Specialized saddle size?

speedymoto

My Prologo Kappa saddle is looking very worn after less than 1 year, and as I've never really found it comfortable I think it's time for a change. Sadly I'm miles from anywhere, so a test ride is pretty much out of the question, but reading rave reviews of the Specialized Romin I thought I might as well give one a go.

My sit bones appear to be 10.5 cm apart (to the centres), can anyone enlighten me as to the sort of size I should go for? (they are available in 130, 143, 155 and 168mm - I assume this is the overall width?).....

Cheers

wishitwasallflat

Those are the widths = Spesh measure the distance between your sit bones on the Assometer - if yours were 10.5cm apart that would be 105 so you would be recommended the 130. The only possible flaw in this was you weren't measured on the Assometer - but - assuming you did it correctly you should be a 130cm. I'm watching ebay in the hope of getting a 168 and lightly used Romins hold value very well. Also Spesh Concept stores do an exchange where you can buy a saddle and exchange it for another in the range as many times as you like (you can't get a refund though) so give your nearest one a ring and order one over the phone and exchange if needed.

northpole

Good points in the last post and I agree that because most of the Romin & Toupe saddles hold their value strongly, it is worth investing in one and making use of the Spesh offer to let you exchange saddles if you haven't bought the right one for you.

It would be an idea to have a word with your nearest store to help narrow the choice - the Romin comes in standard and evo guises which are slightly different shapes. I recently read somewhere that the Romin has a different cross sectional shape than the Toupe and some people have found that eg a 130mm Toupe would equate to a 143mm Romin. I haven't verified that - only something I read on the net.

Other factors to consider are which variant of stiffness. From my persepective, not so long ago I treated myself to an S Works Toupe. You've perhaps heard the saying 'No Pain, No Gain' - this sums up the S Works perfectly to me - there is zero flex in this model and after a while it felt as if I were sitting on a concrete block! After a few rides I concluded I'd settle for a little less gain (and pain!). The next model down in cost is the Pro which is also very stiff, with carbon rails - it does have some give in it, certainly more than the S Works. Below the Pro is the Expert which has titanium rails - I bought one of these recently to try out but haven't managed to fit it yet. Quite a few folks have reported this is significantly more comfortable than the Pro. I can't say but perhaps worth noting also that the carbon railed S Works and Pro models have oversized rails which won't fit every seat post clamp - worth checking before committing to buy.

Peter

speedymoto

Many thanks for the good advice, if I knew of a store with an Assometer I'd happily give it a try, though I'm surprised to hear I'd be better off with the narrowest saddle as I'm not a light build - I've got no idea how body anatomy affects sit-bone position though, it's probably completely unrelated!
I'm more interested in comfort than anything else, and tend to ride longer distances so spend a lot of time in the saddle and it's usually after around 2-3 hours things start to get uncomfortable.

matt-h

i have a Romin with the Ti rails and it is exceptional.

i used assometer, got 10% off and am really happy with it.
it replaced my spoon.

i'm on the lookout for another for my winter bike

matt