreness. No rubbing, or anything, just that area in the middle between front and back that gets tender. Ill adjust the seat tomorrow after a trip to the LBS and ride to work in a day or two and see if that helps any. Thanks for the idea!

Chris

I appreciate the replies everyone. I'm willing to concede my lack of biking knowledge and accept your idea that maybe I just need to tilt the seat to find a better position. It is far cheaper than a new saddle and may do the trick. Ill go get some tools tomorrow from the LBS and adjust it down a smidge and see if that helps.

It is probably just an allen wrench to adjust it, metric. 5 or 6 mm.

The critical thing is your sit bones, the pointy bits at the bottom of your hips. You should be sitting with your sit bones on the saddle, and as a new cyclist that will hurt a bit after the ride... more the next day. After a week it should go away. The sit bones should be on the wide part of the saddle, directly over support. If you are feeling them, your saddle is likely wide enough for proper contact points. Too narrow a saddle can leave the sit bones unsupported, and put pressure on the soft tissue.

Tilting it a bit nose down might work, but too far will have you sliding forward and that will make it WORSE. So go small adjustments, as small as you can.

One other thing, and it is really hard do describe, but you should not just "lean forward" to the bars, but rather cock your hips so they stay more upright... the lean starts above the hips, not with the hips. As best you can that is! That will keep your sit bones more vertical and keep the soft tissues clear of the saddle nose. Takes some practice and attention at first to do it, but it will pay off in the long run.

All that said, saddles are a very personal thing. I would never suggest gel, or lots of padding, but as for specific brands, every body is different. Personally, I ride a brooks on the road, but I don't think you want to go there.... yet. Of the three you mention, I would suggest trying the terry first based on how many people like them. Another alternative is to go to a shop, tell them you are looking, and sit on some saddles that are on bikes already. That might give you a better idea of what to try next.

Just buy a Brooks Team Pro, and never need to buy another saddle ever again.

Give your sit bones time to adjust, this could take a couple weeks or more depending on how much you ride. However, I stuck with one type of saddle during my "break in period" and it sucked before and it sucked after. That said I highly recommend the Fizik Aliante saddles, they are not heavily padded however the shell of he saddle flexes to create a hammock effect for your sit bones. Whatever you look at consider this- never skimp on your points of contact with the bike ie bars and saddle, if you are not comfortable it will be a long ride.

One other thing, and it is really hard do describe, but you should not just "lean forward" to the bars, but rather cock your hips so they stay more upright... the lean starts above the hips, not with the hips. As best you can that is! That will keep your sit bones more vertical and keep the soft tissues clear of the saddle nose. Takes some practice and attention at first to do it, but it will pay off in the long run.


An excellent point by Dr. Hoo. I had to learn that one my own too. Once I started focusing on keeping my hips more upright instead of simply leaning over, this took a LOT of pressure off of the soft tissue at the nose of the saddle. This key point along with a very slight tilt of the nose down allows me now to stay in a pretty agressive position on my TT bike without being distracted by discomfort.

Any review on the topeak Allay saddle? I'm considering the Allay Sport.

The biggest misconception with saddles is that more padding/gel means a more comfortable saddle. It's actually nothing to do with padding. It's entirely in the design of the saddle. You could have a complete carbon saddle with no padding at all but if it fits your anatomy perfectly it will be more comfortable then a saddle with normal padding. The problem with saddle shopping is that you can't really try every saddle unless a shop has it specked on a demo bike in their display. One person may give a saddle a fantastic review, while another may give the same saddle a horrible review. The difference in comfort could be as simple as one riders sit bones are 1/2 inch farther apart. This is enough to make a saddle totally uncomfortable. When buying a saddle, you need to concider it's overall shape, length, width, cutouts and more. I currently ride a Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbon. It is very narrow and doesn't have much padding at all but it's super comfortable. There isn't a single saddle on the market that will be comfortable for a full century. That's why we move around on it and stand occasionally. Our bodies really aren't designed to sit on something like that for very lengthy periods of time. But for the shorter rides, your saddle should be the last thing on your mind. So to conclude this essay, dont limit your choice to just 3 brands. Go try as many different brands already fitted on bikes and then when you narrow it down to one brand, try a few different widths in that brand to find what fits you best. Good luck!