Funny that. I mentioned in another thread that I went from being a macro fitter on saddles to a micro over the last few years. This reason was the main part of the problem. As I stated in that thread the resolution for my problems was to look at the effective width of the nose and the rapidity of the taper from the sit bone area. I couldn’t work with any of the short nosed saddles because they invariably had a wider nose and chaffed in precisely the indicated spots. I zeroed in on two saddles. The Arione with the wing flex and the Fabric scoop flat. The wing flex thing only seems to work for me on the Arione. I tried the other Fizik units with it and they didn’t work.
TL:DR Have a care with the short nosed options being recommended they may be too wide in the required location.
This is definitely something I’m interested in, the thought of going down the saddle-search rabbit hole again with nothing but guesses and a credit card is not something I’m not looking forward to, but really should before I subject new bibs to the same wear. My fitter said he was expecting the saddle mapping system at some point but I haven’t followed up yet to see if it arrived since I was there in April. Is that something you’ve been fitted on? Very curious about it.
Added Q: how much time is everyone putting in on saddle swaps before they decide if it works or not? A few rides? A couple weeks? 500 miles?
Honestly if you are seeing bib destruction as a result of saddle/fit issues, when you do find the right one it should be almost instantly noticeable. But a week of 2hr rides should ensure whether it is working for you or not.
I find too many comments in this thread talk of saddle issues without touching on exactly what you mentioned; bar reach and saddle height.
Yes the power has a wide and sharp “wing” but some of the other issues being described in this thread sound far more like height and reach may be improper to begin with.
What timing! I’ve been mulling exactly this issue over in my head the past few weeks. I’ve got a regular power 143 wide.
With certain bibs - namely base level Sportful I get saddle sores in exactly this spot (both sides but worse on one side).
Doesn’t seem to happen with better quality bibs. I’ve just started putting some old bibs back into rotation to see if they have the same issues.
Don’t seem to get any issues on the Prologo Zero saddle on my mtb - but that is a little flatter?
This may be a clue here. As @RONDAL has pointed. We may be missing a trick in this thread. It could be your set height. The fact that it favors one side would make me think so. When we over extend on the height we compensate by going forward on the saddle or/and lengthening our legs. Since our legs are not symmetrical we will favor one side more than the other leading to saddle sores on one side.
It may be that your saddle height is right on the border and your new bib shorts have a higher effective stack height tipping you over the edge.
I used to use a Shimano Pro Stealth saddle, it did cause me to polish off the rail clamp a fair bit. Eventually I moved to an ISM saddle and because I can sit so far forward on it it actually ends up rubbing my thighs less.
I had exactly this problem with the Power saddle, enough so that it gave me a nasty saddle sore in exactly that spot, which was a shame because it felt great in every other area. I then tried the Power Arc excitedly as it looked like it would solve that problem, and unfortunately it felt like some sort of torture device to me, which was bizarre.
Might try the Pro and Fizik versions in the future, but back to my safe choice of Fabric scoop flat for now.
Timely thread. I have a Power saddle, love it, but I’m also getting saddle sores in this spot on one side. Based on @GPLama’s comment in another thread on saddle sores (link below), I just picked up a Pro Stealth to switch things up.
Question is what’s the best way to position it? Height from the bottom bracket is easy enough, but what about set back? Line up the wings, which puts the front of the Pro Stealth farther forward than the Power? Or other ideas?
Probably should have been a bit more clear in the post. It still happens with the better quality bibs but just not as bad. I wouldn’t even call is saddle sores normally, it’s just some lumps under the skin that clear after a few days - this week however it has actually turned into one as I was trying out my older potentially less padded bibs.
I’ve had several bike fits so my seat height is pretty solid I think. Seat height is a bit higher than would be ideal due to hip/knee/ankle issues, but still in a very normal range I believe. It’s actually down maybe .5cm from my two previous fits anyway so I doubt it’s that.
I have for a long time gotten a sensation in that area that there’s some pressure going on - kind of behind the legs - even a few pedal strokes it’s noticeable and I’ve always wondered about the shape of the saddle, so it’s good to know others have the same issues - or what seems to be far worse issues.
The other thing I was wondering is… my saddle is a good 2 years old now, do saddles sag more/drop down in the centre over time?
I’ve heard saddles referred to as one of the “consumables” parts on a bike and recommended replacement at regular intervals. Personally I haven’t noticed a change in saddles over a couple years but I don’t really know what specifically about a saddle will wear out, the padding is about all I can think of?
Yeah they do wear out. Usually the padding shifts around. I had cut out saddles wear out by sagging. Boiling frog problem. I didn’t notice it. Got some waterworks issues as a result. Two years seems a bit short on the life though but I guess it is going to depend on your use case.
I used to have a problem, which I thought was with a specialized power saddle, which gave me sores on my left leg but two things solved it.
firstly the saddle was everso everso slightly not centre, sorted that but the problem still continued although now on both legs.
So I actually went with a thinner chamois, problem absolutely solved. I guess ift he chamois is too wide it bunches and then starts rubbing. Thinner chamois sorted the problem with both my power and stealth saddles.
Probably should post my feedback on the prior suggestions if it may help the OP
I tried the saddle down ~5mm which did actually seem to improve the feeling I was having straight away. Unfortunately I’m a bit at the limit with my position and this caused hip and knee pain (knee pain probably would have subsided but hip I can’t do much about)
So went back to roughly the height it was before maybe a fraction lower & as said before maybe the saddle is now a fraction straighter than before.
I’ve had total relief of the chafing by changing to the 152mm pro stealth. It seems to be a better fit to my sit bones than the 143 or 155 specialized sizes, for the first time as people say the saddle “disappears” under me.
Downside and dealbreaker: I’ve also noticed abrading in the usual spot on my new bibs, the Lycra will probably be worn through by spring. It makes me skeptical that the problem is really solved and I’m not willing to sacrifice bibs to a saddle. My fitter now has the pressure mapping so I’ll probably head back to him to see if it can help with selecting a long-nose saddle to spare the expensive pants.