I’m looking at getting a new saddle. I have heard great things about the power saddle as well as the romin evo. I would like to ride more in the drops than the hoods. I do not have a big saddle to bar drop so I was thinking the romin evo might be more of a better fit than the power which seems to be for aggressive positions. anybody have an experience with both or one they would like to share.
I’m looking at getting a new saddle. I have heard great things about the power saddle as well as the romin evo. I would like to ride more in the drops than the hoods. I do not have a big saddle to bar drop so I was thinking the romin evo might be more of a better fit than the power which seems to be for aggressive positions. anybody have an experience with both or one they would like to share.
I can’t comment on either. I have been on Romin before but a long time ago. Have you thought about Cobb Randee at all? I know a lot of people have found some really nice comfort on the Randee on their road bikes with the simplest and greatest benefit being that if it doesn’t work you can send it back for refund.
I switched from on my Tri Bike Romin Evo (which I really liked) to Power (which I really like) this year. I adjusted my fit, moving saddle forward & rotating pelvis down. This required a shorter nose saddle to accommodate, something I couldn’t get done on the Romin Evo. On a road bike, where you’re at less of a steep angle, I would expect both would be fine, find a LBS that let’s you demo & see for yourself.
I’m looking at getting a new saddle. I have heard great things about the power saddle as well as the romin evo. I would like to ride more in the drops than the hoods. I do not have a big saddle to bar drop so I was thinking the romin evo might be more of a better fit than the power which seems to be for aggressive positions. anybody have an experience with both or one they would like to share.
I can’t comment on either. I have been on Romin before but a long time ago. Have you thought about Cobb Randee at all? I know a lot of people have found some really nice comfort on the Randee on their road bikes with the simplest and greatest benefit being that if it doesn’t work you can send it back for refund.
I have both, while Power is amazing if you need to ride in drops, due to pelvis rotation you will be able to ride in drops for hours without any back issues.
BUT Power builds imbalances, you are “fixed” in that saddle and any movement is unlikely, your VL will get super strong and you will peak (it might be very high peak) with Romin you have room to move and engage other muscles. Race on Power train with both?
I used the Romin for a few years and really liked it. Demoed the Power on my new bike for a while and was just about to buy it when I went back to the Romin for a couple of rides. It was really close, but I ended up sticking with the Romin. I liked the ability to move around a little more on the Romin. You need to try them both to decide.
Romin Evo is it for me. I did a dedicated saddle fitting last year using pressure mapping. I had been riding normal Romin 143’s for ages but was having pressure point problems. We tried the power, Romin 155, and Romin Evo 155. The Evo 155 ended up with the least pressure and best comfort. The thicker padding on the Evo made a big difference for me. I don’t recall much about the Power, only that (for me) it didn’t yield the lowest pressure and best distribution. Your mileage will vary.
I have a power and have no problems moving around on it, so unsure what you are saying
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I don’t know if it matters but if you go to the Specialized website and read the notes for each of the Romin Saddles, it says that they are all one cm shorter in the nose this year than last year in order to give you more freedom of movement – for things like getting down in the drops, perhaps.
I ride the Romin with a decent enough drop. Got about 10 rides on the Power and couldn’t take it. Horribly uncomfortable and much more locked into a position.
I’m all over the Romin; back on climbs, on the nose on hard, aero efforts. I run the 130mm version and love it.
Have you got any evidence to back up those imbalance statements?
I have a power and have no problems moving around on it, so unsure what you are saying
I do not move around, I move front and back, power has limited range in comparison to other full length saddles, it will rotate your hips making it perfect for certain events, that require it.
Don’t get me wrong, I have 3 Serialized Power saddles, I love it, but they will create problems after a while.
Ever heard about riding no the rivet?
Have you got any evidence to back up those imbalance statements?
Yes I do (before and after muscle sans indicating how crazy efficient my VL become, and how other members of quads deteriorated), I’m actually now working hard to eliminate those imbalances.
Having said that, I will still use Power saddles for Crits, it is best “in the drops” saddle ever, at list for my body.
Sounds interesting but I don’t see how you get efficiency from scans.
Sounds like your position is the culprit not the saddle
Tried the power and the new romin evo last year and kept the power.
There are certainly pros and cons to it. When I’m in the right position it feels great: the nose basically disappears. That was one big difference I found to the romin that I could still feel the nose on my junk.
In the drops it feels perfectly fine as it should.
Cons wise, if I’m not in the right spot (slide forward) it’s just okay for comfort. It doesn’t make me numb it just doesn’t feel perfect.
In Canada at least they have a 30 trial period so I bought both and simply returned the romin a few weeks later. Not sure if they offer that everywhere?
Overall it’s been a good saddle and I’m in no rush to try others but I think out there somewhere is a better saddle for me.
