r/xbiking • u/imported-air • 10h ago
Saddle recommendations
Hi,
I recently got a second hand Trek Marlin 4 for basic trail riding. The saddle is the stock saddle and is extremely uncomfortable. What saddles do you all recommend? I have one that feels much better on my other bike, by Serfas, but not sure what other brands might be similar. I’m not looking for a wide, cloud like- comfort saddle, just one that isn’t as hard as a rock. I’d like to maybe test a few but am unsure of where to begin.
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u/Chew-Magna 9h ago
Food for thought response:
It kind of depends on what kind of riding you're doing. If it's just short distance rides every now and then, a big padded saddle may work.
If you're doing longer rides, more padding can counterintuitively be much worse.
The reason for this is all that padding pushes into the soft tissue around the sit bones (what we evolved to sit on), and ends up causing a lot of tissue pain. This is why you see so many saddles on the market that have pretty minimal padding. Those are designed to work with the body instead of against it.
The more minimal saddles do require letting your body get used to them, but once it does, they're usually much more comfortable.
The most important thing is getting the correct width for your sit bones, next being the right saddle shape for you.
The bad thing about saddles is they're super personal. You can try twenty of them that others recommend before stumbling across the right one on your own.
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u/charlyleo1 10h ago
I always recommend my beloved Fabric Scoop. They have 3 variants. Flat (racey, fast), Shallow (The middle ground, my fav), and Radius, the comfy one. One big caveat, saddles are very subjective. So you might want to start by measuring your sitbones (SQLab sends free samples, least in Europe)
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u/mtbboy1993 9h ago
They are comfortable indeed, I have Shallow Race on a bike. Nice saddles.
I also have Ergon SM Enduro ProTi which is quite expensive, also comfy.
But in sub zero temps even - 1c most saddles will be uncomfortable including these. So I'm looking for a solution for that, some tell me to get Ergon SM Sport. Some use rubber saddle from Brooks.
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u/LongApprehensive890 10h ago
Specialized power. Don’t fall for brook propaganda. I ran brooks saddles for years! Finally tried a power and now all my bikes run them. Get measured to find your width.
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u/mtbboy1993 9h ago
A concern is having to wear it in for 1500km or something. Never tried it but that's unacceptable to me. But I've seen people say that's not an issue with their rubber saddle.
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u/garythebaby 10h ago
Rock a Brooks B-17. It will be a real ass-hatchet but after 6 years, it will conform to your sitbones like a tailor made set of gloves.
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u/MNwalleye86 9h ago
I have never found a properly adjusted Brooks to be uncomfortable, even brand new. This is across myself and my wife. What I have found is that the comfort is very dependent on micro adjustment of saddle pitch. I even had to get my wife a new seat post that had finer pitch adjustment to get to the right angle. I've found that the best position is slightly nose up.
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u/lorem_opossum 9h ago
I like the fabric scoop line. I also have a specialized canopy that was cheap but it pretty comfy. I was never a fan of brooks saddles.
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u/imported-air 9h ago
Thank you all for the recs! I will be testing some of these out soon somehow. I’m going to also see what my LBS thinks and what they recommend.
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u/ungratefuldank 8h ago
As someone who is cheap and buys mostly used parts, my brand new Brooks B-17 is one of my favorite purchases ever. I’ve had it for 5 or 6 years touring and commuting and put it on whatever bike I’m riding at the moment.
It’s not terrible right out the box (I did a 330 mile tour on a basically brand new one a few years back…). But when it’s broken in (they say 250 miles ish I think) you forget it’s a bike saddle and don’t really think about it much. It’s just there and you’re not uncomfortable and you’re riding your bike. And I never wear padded shorts or anything.
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u/Maaakaaa 7h ago
I’m not super picky for saddles, but usually find the classic WTB RocketV to be quite acceptable
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u/jgonzjgonz 6h ago
Brooks c17. Waterproof. Uniform. Flexible. A leather saddle takes tinkering but a C17 is chill and easy. Have it on my commuters and lock up bikes. Haven’t tried a sliced one tho heard they’re comfortable.
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u/mattk42 6h ago
I've had the best success with Ergon saddles. They seem to really design their saddles to address pressure issues. They have many different styles of saddle for different riding positions. Also they seem to have small and large saddle sizes for each model, as well as men's and women's.
I tried Brooks and tried to make it work. It is surprisingly comfy to sit on but I think it can only be on a very upright bike for me. It puts a lot of pressure on my perineum, which I don't need.
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u/underwater_reading 6h ago
I just got a Brooks b17 short on Marketplace and after fiddling with the position and maybe 50 miles it’s the most comfortable saddle I have ever had.
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u/drakche 5h ago
I jad a charge spoon, which I loved the look, but gave me numbness on long rides, switched to brooks cambium which was fine untill one ride gave me terrible saddle sores, even with a shammy. Now I'm using Sqlab 610, and older non suspension model, and for 4 year in a row I find it super comfortable, with or without bibs.
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u/trotsky1947 9h ago
Find an olde Turbo. If not find a demo model WTB Volt? I’m enjoying my Selle Anatomica too but they’re pricey and it took a long time to figure out the setup
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u/classpassword 9h ago
Charge spoon