Curious if any pro-tour cyclists are using split-nose saddle. If so, who, and which saddle(s)? – TT and/or Road bike?
Taylor Phinney was using one on his TT bike last season before his unfortunate crash.
I believe most use standard saddles because they have to adhere to UCI rules about saddle setback. Having the nose chopped off the saddle would put them too far forward.
American pro team Jelly Belly almost all use Adamos because of sponsorship, including Freddy Rod on his roadie.
Actually, I’m pretty sure that is exactly backwards. The UCI mandates where the front of the saddle must be, (or that it can’t be any further forward than a certain distance (5cm??) behind BB), not how long or what type, so for many a chop-nosed saddle is a benefit to move further forward. I bet the reason you may not see many has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with tradition. Road cycling is funny that way, IMO.
Actually, I’m pretty sure that is exactly backwards. The UCI mandates where the front of the saddle must be, (or that it can’t be more than a certain distance (5cm??) behind BB), not how long or what type, so for many a chop-nosed saddle is a benefit to move further forward. I bet the reason you may not see many has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with tradition. Road cycling is funny that way, IMO.
Agree.
Seems with the enormous volume put in by pros we would see a more pro-active approach (and promotion) in adopting the split-nose saddles. Would like to know research on PNE issues of pro cyclists, present and past.
*Pudendal Nerve Entrapment (and simililar…)
Plenty of pro cyclists on Selle SMP.
Porte is on a Tritone on his TT bike.
i am not sure, but i think there might be a rule against split nose saddles. i have to check on that. the tritone is not a split nose saddle, it’s just a truncated saddle with a taint valley.
Are you sure there is not a minimum length rule?
i am not sure, but i think there might be a rule against split nose saddles. i have to check on that. the tritone is not a split nose saddle, it’s just a truncated saddle with a taint valley.
Leave to the UCI to come up with a completely illogical rule. I think most rational humans would realize that the SMP is basically a split nose saddle with a little cosmetic connector and the Tritone would be functionally identical to an Adamo. It would be interesting to see how they would interpret the Hilo and Dash
couple things. first, i might be wrong. so don’t villify the UCI yet (over that).
second, ISM would disagree that the connector is a minor detail. i believe they have a patent on the twin noses moving independently, and that is part of the claimed functionality.
i am not sure, but i think there might be a rule against split nose saddles. i have to check on that. the tritone is not a split nose saddle, it’s just a truncated saddle with a taint valley.
Nope.
As mentioned earlier in the thread, Jelly Belly team is on the ISM saddles, also quite a few split saddles on TT bikes around the paddock.
Yep, there seems to be a smattering of that style of saddle used in the tour.
ISM in the last picture
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/tour-de-france-2015-time-trial-tech-gallery-44685/
.
No rule against it (nothing that’s enforced anyway).
There are more using them than you know. There’s a world champion right now that uses one, but when pictures are taken, the sponsor saddle is quickly installed. Media get it, and will not publicly point out the change. I have several pros, men and women, who are planning to come in and make the change this winter; I find one of my jobs is to go to bat for the athletes and explain to the teams why a particular sponsor’s saddle(s) doesn’t work and needs to be changed. There’s an entire women’s team I work with and none of the girls actually ride the sponsored saddle on their TT bikes.
ISM has gained a lot of fans in the pro peloton, and even more on the track where it’s quite normal to see them. Cobb, too, with the JOF.
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Seems with the enormous volume put in by pros we would see a more pro-active approach (and promotion) in adopting the split-nose saddles. Would like to know research on PNE issues of pro cyclists, present and past.
Have you ever considered the reason why these Fred saddles have never caught on for road racing is that they are a gimmick and don’t offer anything that a properly fitted normal saddle does not?
Couldn’t agree more!!!
Actually, they do. They allow us to get athletes in a better position while still falling within the rules set forth by the UCI. Athletes get one of two morphological exemptions - one for saddle or one for reach. You can’t have both, and since we almost always take the reach exemption (for men and women alike), the split nose, or truncated saddles, allow for proper positioning while still keeping the nose of the saddle 5cm behind the bb.
Also, if you’re not a woman, you can’t say what is and what isn’t a more comfortable saddle no matter how it’s fitted, though I would agree that saddle discomfort is often cause by poor fit. Still, we men (perhaps I shouldn’t assume you’re a man but it’s in your name) have no clue what women feel on bikes. If we did, we wouldn’t ride bikes.
The same reason clinchers haven’t caught on eh?