I’ve been using a Fabric Scoop Flat Pro Team for a while now and find it generally quite comfy.
However, I recently switched to a more aero bike and also have become more accustomed to riding in an aero position - now I think I might want a saddle with a cut out. The Fabric is still comfy, but I can feel that sometimes I get some pressure around the area where a cutout would be.
A few weeks ago I briefly tried a Selle Italia SP01 Boost - one of those newer shorter saddles. I get the impression that most of these are a little wider in the front (why!?) which leads to the inside’s of my legs rubbing against the saddle which hurts after an hour or so of riding.
Now I’d like to try another Selle Italia Saddle - but I’m not sure whether it should be the SLR or Flite. I can’t really make out what they were differently designed for.
Why Selle Italia? It seems to me they’re the only manufacturer where I can buy a model at my LBS, try it for a while and if it doesn’t fit me I can return it and get my money back.
Any other recommendations?
Does the shop that sells these saddles near you not have a demos you could try? That is the best best, borrow one for a week and go ride. Saddles are very person specific.
Have a look at the infinity Bike seat (http://infinitybikeseat.com/)) It’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever ridden and have one on all my main (track, road and gravel) bikes, I have the one with the full cutout. They’re unisex and you can try it for 30 days and return it.
Fizik Argo R1 to R5 are decent saddles and I like the stubby nose on them as it means I can get lower without and added ‘pressure’. Also has the cut out in the middle to reduce pressure.
The shop I work at has had awesome luck with the SMP saddles. I have 2 myself, and we sell a ton through our expert fitter as well. Once you get the right saddle, the angle is extremely important as a couple of degrees makes a big difference. Most shops will let you try them. We have a 30 day use with return on any saddle you buy, and some have gone through a few before they find the right one. I have found the SMP saddles are the narrowest, which is what I have found works for me. Good luck!
I recently demo’d a bunch of saddles and ended up with an SMP Lite 209, by far the most comfortable saddle I ever tried. No shops near me carry SMP but I eventually found a fitter in Colorado that has a mail order demo program. You pay $20 and he mails you an SMP saddle To demo,you can try it for several weeks and if you like it the initial $20 outlay goes towards the purchase of your new SMP saddle. Shoot me a PM if you want his contact info.
Selle Italia SLR Lite Flow with TI316 rail black/black - this is the saddle I use on my “good” bike. I find it very comfortable and have ridden about 10,000km on it since buying the bike last year. I rode the Raid Alpine with this saddle last July - 780km with 17,800M of climbing in 6 days no saddle issues.
As you can conclude from the diverse replies above you should try several yourself and see how you like them. Or the much better option - go se a bike fitter with one of those real-time pressure pads who will tell you the kind of a saddle is right for your exact anatomy.
Thanks guys for the info guys - though this wasn’t so much intended as a general discussion about saddles, but rather the difference between the Selle SLR and Flite.
Sorry, I should have chosen a different title, my bad.
I had both (old version): the Flite “feels” narrower because the transition from wide part of the saddle to the narrow nose happens sooner than on the SLR. I think this trait should have been carried over in the new models. The SLR is also a tiny bit more padded.
I am about 2 weeks into riding the SLR superflow, after trying out the flite boost superflow for a month. Not sure if you are wanting to try the full length or boost version.
Before this I tried the selle italia slr boost, and had the same trouble you mentioned with it being a bit too wide at the nose and rubbing the inside of my thighs. I then went on to the flite boost kit carbonio superflow. The saddle is pan flat with a dropped nose and a very large flat area to sit on at the back, so it was very supportive for my sitbones. I used the superflow version, which has a relatively small a cut out by selle italia standards and pretty much the same size as the cut out on my bontrager montrose, despite being wider (138mm vs 145mm). The nose of the flite is slightly wider than the SLR and I still had a bit of thigh rub from it (but they may be because it was the boost version). This was the first flat saddle I have used and you have to get used to actively rolling your pelvis forward and doing more of the work to hold your posture, but you are rewarded with a lot more flexibility in terms of how you sit, allowing you to pick your own position at all times. I found this saddle generally very comfortable, but the big problem I had with it was the incredibly short rails. The manufacturer limits were only about 2mm longer than my saddle clamp, leaving almost no fore/aft adjustment.
The SLR is a lot more like the fabric scoop than you have mentioned and is a very traditional saddle shape and design. It is generally listed as a flat saddle, but has a slight rise in the rear, which is noticeable when you sit on it and it supports the sit bones well. Like with the flite, it has a very large flat area at the back which is supportive for sit bones. I have had no issue with thigh rub using this saddle, as the nose is narrower. This is also aided by incredibly long saddle rails, which give you a ton of adjustment room. I am using the superflow version as I suffer with numbess and like cut-out saddles, but I am struggling a bit with the massive size of the cut-out (up to 36mm wide) and feel the inner edges of the cut out press into my soft-tissue a bit. But then again I am still adjusting the position, so maybe I don’t have it dialled in yet.
Generally, they are very similar traditional shaped saddles, the SLR just has more of a rise at the back and a much bigger cut out. As someone who has tried various saddles over the last 2 years in search of the right one, I encourage you to ride both of them. It doesnt matter how well or badly the saddle might fit you based on design and flexibility etc, its all down to how it feels when riding it.
I was or am interested in a Selle Italia SLR saddle but needed a bit to figure out what those abbreviations mean. I have found this thread on google, so sorry for resurecting it. If someone else finds that thread trough google I hope this will be useful for you:
Boost = shorter nose and shorter saddle overall than non Boost or simply “SLR”
Superflow refers to the cutout area, no superflow means no cutout (duh)
TM are the cheaper models without TI or Carbon rails