My first aero road bike is being delivered today. It’s a Canyon Aeroad. For those of you with aero road bike experience plus a lot of tri bike and road bike experience… do you prefer more of a tri bike style saddle or more a road bike style saddle with an aero road bike?
Thanks!
Definitely Road bike saddle. San marco regale on my road bike.
I assume by tt saddle you mean a split nose like adamo? Tough to get those to work with a shallower seat angle; you’d need them really far forward to get them in the proper place. Personally I run a fizik ares on my tt bike so its not so much of a problem for me.
They have built longer adamos for use on road bikes though so those can work.
Start with something like a Specialized Power, PRO Stealth, Prologo Dimension, or San Marco Shortfit Dynamic. A noseless Tri/TT saddle (ISM, Mystica, etc.) makes cornering a bit more challenging, and limits the number of positions.
Using a “short” or “snub” nosed saddle gives you 80% of the comfort of a noseless saddle, without the drawbacks (for road use).
an aero road bike is a road bike with road geometry. That should answer your question.
For reference I have a Specialized Sitero on my tri bike and a Specialized Romin EVO on my road bike. If I swapped the two I wouldn’t last two minutes riding as the Sitero makes a horrible road saddle and the Romin EVO makes a horrible tri saddle.
I have an ISM PN 2.1 sitting around as well.
Whatever your bum likes.
Are you flexible or not? What power level you making? The Fizik app finally works, it didn’t at first and would crash. It gets you in a ballpark. Then buy whatever brand in that style you want.
More power on your rides and less rider weight? Less padding needed. More flexible? Less flexible.
I did the app and got an outgoing model of the carbon R3 with metal rails under $100. I’m ham fisted and would ruin carbon rails at some point with a bonehead move light over tightening it.
After this picture, I noticed the saddle angle and fixed it and it sat even better with my bum:
an aero road bike is a road bike with road geometry. That should answer your question.
This^^^
If you’re using it as designed, i.e. as a road bike. The bike aerodynamics make no difference to the saddle criteria.
If you were planning to set it up unconventionally with a forward saddle position and ride consistently in the drops or on clip-ons, say for draft legal racing, then the question might make sense. But otherwise I don’t see the “aero” part of “aero road bike” making any difference whatsoever.
I tried a split nose saddle (ISM Adamo Breakaway) a few years ago on my road bike. I really liked it when I was riding hard but I didn’t like it for cruising or climbing or descending when I’d generally either sit up more or in the case of decending, move back on the saddle to shift my CG.
The Specialized Romin Evo Expert has been my choice on the road bike for the past 4 years. It’s comfy, for me, in typical road positions and the cutout and groove help me get low when I want to without damaging the delicate bits.
If you wanted a split nose on the road bike, something like the ISM PN range might be best since you can move around more easily than the on the PL range (modern incarnation of the Breakaway style).
I run a fairly aggressive position on my road bikes. I recently started switching from Specialized Toupes to their Power saddle, with good results. I’d recommend giving that one a try.
Specialized Power or Pro Stealth are good places to start. I’ve predominantly ridden TT bikes for the past 8 years, but have both of these saddles on road bikes. For reference I’ve been on various Adamos on the TT bike all that time, but find I like the stub-nosed road saddles more on the road bikes. The Stealth feels the closest to a nose-less to me
since you wanted to know what people use, I’ll chime in
road - Selle italia SLR (the original one with almost zero padding). been on that one since it came out in the early 2000’s.
tri - selle italia SLR T1 - basically the same thing but with a padded nose. I have yet to try a split nose saddle, but I don’t have any issues with my current one.
If you’re going to take off the Fizik saddle that comes with the bike I’d love if you mailed it to me. I really like that saddle and need another one.
Definitely Road bike saddle. **San marco regale **on my road bike.
…
At least someone here has good taste!! 
Another Regal user here, for 10’s of years. I use a Sitero on my tri bike.
But really, what others said, whatever saddle you are comfy on with a road geo bike.
an aero road bike is a road bike with road geometry. That should answer your question.
