I’ve been moving my saddle forward to try and open up my hip angle. My current saddle, even with a QR cover, is not that comfy riding toward the nose.
I’ve heard the Arione is longer and fatter than a typical road saddle in the nose, and that the saddle widens more toward the front of the saddle. This all sounds good.
How does the Arione Tri compare to the Arione? Is it the same saddle with more padding, hence wider?
Also, I’ve read the Profile Design Tri Stryke might be even wider than the Arione. Is the profile of the Tri Stryke similar to the Arione, as viewed from above?
Any comments about these or other good nose riding saddles welcomed.
Why not keep moving the saddle forward until it is under your butt? Get a zero setback post if you need to. That will be far more comfortable in the long run… speaking from experience.
Styrrell- I know what you mean-- I almost changed the title before I posted.
Justin- The problem is that I’m on a converted road bike, so am starting from a very slack position. I’ve got the saddle all the way forward on a fast forward post, and am probably around 79-80 degrees now. The bike is probably almost unrideable outdoors, but I’ve just got the bike on a trainer right now trying to find “my” position.
Been there… I found the Azoto Tri to be comfortable for that situation. The Profile saddle is similar. I have the Arione Tri now on a smaller frame with the saddle under my butt and it is real comfortable, but I don’t think it would work as well for nose riding.
If you are at 78-80 now, then it sounds like the long term situation for you is a shorter stem and/or a smaller frame. Totally been down this exact road. Based on my experience if you are riding the nose with a fast forward post then you need a frame that is about 4cm smaller for comfortable tri riding.
I love the Arione road saddle, but have not tried the tri version. I have had pretty good luck with the San Marco ASPide Tri saddle. I like to ride the nose on the aerobars. It kind of sucks riding the San Marco sitting up however, but the nose is comfy. I plan to try the Arione Tri this spring. Sorry I couldn’t help much more. Oh the Profile people also have a nose rider either out or coming out soon that looks interesting.
For some reason the Arione tri sucked for me for riding the nose. Under the padded nose is a very inflexible nose shell. The Cervelo TT saddle is actually quite nice. I had good success with it.
i had an arione trion loan for a couple of months, i found the nose too thin with insufficient padding on the nose…i ended up with a selle san marco triathgel…fat well padded nose, maybe a tad wide as it causes thigh drag and wears your shorts, but by far the best ive tried for riding forward…but this is a greenhorn opinion…dig around on slowtwitch…there is an article on tri saddles…good luck with it…best way to go if you can swing it is a trial…a good lbs will do it for you.
I’ll cast another vote for the Azoto Tri saddle. I bought mine when I first started riding a steeper geometry and a more aero position and it is super comfortable. The nose is wider and some people don’t like that, but I guess that’s personal preference.
Hmm. The Azoto and the Profile. I thought there was almost a cult about the Arione.
Justin - the long term solution is certainly to get a tri specific frame. Problems with that are that I’ve got 3 little kids and therefore no time to train; hard to justify the expense for a couple of sprints and an oly per year. I also seem to be very short-torso’d, so would be pretty hard to fit. I think I’m leaning more towards the 81 deg that Dan recommends in his “ultimate tri bike” article, and not that many bikes seem to get there well. I was surprised to see that the P3C tops out at around 78 deg according to a few posters. I could never justify that sort of money for a bike, so it’s almost reassuring that it wouldn’t fit me. Sure does look pretty…
Why are we all here on a Saturday night? I just put my kids to bed and my wife is working.
Well, I’m at work doing night shift this week (meteorologist).
There is a bit of cult for the Arione, but I don’t think it applies to nose riders.
Not that it really matters, but you can get to 80+ degrees real easy with a steep frame and the saddle moved forward all the way. For frames with traditional posts you could use a zero set back post and get there as well.
Yeah, but you need to start with a frame at least around 78 degrees, not one of the 76 degree bikes that everyone seems to make now. I’d like to find a bike that has an 80 deg seat tube so I can use a zero degree post (Thomson, of course) and have the saddle in the middle of the rails. Right now my classic 80’s steel bike looks like a freak show with the fast forward post and the saddle shoved all the way forward.
The new profile saddle is wider than the arione tri - the nose on it is huge, but it is very comfortable. The selle italia T1 is also very good. I have all three saddles. In terms of the nose narrowest to widest would be the arione, then the T1 then the profile.
Thanks Joel. How does the shape of the Profile compare to the Arione as seen from above? I like the idea of the saddle flare starting a little further toward the nose. Also, which of those saddles have rails that extend the furthest back (i.e. allow you to slide the saddle further forward)?
I have ridden the Azota and if you must ride on the nose, it is a good saddle for it. I was riding the nose because I had several bikes that just did not fit me at 78-80 degrees. I finally bought the Yaqui from Ves that was born from the Dan E. experiment and I have been happy ever since. The saddle pushed forward on the 81.5 degree seat post gets more of the saddle under my butt and has all day comfort. I ditched the Azoto then because the rear part of that saddle is hard and very uncomfortable. My tri bike actually has an old Selle Italia Turbomatic 2 right now. I have ridden up to six hour rides–with PowerCranks, which means you ride 99 percent of the time in the saddle–and not had any issues with the Turbomatic. It is a little wider than many more modern saddles and that helps.
Thanks. I have actually downloaded Ves’s measurement forms and thought about doing just what you have done. It looks like GregK also had a custom bike made a la Dan’s “ideal bike” spec.
When you ride on the normal/fat part of the saddle on your Yaqui, do you rotate your hips forward as much as you can? If I do, I have to shift the saddle nose a bit to the side to find some comfort. I actually talked on the phone with Dave Bunce from Blackwell about their upcoming (Decemberish?) ISM Racing/Tri seat. It is about 3cm shorter in the nose than a typical saddle, and the cutout extends all the way to the front. If I actually had a frame where I could ride at 80-81 degrees and sit on the normal part of the seat, I might go with something like that.
What do you think about the aero-ness of your Yaqui? Have you found it comfortable on long rides?
