My Marin™ road bike came with a Selle™ Italia® saddle, a favorite in it's day, but really an ass ripper unless you wear those
gotdamned padded shorts, which I really prefer never to wear. It's quite sleek and light in the roadie correct (RC™) way. At 250g, it's dandy if your about to ride 100km in those padded shorts and orange™ jerseys.
What about those of us in street clothes with
a bony™
ass sit bones. An old favorite among the bicycle enjoyment (BE™) set is the Brooks™ Professional Saddle. It has a nice ring to it -- "Professional" -- like I might ride a bike like I have a job. At 538g it is a heavy load, and not at all RC. Once I have loaded 39 lbs (7,662,657g) into my PC carrying, camera toting, rain gear, tennis shoes, xtra socks, lumber carrying messenger bag. I am sure that my legs won't notice the extra weight.
For those of you that are
metric dysfunctional, 250g is about eight ounces. That's quite a bit less than my wallet. Possibly less than one of
these. Here is the seat in a most un-RC orientation.
Other advocates of the Brooks™ saddle have
done this, put perfectly good Brooks saddles on there otherwise racing bikes.
I can always change it if I ever have to ride a lot of miles in
pink™ padded shorts.
My bony™ ass thanks me.
2 comments:
I've been using Flite saddles pretty much since they were invented something like 20 years ago. It seems the plastic shell on the new once is harder than when they first came out. Maybe I'm just getting old and wimpy.
Now I've been using the one with the little gel inserts. The problem is they have the stitching and after 100+ miles I get sore where I rub against the stitching. I've been putting a thin gel cover over it to make it smooth and a little softer. I've been thinking it might be time to give a different saddle a try.
zhHiya Rob ...
I like the Brooks Saddle, although I must admit -- it is not as comfortable on my road bike as I thought it would be. That may be resolved by tweaking the adjustment, or just by a reasonable 2-300 mile break-in period.
If the threads are a problem then you won't like the Selle Italia I have -- unless they have changed the design. Honestly -- it didn't give my too much trouble for the century I rode last year.
Despite my distate for the anatomical cut outs, given the number of hours you spend in the saddle, you might consider a saddle with same.
I sometimes feel like the gel conforms to the body, so much that places on the body that don't normally see daylight, suddenly feel blistered due to contact with a saddle.
I like the Brooks. The titanium swallow may be light enough to alleviate any concerns about weight, but alas, bring your wallet.
I saw a guy named Martin on a penny farthing who told me that you could buy new (leather) saddles for it in India. So there may be hope for finding reasonable leather saddles in India.
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