This^^^
If you’re using it as designed, i.e. as a road bike. The bike aerodynamics make no difference to the saddle criteria.
If you were planning to set it up unconventionally with a forward saddle position and ride consistently in the drops or on clip-ons, say for draft legal racing, then the question might make sense. But otherwise I don’t see the “aero” part of “aero road bike” making any difference whatsoever.
I tried a split nose saddle (ISM Adamo Breakaway) a few years ago on my road bike. I really liked it when I was riding hard but I didn’t like it for cruising or climbing or descending when I’d generally either sit up more or in the case of decending, move back on the saddle to shift my CG.
The Specialized Romin Evo Expert has been my choice on the road bike for the past 4 years. It’s comfy, for me, in typical road positions and the cutout and groove help me get low when I want to without damaging the delicate bits.
If you wanted a split nose on the road bike, something like the ISM PN range might be best since you can move around more easily than the on the PL range (modern incarnation of the Breakaway style).
I figured as much but thought I’d ask.
I’m comfy on my Romin Evo on my road bike. I’m going to try a Power Arc on this bike… just to try it… and I’ll switch to the Romin Evo if I don’t like the Power Arc.
Specialised Power on my road bike and Specialised Sitero on my tri bike. Can’t imagine it would be much fun running the Sitero on a road bike.
Ride with a Fizik Mystik (Tritone) on my Cervelo S3. Came to that combo via short-course/draft legal setups and have stayed. Its not conventional but I like it and its comfortable - most important attribute.
The Alliante I used to use has moved to my XC mtb.
If you look at the ProTour guys a lot of the flat-lander/lead-out guys have moved to a forward seat position with the nose tilted down a bit (now that the UCI has pulled their heads out their asses on saddle angle). This is pretty much all about getting aero on the road bike. Saddle placement is pretty similar to a TT bike with the 5cm setback rule. The Power saddle with its short nose works pretty well for this position.
I have been using a similar position for a few years now and I have settled into a road and TT position that is essentially identical in terms of set back and height. I tried the Power saddle and liked it, but there just seemed to be only one spot you could sit on. The Hilo also works well for this position, so I use Hilos on all my bikes now. It isn’t quite a full road or Tri saddle but it works well if,you need a narrow split-nose saddle.
I have been used an ISM “Road”, and then moved to the Attack, which is now the PN1.1. I rode the PN1.1 on my S3 before it was stolen, and will put another one on whatever my next road bike is.
Full Disclosure: I previously paid for ISM products, but I am now sponsored by them.
Congrats to your new bike!
I also have an Aero Roadbike that I use for road and Tri. My bike has a flip-flop seatpost that I always have with forward set"back" - so my seat-angle is approx 76°. Because the stack of the clip-ons is rather high (3T Aeronova with 3T Clips) my Tri position is a bit to upright. In that position I LOVE my Specialized Power. It is great for road (Hoods AND Drops), and you can even get a bit lower to the usual Clip-On setup. It really is a great dual-purpose saddle, comes in a lot of variants and also has killer looks
That being said I just did a bike fit last week to get lower in the front… and since then my workouts on the trainer start being unpleasant after approx 30min. On the trainer I can resort to the hoods - but not in a race.
In short: if your use is primarily road, even in aggressive position and you do the occasional TT/Tri the Power is really a very, very good saddle!!! However, for really low positions that you want to stay in for a longer period of time you have to see yourself.
It’s highly personal but our best road bike sellers are the Selle SMP Dynamic and the PRO Stealth.
The ISM PN3.0 saddle also makes for a very nice road saddle.
Good luck and enjoy the new bike.
I’m comfy on my Romin Evo on my road bike. I’m going to try a Power Arc on this bike… just to try it… and I’ll switch to the Romin Evo if I don’t like the Power Arc.
Nothing wrong with trying the Power Saddle, but your new bike is also a “road bike†and so I would think you would want them both set up with the same position and saddle. Saddle affects fit.