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buying a new saddle

No, not "what saddle" - that is presumably too personalised for a generic "oh the flapdangle 298 is the best"

But more a "how to". I am presuming that in a perfect worls one would toddle along to one's LBS, and try a few out, for fit/comfort etc. But the flaws I see in this iodea are

1) the shop has to have a reasonable selection rather than just the flapdangle 4, flapdangle 297 (last year's model) and the gobtwacker ZPK, that will provide a reasonable chance of finding a suitable saddle rather than a "this is the closest to what you think might be useful, maybe"

2) it has to have a facility whereby you can sensibly test them... maybe on a turbo riding on each saddle for (say) 10 minutes - bearing in mind you are now sweating all over their stock.

3) the above notwithstanding, is even a 10 minutes test valid - given that the crunch really comes when three hours or more into a ride, not just ten minutes?

Or is saddle purchase really as I suspect not much more than read a few reviews, check your budget and stick a ginger in the air?

didds

Comments

  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    that of course should be stick a FINGER in the air, not a spawny redhead.


    Then again...

    didds
  • hmmm its a tricky one! i bought a max gear one, purely because it was reduced from £75-£25! has taken a few rides to become comfy as well...

    so i've not helped you at all really!
  • apnoeaapnoea Posts: 16
    selle italia have a trial period for a fair number of their saddles. check with your lbs, but most i have been into have a sella italia stand thing with about 5 or 6 that they will lend out. i think trial period is a week or so(may be longer), and not sure what exactly you need to do to borrow one. I have selle italia saddle that is a dream(i am a girl though, so not much help i guess)
    good luck shopping
  • In sn ideal world you could try them out for a week or so, doing short and long rides to see what best suits etc etc. Then, if you're not 100% happy with it, go back to the LBS and try another. In theory, by the time you worked your way through the LBS stock you would have probably forgotten what the initial ones were like, and the process would be never fnding. But in reality if you're a typical AGer, that ain't ever going to happen.

    You're probably fnd up buying one because of s review, recommendation, price. Or as I did, because it's black with red bits on it, it was cheap, it's tri specific (Profile Stryke). It worked for me, been comfy up to 5 hours so far.
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    I suppose as always try before you buy is the best option otherwise go off reviews or just las lucky as I did, I have a Fizic Arione Tri 2
    http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/arione.shtml

    An older article also features 8 saddles:
    http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/saddle06.shtml

    And then there is this:
    http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/contr ... 09crx.aspx

    Hope that helps
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