Why do I hate my saddle?

about 2.5 years ago I change the saddle of my bike from an ISM saddle (IDK which one, but from around 2012) to a Specialize Power Comp. Its a road saddle, but man… what a difference. I have ridden up to 70 miles outdoors on it and multiple 3hr+ indoor rides… 0 problems of pain (I mean, as pain free as some can be from riding on a bike saddle that is)…

FF to 2021 and the new bike comes with a ISM PN 3.1.
I have use it 4 times, and I HATE THIS THING!!

This is supposed to be a nice saddle (MSRP of $200+) and its a triathlon specific saddle. I wanted to like it, but i cant. It just too uncomfortable… doing one felt so horrible…

I want to love the saddle but i just cant! WHY?
Is it me?

I am going to buy another specialized saddle on friday!

Every saddle is different and are just comfortable for different bodies. Sounds like ISM just don’t mesh well with you.

Remember, most of the price is in making it with lightweight materials rather than making it universally comfortable.

For me, I have a Fizik saddle that was really comfortable before, but then I gained a whole pile of lockdown weight and suddenly it’s not so comfortable… :sweat_smile:

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On a review i was just reading, it says you need to move the saddle father back than a normal road saddle…

I have another ride tomorrow, I will move it back before the ride and see if it makes a difference.

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Ah, I was assuming you’d had it set based on a bike fit. This is definitely worth a try then to see if you can save some money on a new saddle.

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Yeah, the ISM is effectively a “no nose” saddle. If you are setting it up with the same “nose to bar” distance as a regular saddle, that is likely part of the problem.

Maybe you found this already:

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because of COVID my LBS is not doing fits…

will probably do a virtual one soon-ish

You can take a video and send it to ISM for bike fit advise FYI

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OH!

this is convenient I didnt knew about it… will do this!

Thanks!

As others have mentioned, noseless tri saddles are shorter in the front. If you have a position with your old road saddle that worked, try putting the center of the rails in the same spot, instead of matching the “nose” position.

Also, most will set up a road saddle top is level, but tri saddles are typically better with 1-3 degrees “nose” down to allow rotation into the aero position.

Even with all this, swapping from a road to tri saddle will likely require some tweaking to get it just right.

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I move the saddle further back and is much much better now!

Thanks all for the feedback

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my general observation is right opposite:

i like my saddle, but my saddle hates me… a lot!

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