Need your advices about the saddle for two weeks dirt road bikepacking trip on gravel bike with dropbar and aerobars. There will be mix of tarmac, dirt, forest roads, field roads and gravel roads during this trip. The distance between my sit bones is 92 mm, so the saddle must be around 130 mm width. Also I feel comfortable only on saddles with a long hole in the centre of the saddle. What saddle do I need to look for - saddle for Triathlon or it will be Ok to use normal saddle? Would be very thankful if you could mention the exact models of saddles.
Jumbo wrote:Sounds like a possible situation for an ISM: https://ismseat.com.
I had one for quite some time. Takes a little getting used to, but ultimately very nice.
Thank you! Was thinking about them. By the way - I checked the Rigs for Tour Divide 2021 page on bikepacking com. Most of the bikes were with aerobars, but only one person had triathlon saddle. Most of them were using classic Brooks or Brooks cambium saddles. Others were using normal road or mtb saddles.
After a RETUL fit, my fitter suggested I lose my carbon Brooks cambium - and so went with a Specialized Power Comp saddle. He really dislikes Brooks, says they haven't been redesigned since the 1800's, yada yada. It's a short saddle which allows for an aero position. I used it on my Colnago for road riding - but ended up putting the Brooks back on the Warbird for gravel riding. The Power Comp is now on my Kickr - which gets about 120 miles a week. Any seat thats not comfy on that Kickr shows itself pretty quick.
A leather saddle can or must have some break in time and they sort of keep you to the center which may or many not be good for mixed surfaces and not enough break in time. It seems to me like both the saddles mentioned here have some flat shape regardless of the width and in my case that's aided long rides and moving around on the bike.
I was pleased with same WTB Pure series my wife and I like for a long gravel tour that was about 35% rough going. The shape of that saddle is dropper friendly. The top chromo and ti alloy models have a firmer padding that makes a difference for long rides. To me they are like leather/Brooks suspension with more versatile shape, lower weight and lower price.
A very pleasant surprise for me was and is the Bontrager Verse model I got in times of last year shortages. To start, it comes in 4 widths. It is pretty good for moving around - comfy if you move forward or back. It's considerably slimmer than the WTB Pure I chose for a tour but has been great for fairly long days when I mix paved, unpaved and some single track 50+ to 90 mi distances. FYI on Bontrager stuff is they have a satisfaction guarantee and I kept that Verse saddle and GR1 tires even though I had an attitude I might not like them.
Saddles are very personal choices. Once you find what you like and what 'fits' you, you tend to stick with it. You know your sit bone width which is very important in choosing a saddle. I've tried several saddles and once I did the Specialized sit bones test and looked around, I discovered the WTB Rocket V probably 15 years ago now, and haven't looked back. The 130mm version is perfect and it's extremely comfortable for me on any type or length of ride. You'll need to test some but again, knowing your sit bones is key.
Agreed: saddles are so personal that I'd say recommendations are nearly worthless. Once you know basically what width works, you still just have to try a bunch until you find the shape that works for you. It can be a trying, expensive process. Sometimes you can find used or knockoff ones to try shapes. Many of us have several saddles lying around that we'd be happy to sell for a few bucks.
Also, I suggest you take a comparative look at riders on the Tour Divide in their aerobars VS TT or triathlon riders. You'll note that the latter are much lower and more stretched out, as aerodynamic optimization is the goal. This requires that the pelvis roll forward, thus the special saddles. Triathlon bikes, especially, have incredibly steep seat tubes (not UCI legal) to get the pelvis really far forward as well. Tour Divide riders are using their aerobars more for comfort, and the resulting position doesn't require much pelvic tilt, so normal saddles are preferred.
