Noseless Saddles?

Tiberius007

Hi
Does anyone have an experience or advice re noseless saddles?
I have been reading some positive reviews about ISM Adamo saddles and pressure relief they provide in the males nether regions.
I am looking to buy a more sportive bike soon and so looking at saddles and these looked good to me.
Any advice or experiences you have and would not mind sharing would be appreciated.
Thanks

Monty Dog

Loved by some triathletes - but position and weight distribution is very different from regular road position so suggest you try a test ride first.

Tiberius007

Monty Dog wrote:

Loved by some triathletes - but position and weight distribution is very different from regular road position so suggest you try a test ride first.

Thanks Monty.
Not disputing you advice but could you advise, in your opinion, how it is different?
Accept what you say about trying - just trying to get through to my simple grey matter how different it could be?
Currently the 'jewels' get a bit of a pounding in a normal race type seat so are we saying that without the nose the pressure is transferred to the arms/wrists etc? So it is then a trade off.
Thanks again.

Monty Dog

Triathlete/TT bike position puts a lot more weight through the bars due to armrests and 'forward' saddle position in comparison to regular road position plus the pelvis is tilted forward and hip angle is more open. I know guys who use them for TTs but stick to regular saddles for road use. If your 'jewels' are taking a pounding, there's something about your saddle position that's not quite right.

Tiberius007

Monty Dog wrote:

Triathlete/TT bike position puts a lot more weight through the bars due to armrests and 'forward' saddle position in comparison to regular road position plus the pelvis is tilted forward and hip angle is more open. I know guys who use them for TTs but stick to regular saddles for road use. If your 'jewels' are taking a pounding, there's something about your saddle position that's not quite right.

Again many thanks.

'Pounding' was probably a slight exaggeration, sorry. I do about 15-20 miles on my road bike and shall we say it is tender. Would doubt I would be able to get on the saddle the next day without wincing. Whether any more tender than anyone else I don't know maybe I am just a light weight. The only thing I can compare comfort to is the extra large 'sofa' like saddle I have on an old MTB, which is just the bees knees and I can ride for hours/miles. I don't know whether I am expecting too much from a road bike but I was hoping a new saddle may be the solution to slightly more comfortable ride. But if I understand this correctly any saddle is likely to give some degree of pain? Is that right?

I don't want to spend money if it isn't going to help and it may even be a consideration of the new bike I was speculating over. I just read reviews about saddles, including noseless and the 'dipped' type nose and people say they can ride for hours in complete luxury.

The reason I am looking at saddle now is I am considering a more sportive geometry bike, from the road one I currently ride as I want to do distance rather than speed. And was hoping the combination would be what I need.

Then again maybe I have it all wrong and I need to play with the current saddle set up.

Bobbinogs

Sounds like what you need is a kuku penthouse

Tiberius007

Bobbinogs wrote:

Sounds like what you need is a kuku penthouse

Thanks - I have to confess was a bit concerned when I googled it that something else was going to appear on the screen.

Phew.

That said sure they are great but can I afford that amount of money on a pair of shorts! I was struggling and gasping at the price of some saddles. That amount in itself is a huge part of my bike budget itself.

hmmmm :?

One to think about I think but thanks for the advice.

eddiefiola

not actually used these guys but i found them when a mate was looking at Adamos, they have a test program apparently http://www.trybikestore.co.uk/index.php?main_page=page&id=19

Grill

Noseless for TT's, regular saddle for road. My Adamo TT took a full layer of skin off my unmentionables over 12 hours so have now switched to a Specialized Sitero. So far so good.

Tiberius007

eddiefiola wrote:

not actually used these guys but i found them when a mate was looking at Adamos, they have a test program apparently http://www.trybikestore.co.uk/index.php?main_page=page&id=19

Thanks.

I must admit most people are now advising to stay away from the noseless saddle. Think I just need an arm chair

Tiberius007

Grill wrote:

Noseless for TT's, regular saddle for road. My Adamo TT took a full layer of skin off my unmentionables over 12 hours so have now switched to a Specialized Sitero. So far so good.

:shock: Ouch

Thanks for the advice. The Spec looks interesting though.

eddiefiola

Grill wrote:

Noseless for TT's, regular saddle for road. My Adamo TT took a full layer of skin off my unmentionables over 12 hours so have now switched to a Specialized Sitero. So far so good.

i didn't want to say but i have an Adamo Road, its relegated to the turbo as it got me saddle sore in its 1st 2 weeks of use, so i switched back to a Spesh Toupe. BUT, i think i had the nose far too high as I was also recovering from an injury and purposefully wanted to get as much weight off my shoulder as poss. will try it again in the summer probably.

Tiberius007

eddiefiola wrote:

Grill wrote:

Noseless for TT's, regular saddle for road. My Adamo TT took a full layer of skin off my unmentionables over 12 hours so have now switched to a Specialized Sitero. So far so good.

i didn't want to say but i have an Adamo Road, its relegated to the turbo as it got me saddle sore in its 1st 2 weeks of use, so i switched back to a Spesh Toupe. BUT, i think i had the nose far too high as I was also recovering from an injury and purposefully wanted to get as much weight off my shoulder as poss. will try it again in the summer probably.

Thanks Eddie, hope you have recovered now.

Think I need a rethink as I don't want to spend £s unnecessarily, so I think the advice seems to be a proper road saddle, with the lateral cut out is maybe the best route to go.

