What saddle? less than £100

m00nd0g

The search for the a saddle has begun!
I rather like the look of The Specialised Toupe and The Selle s.
Restricted to a budget of less than hundred pounds.
Hoping for real leather.
Do Titanium rails offer more comfort than cromo?
Something that will mould to my shape.
Now I realise there are plenty of saddles to choose from.
Is there a saddle that has stood the test of time.
(A Brooks is not suitable)
Not so long back I think someone was offering mail order.
One big box of saddles try them all for several weeks and send back the ones you dont like.
Any idea which company that is?
From what I have seen I need testing for my sit bones.
Problem is not many shops I guess carry a big choice.
Any suggstions of what to buy and avoid would be great!

Anonymous

Impossible to say, trail, error and luck play a big part with saddles.

One man's pillow of loveliness is another man's arse hatchet.

Best thing to do is go through classifieds/ebay, trying one and if you don't like it sell it on at minimal loss...

unixnerd

The Charge Spoon gets a lot of good reviews and it's only 20 quid. I bought one recently and initial impressions are excellent.

You can tell my looking underneath it at the construction that's it's not an expensive bit of kit. But it really does seem to work well. For 20 quid you can't go wrong, if it's no use put on ebay and you'll get most of your money back.

giant_man

Well actually you can go wrong. It is 20 quid but might not suit everyone's ar$e including mine.

cougie

Yeah but a better gamble than paying £80 for an arione (that would be my reccomendation after the Spoon btw)

antonyfromoz

I bought the Charge spoon with ti rails after looking at the reviews on Wiggle and have not regretted it for one moment. The longes ride I have done on it is just under 100 kms and I had no problems. The printing on the side is rubbing off a bit but this was is purely decorative anyway - and, as mentioned earlier, the investment is not large. There were many other saddles I found that had a lot of support during my research especially the Specialised Toupe so this was going to be my next purchase if the spoon didn't work for me.

antfly

The biggest gamble is the Toupe, it seems to be either agony or ecstasy and for me it was agony but then i`ve never suffered with numb nuts so I prefer to spread the weight around with fizik saddles to avoid sit bone agony.
Titanium rails are more comfortable IME.

Dodger747

Romin SL.

Very similar to the Toupe. However, I think it does offer slightly more comfort although it is very very close between the two in terms of comfort. Plus you can get a test saddle from a dealer to see what one you like the best..

ride_whenever

Try and see if any of your local bike shops are fizik dealers, on of the oxford ones has a selection of the saddles for you to try, i'm still waiting to try the arione, but i think i'm likely to end up still riding the gobi from my mountain-bike because it is properly lush to ride.

mroli

You can get a Fizik Arione in silver with a red stripe in the middle for around £35 new - ebay and Planet X I think. If you find you like it then you can always upgrade and sell the old one for not a lot less than you paid for it...

antfly

One good thing about Fizik saddles is if you break a rail out of warranty you just send the saddle to Italy and they fix it for you or send you a new saddle. It`s happened to me 3 times now, twice with a Gobi {they sent me a new one the second time} and now my repaired arione is on it`s way back from Italy. All I pay is about £2.50 to send it to them.

I asked my local Spesh dealer about testing a Romin SL and was told they couldn`t get a test one.

antikythera

If the toupe works for you but is too costly, you might want to try Pro-lite Nanto. Been riding this on my commuter for about two years (Chromoly) and have been as happy as a pig in poo. At £35 its a bloody good approximation of the toupe.

I found that the flatter style with thinner nose and a more raised rear section works best for me. That limits me to the likes of Sella Italia SLR, Specialised Toupe, Sella San Marco Aspide. None of which is a bargin. So I was well chuffed to find the Nanto.

Only criticism is Pro-lite inability to produce stuff that isn't "back and white"!

boondog

mroli wrote:

You can get a Fizik Arione in silver with a red stripe in the middle for around £35 new - ebay and Planet X I think. If you find you like it then you can always upgrade and sell the old one for not a lot less than you paid for it...

what he said. I ride one of these now and it's night and day with my older saddle. Can't recommend this enough.

m00nd0g

Why do I get the impression this is going to be expensive?
Thanks for the input.
Would I be correct in thinking that there are many saddles but a few basic shapes?
My method of torture at present is a Specialized Comp saddle.
Sometimes feels OK.
Usually crushes my nuts.
If i slacken the tilt it hurts my sit bones.
Might a saddle guru out there be able to advise what might be worth spending my money on first?

boondog

You might get an adamo cheap on eBay, what kind of mileage have you
done so far ? Tis a bit painful at first but you do get used to it.

m00nd0g

I have sat on this saddle for 500miles.
I dont think it fits, unless I give it some tilt.
Also feels rather wide at the back.

tigerben

I believe the mail order company you refer to was a US company sadly. I do not recall the name unfortunately.

I note in your OP you said a brooks would not be suitable? Is this because of weight / cost?

I only ask as you state you ideally want leather, something that will last and something that will mould to your sit bones? The Brooks swift nails all of these and the standard version is sub £100.

I have them on both my bikes and matched with a decent pair of shorts and it is a comfy as you could wish for... they are heavy tho.

Pokerface

Selle SLR XP (or XP flow - with the cut out). Bot great saddles and über comfy (for me anyway). Both under £100.


I just picked up a Selle Italia Team Replica SLR with carbon rails on eBay for £50. Only used a handful of times. Deals to be found if you look around!

alfablue

I have been using a Selle An-Atomica with good comfort for about 18 months now. It has similarities to Brooks (though Brooks copied Selle An-Atomica's cutout), but doesn't need breaking in. An excellent company and the owner offers advice if you email. They actually shipped it in a way that meant no customs or vat charges

Wheelspinner

San Marco SKN can be had for well under 100 pounds, look good, light weight and comfy. Wide though, so if you need a narrow one, this may not be it.

Rich Hcp

Brooks Team Pro

Breaks in in about 70 miles, use the Proofride

Brilliant, moulds to you