I use a Romin Evo on the road bike. I find it very comfortable on that, but I wouldn’t use it on the tri bike (that’s got an ISM Adamo Attack). I get pain and numbness if in very aggressive positions unless I use a split nose saddle. I did have some problems on the road bike too but the Romin Evo has almost solved them. On normal rides I love it. If I spend extended periods in the drops I’ll have a little discomfort but I rarely do that on the road bike. I find the Romin Evo very comfortable except in aggressive positions and even then it’s better than any other conventional saddles I tried. I trialled a Cobb V-Flow Plus (or maybe it was the Max) when I was shopping for a tri bike saddle and it was good on the drops too, but I prefered the Attack. I haven’t tried the Power but if you are planning to spend long periods tilted forwards, it may be a better choice than the Romin Evo.
Sounds interesting but I don’t see how you get efficiency from scans.
Sounds like your position is the culprit not the saddle
There is nothing really to see, you don’t even feel anything, Electrical Impedance Myography scan:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824130/
I don’t get the saddle comment, but that’s ok.
Power saddle will isolate certain muscle groups more than long saddles, and we might neglect some other smaller muscle groups because of constant fixed position.
Depending on your final goal it could be super good saddle, but it also might not be good causing eg hamstring be be almost not used at all. After a while you might simply start pedaling squares.
I ended up going with the romin evo 143mm over the power for now. I will be using it on a road bike I should have mentioned that. I like to be able to go from drops to the hoods so I was thinking the romin might be better for the more relaxed position I find myself in about %80 of the time.
I’m looking at getting a new saddle. I have heard great things about the power saddle as well as the romin evo. I would like to ride more in the drops than the hoods. I do not have a big saddle to bar drop so I was thinking the romin evo might be more of a better fit than the power which seems to be for aggressive positions. anybody have an experience with both or one they would like to share.
I can’t comment on either. I have been on Romin before but a long time ago. Have you thought about Cobb Randee at all? I know a lot of people have found some really nice comfort on the Randee on their road bikes with the simplest and greatest benefit being that if it doesn’t work you can send it back for refund.
I have both, while Power is amazing if you need to ride in drops, due to pelvis rotation you will be able to ride in drops for hours without any back issues.
BUT Power builds imbalances, you are “fixed” in that saddle and any movement is unlikely, your VL will get super strong and you will peak (it might be very high peak) with Romin you have room to move and engage other muscles. Race on Power train with both?
I know this is an old thread but this comment resonates with my current thought process. I used an arione for 6-7 years and just put up with numbness on long rides. As i made the switch to road racing the time in the saddle significantly increased and i wanted a better saddle (no numbness, minimize chafing). The power saddle is exceptional but has 1 position that works, it will punish you if you slide up too far. I have found the key is to set the saddle far enough forward to minimize the desire to slide forward. In this position i can ride for hours, perfect for the trainer or 5 hour long rides. The issue is when you are racing and tend to move around. The new Romin profile seems to be an improvement and closer to the power saddle. I am thinking about using the power saddle on the training bike, gravel bike, and then using the romin for racing. On a TT bike i think the power saddle will be fine as i rarely move around.
When you guys switched from the Romin to Power, did you maintain the same width?
I’m on a 155 Romin Expert right now and thinking of going with a Power.
The shop recommended going for a 143 but I’m interested to see what real world feedback indicates.
Thanks!
Sounds interesting but I don’t see how you get efficiency from scans.
Sounds like your position is the culprit not the saddle
There is nothing really to see, you don’t even feel anything, Electrical Impedance Myography scan:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824130/
I don’t get the saddle comment, but that’s ok.
Power saddle will isolate certain muscle groups more than long saddles, and we might neglect some other smaller muscle groups because of constant fixed position.
Depending on your final goal it could be super good saddle, but it also might not be good causing eg hamstring be be almost not used at all. After a while you might simply start pedaling squares.
I would be surprised if one is a triathlete then riding a saddle that has limited position options causes ANY problems. With the two other sports mixing things up in terms of muscle and skeletal recruitment, I would think one would have zero problems.
But let’s assume one only rides road. What are talking about? 30000 km per year ? Probably not, so let’s say 10,000 km per year for age groupers averaging 8 hours per week of riding. That’s around a quarter of a protour riders, so if the protour guy moves around in 3-4 positions he’s spending arouond the same time in a single position.
For the record, I have Power on my tri bike. When it is on my tri bike, there are only two positions
Aero in the aerobarsSame sit bone position sitting up on the basebar
There is a third position that I rarely use, but it is sitting up with hands on aeropads for steeper seated climbing, but largely I am sitting on the saddle in the same spot, but that is irrelevant because my hip angle changes and I am therefore using different timing in terms of muscle recruitment.
On a road bike changing hip angle from drops to hoods to sitting up with hands on bars changes hip angle, so you are constantly changing muscle recruitment. On a long saddle, when you slide fore and aft on the saddle nose, in theory you are trying to keep hip angle constant by moving seat contact point. On the power, you keep your seat contact point the same and change hip angle.
When I had the power on my road bike I set it up so that somewhere in between hoods and drops I had my optimal hip angle without sliding on saddle. In practice, there is around 3-4 cm of fore-aft seating on the Power than took care of all of that.