I just need to find the right one for me. And I thought choosing a bike was difficult :?

mfin

You don't necessarily need a cutout, there's probably millions of people riding saddles with no cutout that have no problem at all, it just depends on how the individual saddle suits the person. I had a cut out high end Selle Italia Flite (i think) and it was the least comfortable saddle I've owned for instance. The cutout is no guarantee of anything but that the saddle has got a hole in it.

Grill

True, not everyone needs a cutout, but many do. I did a 4 hour ride on a Selle Italia SLR and was unable to feel my junk for 2 weeks. Sitting down to pee is usually not part of my MO.

pirnie

Contrary to other people on here, I have an ISM Adamo prologue and it's great for me. Just come back from 10 days straight riding in Spain, 1000km more or less, and had absolutely no problems with it.No sores, pressure points or numbness whilst many others in my group were suffering later in the week.

I got mine from Trybike. They offered a 30 day trial and they were great to deal with, personable and quick service. No hesitation in recommending them. The setup isn't like a regular saddle (advice on this can be found on Youtube etc) as you sit very far forward. Apparently some people find they can take a few rides to get used to as well although I got on with mine from the beginning.

Before that I had a Specialized Romin, which is a bit more of a conventional design, still with a cutout though and got on with that pretty well too, until I bought a new bike with a lower front end. Then I started getting pressure from the nose of the saddle in the drops, hence the move to the Adamo.

But as always with saddles, everyone is different. I think you just have to try around until you get lucky really. I just wanted to provide some balance to the negative views on the Adamo.

Tiberius007

Grill wrote:

True, not everyone needs a cutout, but many do. I did a 4 hour ride on a Selle Italia SLR and was unable to feel my junk for 2 weeks. Sitting down to pee is usually not part of my MO.

Now its things like that which are worrying me about distance cycling on a road saddle. Hope things OK now BTW.

What saddle do you use now?

Grill

All good now. At least the ladies are no longer complaining.

I use Specialized Toupe's for all my road bikes. I find the S-Works and the Pro the most comfortable as there's less flex. Absolutely fine on 400k and 600k rides, so should do me on the longer stuff.

The Adamo was fine on my longer training rides (150 miles), but considering the intensity of a proper long TT (12hr+), I'd prefer something that doesn't leave me raw. The skin loss was pretty much localised in the taint region as I perch. Then again I can't be certain that the Sitero is going to do any better until the 24hr in June.

Tiberius007

pirnie wrote:

But as always with saddles, everyone is different. I think you just have to try around until you get lucky really. I just wanted to provide some balance to the negative views on the Adamo.

Pirnie, thanks for this. I had read lots of positive reviews of the IDM saddles outside off this site and thought I had found a real winner but others said not, but then the more i dig re saddles in general the more confused i get. That said i think you have summarized it perfectly - this saddle stuff seems to be a bit of lottery until you find the right one.

I suppose my biggest fear is that I want to up my distances this year and I don't want to be in serious agony during/afterwards. Currently tender after an hour which could be set up problems, but it is also just a basic saddle with bike. Suppose I was just was hoping not to spend a fortune before I find, if indeed I do, the perfect saddle that didn't hurt. I put a cheap large sofa type saddle on my old MTB and just great from day 1 hours and hours, but it would not suite a smart roadie.

I have seen a Selle saddle with cut out, padding and even has a dropped nose to the saddle, that too gets good reviews for comfort, and reasonably priced too, still a lot for what it is but hey. And logic suggest it should be comfortable but maybe not. One then wonders why cycle if it is uncomfortable, and why plough money into it if there is no end game. :? :?:

Grill

If you find a Specialized shop then they give you 30 days to exchange saddles. That's what I did the first time as the Romin wasn't working for me so I swapped for a Toupe.

Tiberius007

Grill wrote:

All good now. At least the ladies are no longer complaining.

.

Glad things are good now.

As I have just said sounds like saddles are bit of a lottery/trial and error which I was hoping to avoid. I will never be in you category of distances still I don't want the discomfort whatever distance I chose. :shock:

Think I just need to strap a recliner to the saddle stem Wont look good but it would be darn comfy.

meesterbond

I've been using a Cobb saddle for TTs for a while now and still in two minds about it. Not quite noseless, but it's shaped so your nether regions aren't in contact with the saddle - you're supported either side, so the same principle as the Adamos (given then John Cobb designed both I guess that's no surprise).

The protrusions (for want of a better term) are almost too padded and it feels too bulky. Very sensitive to the angle it's set up at too - a fraction either way and it's agony.

For a road bike, the most comfortable saddles I've found have actually had very little padding on them - the Speccy Toupe and Fizik Arione are the ones on my bikes at the mo - so I wouldn't suggest going with the recliner option just yet.

Tiberius007

Thanks. Sounds like I need to look more at my own set up first and then decide if I need to move to a more dramatic style design.
I still worry about the sensitive areas but maybe these saddles will not do what I wanted anyway and I would be wasting money, and maybe the regular hard saddle is still the way to go. Maybe I am set up wrong and I have the weight in all the wrong places rather than the sit bones. Apologies can't remember all the latin names :-) but I am getting there I think.
Think I need to look at some articles on set up next :-)

Tiberius007

......and I have left the recliner firmly routed in the living room for the time being :-)