I thought I’d share what has been a game-changer for me—a totally comfy perineum on the bike and complete elimination of sleepy pee-pee.
I have for a long time never been comfortable on the saddle of my triathlon bike on very long rides, despite a professional fit.
This has been compounded with abrasion from the seams of the thick pad on my De Soto Forza Flisuit—I LOVE the fly on the suit and was torn from the discomfort in my inguinal groove from the edges of the pad. This would result in very abraded inguinal areas after an IM distance biking. My saddle was a standard ISM PS 1.0.
I decided to send a message to De Soto with a question about the De Soto Flisuit,
Lo and behold, I was surprised to get an email response within a day from Emilio De Soto himself!
Emilio was not satisfied to just look at superficial solutions, and he asked all manner of questions about not only the triathlon suit and the conditions of discomfort, but also about my specific saddle, dimensions, and other questions. He genuinely cared about SOLVING my problem at its root cause! We decided on a multiple-part solution:
A narrower saddle (I decided to splurge on the new Selle Italia Watt 3D Carbonio)
Customize my De Soto triathlon suits: he would have his shop replace for a nominal fee the current Clasico Integrated Pad for the their thinnest fleece pad.
AND he recommended I try his (at the time) prototype saddle pad (pic below)
After riding the new setup, a few CONCLUSIONS:
I love Selle Italia’s new 3D printed triathlon saddle—it is so much more comfortable. Admittedly, I was already sold on the comfort of 3D with my S-Works Mirror saddles I use on my road and gravel bikes.
The De Soto saddle pad is AMAZING! It significantly increased the comfort of even the 3D printed saddle!
The use of the Saddle Pad allowed me to select the thinnest fleece on my tri suit. This has multiple advantages. First, it is super comfortable! Second, it completely eliminated abrasions from the pad/trisuit with the saddle. Third, the thinnest fleece is most comfortable on the run—extra bonus!
About the MAN Emilio De Soto. He cares about his customers, and is a WEALTH of knowledge. It is such a wonderful thing for him to respond personally and for him to participate in our journeys.
The Saddle Pad is now officially for sale at De Soto.
Humbled by your comments Jae. I enjoyed spending time with you and it was fun getting to see that Selle Italia 3D Watt Carbonio Superflow in person for the first time. A nice saddle deserves a pad to protect it and to make you more comfortable.
If anyone reading this wants to be more comfortable on their own bike, just hit me up.
I thought I’d share what has been a game-changer for me—a totally comfy perineum on the bike and complete elimination of sleepy pee-pee.
I have for a long time never been comfortable on the saddle of my triathlon bike on very long rides, despite a professional fit.
This has been compounded with abrasion from the seams of the thick pad on my De Soto Forza Flisuit—I LOVE the fly on the suit and was torn from the discomfort in my inguinal groove from the edges of the pad. This would result in very abraded inguinal areas after an IM distance biking. My saddle was a standard ISM PS 1.0.
I decided to send a message to De Soto with a question about the De Soto Flisuit,
Lo and behold, I was surprised to get an email response within a day from Emilio De Soto himself!
Emilio was not satisfied to just look at superficial solutions, and he asked all manner of questions about not only the triathlon suit and the conditions of discomfort, but also about my specific saddle, dimensions, and other questions. He genuinely cared about SOLVING my problem at its root cause! We decided on a multiple-part solution:
A narrower saddle (I decided to splurge on the new Selle Italia Watt 3D Carbonio)
Customize my De Soto triathlon suits: he would have his shop replace for a nominal fee the current Clasico Integrated Pad for the their thinnest fleece pad.
AND he recommended I try his (at the time) prototype saddle pad (pic below)
After riding the new setup, a few CONCLUSIONS:
I love Selle Italia’s new 3D printed triathlon saddle—it is so much more comfortable. Admittedly, I was already sold on the comfort of 3D with my S-Works Mirror saddles I use on my road and gravel bikes.
The De Soto saddle pad is AMAZING! It significantly increased the comfort of even the 3D printed saddle!
The use of the Saddle Pad allowed me to select the thinnest fleece on my tri suit. This has multiple advantages. First, it is super comfortable! Second, it completely eliminated abrasions from the pad/trisuit with the saddle. Third, the thinnest fleece is most comfortable on the run—extra bonus!
About the MAN Emilio De Soto. He cares about his customers, and is a WEALTH of knowledge. It is such a wonderful thing for him to respond personally and for him to participate in our journeys.
The Saddle Pad is now officially for sale at De Soto.
Sharing with you all,
Since a solution for perineum comfort (and sleepy pee-pee) is totally amazing, in my opinion.
