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 Iām 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 meā¦started here and adjusted a little until it felt just right.
Yupā¦what @FrankTuna saidā¦.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 donāt 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 Iām 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 Iāve put into the various saddles Iāve ridden, this one is extremely comfortable when itās setup appropriately. Trial and error is your friend. Good luck!
The Aeolus is my go to saddle, and is the only equipment Iāve 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 workā¦ 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 saddleā¦ It came right off and mine went on.
The experience put me off looking for a replacement but Iāll have to go down this path again soon.
For what itās worth, I have an ISM on my TT bike and itās 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
The Pro is wider in the nose and āflaresā a touch more than the Aeolus. I used to use the Pro on the road bike but, moved it to the TT bike when I started riding the Aeolus. They both work well for me. I just loaned my TT bike to a team mate for Redlands and Gila so I canāt see it but, the profile is very similar as well iircā¦
OK good. Iāve read some other places that theyāre similar. Iāve been riding the Pro for 5 years and was hoping it would be similar enough to not make or break the purchase.
Iāve used both. The aeolus became the saddle I put on a number of bikes after I broke my the socket of my pelvis (undiagnosed and it just got suggested I buy a wider saddle until weeks on I had another x-ray and they saw the calcification of healing bone) and it is very comfy. But on long rides it started to feel like it was tipping me forward slightly too much.
I then bought the Stealth as it looked the same sort of shape side to side, same wide nose but slightly less kick up at the tail. Still have the stealth, it feels similar to the aeolus but the shell is quite a bit more firm. To me, the aeolus almost felt like you werenāt sat on a saddle at all - no pressure points, no āitās comfy but this is still a bike saddleā sort of compromise. To me I didnāt think the stealth is quite as good in that way.
If you like the stealth, you should like the aeolus I reckon
Has anyone had problems with not being able to get the seat far enough forward on the Aeolus? I used to run the original HiLo on both my road and Tri bikes, but they wore out. I could get the HiLo much further forward than the Aeolus. The verse is closer but still comes up short.
Always been able to get the Aeolus where it is needed on both road bike and also when I briefly had it on the TT bike. My TT bike position isnāt massively aggressive though.
I think the fitting instructions for Aeolus are that it sits in broadly the same position as a normal saddle but essentially the first couple of cmās of what would be the nose is lobbed off. As per @adenega both the Aeolus and Verse are road saddles.
I had difficulty with this on my Emonda. I bought a GebioMized Area (recommended from the chief technologist) and was able to get the saddle forward under me. Interestingly, I just purchased a new Madone (same size and same geometry) and am able to get the Aeolus under me no problem. I think the hardware of the clamp is slightly different but, the bolts are the same. The Madone clamp just allows the saddle to be pushed further forward. Lucky me I guessā¦
Looking at the two saddles (GebioMized and Aeolus) the length of the rails that can be clamped look nearly identical. The aft bend in the rails looks nearly identical from the tip of the saddle. The widest part of the saddle where you āsitā looks to be slightly forward on the GebioMized however.
Point? Almost imperceptible changes in a saddle design can have large affects on set up and fit. One of the things that make our sport both frustrating and interesting I reckon. Itās not as easy as measuring from the aft part of the saddle to the hoods. You have to ride different saddles which means $$ unfortunately.
Every time I switched saddles, I had to go through the fore-aft adjustment, because even with a similar length saddle, you sometimes end up sitting on a different spot due to the shape. This is especially true for short saddles that tend to lock you into a specific spot. I donāt know if this is true for everyone, but for me a new saddle is a big adjustment, not something I just slap on in 15 minutes.
and settled on the Aeolus due to the generous cutouts.
