Wow. That's actually pretty interesting!

For those that found the perfect saddle, how did you know and what was your first few weeks like. I just recently switched to an ISM Racing, started with short rides and am up to about an hour, but right about the 45 min mark, I can’t wait to get off the damn thing. (Trainer only rides, nothing outdoors) I’m hoping it will get better with time. I switched to get a more aggressive position because my focus are TT’s only next year. Following this thread closely.

There will be a lot of riders w ho chime in and tell me "oh no, I found the perfect one!", and I don't doubt them. My advice would be to not think of it in those terms. Consider that there might not be a perfect saddle. Perhaps there are only "pretty good" saddles that allow you to do what you want for the length of time you want to do it? Consider there is a line, let's call it "good enuf" - you want a saddle that is over that line. There are probably many. Looking for perfection is looking for trouble.

Now, if you can only ride the ISM race for 45 minutes, either that is below the good enuf line, or more likely, either it or you is not set up very well. Picture would help.

Hi, first time poster here on an old-ish thread related to saddle comfort.

I am testing a Cobb Plus 2 and have experienced some significant perineal pressure when in both the drops and the hoods. While suffering, I imagine in my mind a saddle that has a split nose wide enough so the full length of my perineum is in the relief area of the split nose, and the nose is shortened so I can sit right in that groove in an aero position. It feels like the Plus 2 is jamming itself right into my perineum.

I am working with a professional fitter who swears by the Plus 2, recommends them regularly with very little return rates, and rides them himself on his tri and road bikes. I have read that split noses result in thigh chafing, but I have very thin legs and thighs so I don't know that the chafing issue would be so pronounced with my case. I am struggling to solve this issue and am looking at the widest split nosed short saddles on the market to try.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
-Jack

Saddle sores. The problem for me was caused by widths 1 and 2 from dangle's image being too wide. What I've found to be of paramount importance for these saddles is two things, which unfortunately limit one another and also limit contact surface area: 1) the split needs to be relatively wide but 2) the total nose width needs to be pretty narrow. If #1 fails, my dick is numb for hours and if #2 fails, I get really bad saddle sores. In contrast, if 1 and 2 are overly generous, the nose surface area (contact area) decreases and that can be uncomfortable too. Interestingly, about 90% of my saddle goes entirely untouched. Also interestingly, I tried several pretty expensive and well-reviewed saddles (used from ebay, as recommended above), but the one that ended up working best was a $15 chinese knock-off. Good luck, saddle fitting is a pretty frustrating enterprise.

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+1

FWIW eBay is having a 15% off special today (disclaimer: I work at eBay).

n=1 data point, I raced on the areone tri for years and am very happy on the ISM PN1.1 now (ymmv).

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

It is definitely worth taking it out on the road. Whether it is because we move around more on the road or the distractions or whatever else but lots of people find they can do a lot longer in a particular saddle in the real world than on a trainer.

I mean do keep trying slight adjustments to improve things but don't give up on that saddle before you've ridden outdoors on it.

How fast can you understand that saddle is good for you/how long in general your butt should used to saddle? Should i spend on saddle which is not comfortable to me , at least couple of weeks to get used to it, and understand this is saddle good or not to me?

It's a great question. I'd love to see a methodical approach to getting it right. Maybe someone here can come up with something?

In practice if you get the position wrong then a saddle that might be great for you won't be comfortable no matter how long you give it. If you have experience in a tri position on a tri bike and a good position and then just swapping saddles then that's pretty much one variable (assuming you are allowing for different saddles x,y,slope correctly). Given that experience you might know pretty quickly. It might just be one or two things that aren't right on an ok saddle and given the right saddle those just might just go away and you'd know.

One way of looking at it might be where are the trouble spots? If it's painful in the soft tissue where you really don't want it then maybe the position is wrong. If the soreness is in the right contact points then it might be worth giving it more time, especially if it's all new to you. If it's somewhere else then that might tell you something - for example thighs rubbing might be saddle to wide or sitting on it wrong.

Like anything complicated I guess 'it depends' too much for a straight forward answer.

If you can find a fitter who puts the saddle at the heart of things and tells you you can try some as part of the process then I can't think of a better way of starting. It might well end up cheaper or cost neutral that way as well.

I bought the ISM PR 2.0 based on the recommendation of a ST article.
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...e_Choosing_6333.html

I am extremely happy with it. It is much more comfortable than the Fizik saddle I was using. I have used it on my road bike for the last 18 months. I plan to trial it on my TT bike in 2019.

If you purchase one watch the installation video on the ISM web site. You will need to adjust seat height and horizontal distance to fit the ISM.