Love your “sleepy pee-pee” comment. Cracked me up. Emilio is great. He definitely is customer oriented and I’ve always been pleased with his products and how he handles things. Hope your issues are solved long term!
I also have the Watt saddle but the regular carbon one. I’ve never been super comfortable on any saddle though due to the pressure. Gonna give it a try. Thanks!
Hi,
The pad is not especially “grippyâ€. I think it strikes a reasonable balance between feeling planted and not causing excessive friction in the inguinal region. It is essentially neoprene material that is used on wetsuits.
Everyone’s groin area is different, so individual results may vary.
On my first long ride (90 miles) with the pad last week, I tried both with and without the pad—I had a bottle behind the saddle, and the saddle pad fit snugly over the bottle conveniently for “storage†while I tried the saddle without it. Riding was definitely more comfortable with the saddle pad.
I agree completely with the comments about DeSoto products and the customer service, they are top shelf. De Soto is basically the only cycling clothes that I have worn since the late 90s.
I’m confused about the saddle pads though. I always thought that pads and cushions of any sort just make the problems worse. I thought that problems like “sleepy pee-pee” or saddle sores were always solved by correcting bike fit. Obviously with the saddle pad coming from Emilio and Dan there must be something more to it than this.
Can someone explain it to me? When/Why use a pad and when is the problem solved by bike fit?
Hi Tom,
I agree with you—good bike fit is everything, and dialing in the fit is the most addressable factor for comfort and cycling efficiency.
And there are far too many professional fitters who participate on this forum for me to opine intelligently about this.
When I had fittings, I was usually pretty “fresh†and had decent form—ie, used good posture, good power on pedals, core engaged, etc.
For me, the issue is with longer distances when fatigue sets in.
I’ve had same issues with DeSoto pads. How is the grip on the saddle cover?
Hey DFW_Tri, if you have not bought a De Soto Pad after February 1, 2024, you have not tried our new pads. Tell me what brand and saddle you ride and I will tell you what De Soto Saddle Pad fits it best.
I’ve had same issues with DeSoto pads. How is the grip on the saddle cover?
Hey DFW_Tri, if you have not bought a De Soto Pad after February 1, 2024, you have not tried our new pads. Tell me what brand and saddle you ride and I will tell you what De Soto Saddle Pad fits it best.
I should have clarified. My issue is with the pads in the shorts/bibs, not a saddle pad. Were the pads in Riviera shorts/bibs updated? I love everything about Riviera shorts and bibs except the excessive stitching which can sometime cause irritation for me.
I’ve had same issues with DeSoto pads. How is the grip on the saddle cover?
Hey DFW_Tri, if you have not bought a De Soto Pad after February 1, 2024, you have not tried our new pads. Tell me what brand and saddle you ride and I will tell you what De Soto Saddle Pad fits it best.
I should have clarified. My issue is with the pads in the shorts/bibs, not a saddle pad. Were the pads in Riviera shorts/bibs updated? I love everything about Riviera shorts and bibs except the excessive stitching which can sometime cause irritation for me.
I do recall you mentioning that issue to me. While many others have had no problems with the Riviera Short and Riviera Tribib and would hate that we change it, you were not alone in your complaint of that pad with a wide split nose saddle. Thus my motivation became to solve the problem by creating the Saddle Pad. I started by trying to create a “split nose pad” in the short, when it came to me that it could be solved in a way that would allow that very same Riviera short you own not to become obsolete. It should come as no surprise that our main goal was to make the ride more comfortable for De Soto customers wearing any of our trishorts and bib, and cycling shorts and bib, with any of the fleece, 4mm, 7mm, and 14mm thickness of pads. The De Soto Saddle Pad solves the problem for only $48.
Hey Gman, if yours is the Dash Stage G2 Custom - Standard 60mm, I believe then it is 245 x 115 x 200 (L x W x Circum) according to the location of the measurements in the diagram below.
If I am correct on the sizing, then the SP5 will fit quite well on it. Please let me know the measurements you get. You can send them to me inches too.
Width 5.5â€
Length 7.5â€
Circumference 40mm back is 7.25â€
Thank you
This translates to 191 x 140 x 184 mm, which I can confirm the SP5 Saddle Pad 5 will fit your BiSaddle. What is the model you have? This will allow me to add it to our list.
Width 5.5â€
Length 7.5â€
Circumference 40mm back is 7.25â€
Thank you
This translates to 191 x 140 x 184 mm, which I can confirm the SP5 Saddle Pad 5 will fit your BiSaddle. What is the model you have? This will allow me to add it to our list.
Hi Emilio…what do you think will work with the Fizik Transiro Aeris Long Distance Saddle while using the built in BTA holder? Please let me know, thanks!
