I decided I would try out a short nose saddle in my quest to find the perfect saddle and settled on the Aeolus due to the generous cutouts.
My previous saddle was a Fizik Antares, which was not bad but I did get a bit of numbness on longer rides.
Try as I might, I cannot seem to get a comfortable setup on the Aeolus. Setting it up flat or with a slight nose down tilt I really feel like I’m either sliding forward or putting a lot of pressure on my hands on the bars.
Any tips or tricks for moving from a normal to short nose saddle?
Have you tried with the initial set up recomendations from Trek? I think this more or less worked for me…started here and adjusted a little until it felt just right.
Yup…what @FrankTuna said….the tip on snub nosed saddles needs to be further back relative to the BB than your previous saddle. The goal is to have your dangly-down parts actually dangling down off the front of the saddle.
I don’t think this is true for every short nosed saddle and probably not for the Aeolus. I have the selle italia slr boost superflow which is similar and my dangly parts are on top of the saddle, with a bit of nose sticking out underneath. Pretty sure I’m sitting correctly on it.
Have you tried the saddle only indoors or outdoors too? I feel indoors a slightly downward tilted saddle can add a lot of pressure on the hands and soft parts, while performing fine outside.
Try raising your front wheel by 1-2 cm by putting a board or something like that under it. Can make a massive difference in saddle comfort and hand pressure indoors.
Despite the instructions, I found that moving it forward made it more comfortable. I also decreased the angle of the nose from -2 to approx. -4 (possibly due to significant saddle/bar drop). My sit bones are now square in the centre of the rails. TBH this took a few months of messing around, but I have to say of all the milage I’ve put into the various saddles I’ve ridden, this one is extremely comfortable when it’s setup appropriately. Trial and error is your friend. Good luck!
The Aeolus is my go to saddle, and is the only equipment I’ve hoarded (I have 2 spares in the cupboard). For me, setting it up with a 1 deg down tilt is perfect outside. Inside, I need to raise the front wheel ~1.5cm or I get too much pressure in my hands.
I tried this one thinking it would be an upgrade and finally sold it. Too wide and just never worked for me after weeks of pain trying to make it work… Went back to my 2013 stock trek saddle that is unfortunately out of production, has 35k miles on it, rusty rails, but it was so much better. In Mallorca now and was rented an Emonda with that same aeolus saddle… It came right off and mine went on.
The experience put me off looking for a replacement but I’ll have to go down this path again soon.
For what it’s worth, I have an ISM on my TT bike and it’s also fine for me, ridden in a TT position.
As stated 1 to 2 degrees down, but if feeling too much preasure on hands try moving saddle back slightly to reduce hand preasure. You should be able to balance yourself on saddle (lifting hands off bars and maintaining position) without falling forward. You may slide a bit forward when doing balance test but should be able to maintain position. I have Aeolus saddles on a number of bikes but of course saddles are very personal. Bontarger has 30day money back gaurentee so if you cant make it work you can return it.
Good Luck
and settled on the Aeolus due to the generous cutouts.
