I switched from a Cobb V-Flow Max saddle (had bad chafing issues) to an ISM PN 1.1 last season. I have never really gotten used to it. It leaves me with deep bruising on either side of the taint, on the bones where it puts pressure. I figured initially that I just had to give it time, and I played around with height and angle and was able to make it more comfortable (eliminate chafing, slightly reduce pressure), but even after that its pretty painful. Right now I’m just riding it twice a week for 15 mile time trials and it’s painful enough that it hurts my performance.
Has anybody had similar bruising? Did you find anything that helped?
I’m considering trying the Specialized Sitero. Any thoughts?
The PN1.1 uses Adamo’s soft cushioning, while the Sitero is notoriously hard.
It’s possible that you are really far forward on the Adamo so there is a very small contact point on the saddle. Is it possible to get more of the saddle under you?
That’s good to know about the Sitero. It looks like they have a new lower-end model that has more padding. I wonder if it’s any softer.
I’ve tried sliding forward and back on the PN1.1. There’s definitely more padding if I’m farther back, but then I start dealing with chafing issues. Maybe I’ll try sliding the saddle forward again and see if it helps any.
ISM say that most people ride their saddles too high which causes issues. My question would be that if the saddle is lowered to suit the saddle then surely that effects the bike fit. Anyway, I had a similar issue and kept lowering until it went away.
I switched from a Cobb V-Flow Max saddle (had bad chafing issues) to an ISM PN 1.1 last season. I have never really gotten used to it. It leaves me with deep bruising on either side of the taint, on the bones where it puts pressure. I figured initially that I just had to give it time, and I played around with height and angle and was able to make it more comfortable (eliminate chafing, slightly reduce pressure), but even after that its pretty painful. Right now I’m just riding it twice a week for 15 mile time trials and it’s painful enough that it hurts my performance.
Has anybody had similar bruising? Did you find anything that helped?
I’m considering trying the Specialized Sitero. Any thoughts?
thanks.
No experience with the PN 1.1, although I have ridden a lot ISM saddles in the past. Also no experience with the Sitero. Saddles are tough, would recommend keeping the search going and will plug the Jof 55 as a recommendation. Seems to be quite a bit narrower than the max and might help with the chafing. I don’t wish anyone to ride in discomfort.
I switched from a Cobb V-Flow Max saddle (had bad chafing issues) to an ISM PN 1.1 last season. I have never really gotten used to it. It leaves me with deep bruising on either side of the taint, on the bones where it puts pressure. I figured initially that I just had to give it time, and I played around with height and angle and was able to make it more comfortable (eliminate chafing, slightly reduce pressure), but even after that its pretty painful. Right now I’m just riding it twice a week for 15 mile time trials and it’s painful enough that it hurts my performance.
Has anybody had similar bruising? Did you find anything that helped?
I’m considering trying the Specialized Sitero. Any thoughts?
thanks.
I tried that saddle and it didn’t work for me, It hurt pretty bad. The Cobb JOF is what ended up working for me. Why? I don’t know . It appears very similar to the ISM.
Hmmm, so weird, I had the exact same thought, that the JOF looked super similar to the ISM. It looks like they shortened their warranty period for returning a saddle if the fit doesn’t work, but 60 days should still be enough. Maybe I’ll give the JOF a shot.
Maybe the fit difference is that having the extensions be narrower means that the pressure isn’t all on the bones, but is partly on the soft tissue too. I know that some people think that the goal is to keep the pressure off of soft tissue, but this deep bruising with all the pressure on the bones is really painful. I assume it’s just variations in physiology - for some people it’s a lot better to have the pressure in different places.
You also might want to add the Dash saddles to the list. They do come in widths, and my narrow model has worked very well for me. First saddle in a very long time that I don’t hate.