Bike Saddle Types & Reviews

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The Best Bike Saddles of 2020

A saddle is one of the most important components on your bike – it doesn’t matter if you have he most bling bike on earth if you hate your seat.


Crankboutique covers the essentials of bike saddles and our countdown of our favourite perches into the new decade.

Bike Saddles are Personal

Road cycling is a deeply subjective pastime, but if there’s a single component that few people agree on it’s saddles.

The key reason is that everyone is physiologically different – what works for one person is very unlikely to work for another. Differences in the measurements of the sit bones ( Tuber ischiadicum) there are the most common reason why people will get on with one saddle or another, but there are a few other key reasons too:

Conditioning

Stronger, faster riders are more likely to get on with flatter and more rigid saddles compared to commuters and leisure riders.

Injuries

Hip or back injuries can have a big influence on what is more comfortable for you – especially over distance.

Wrong Shape

Posteriors and legs come in all shapes and sizes, many of us try to ride saddles that are quite simply the wrong shape.

Wrong Use

There are also saddles for specific purposes. The most obvious of these is saddles designed for trail mountain biking vs performance road cycling – but even within those definitions, there’s a wide variety.

How to Measure For Your Bike Saddle

There’s two options:

At Home

The tried and tested method for home bum measurement is a piece of cardboard – simply sit on it and you’ve got your measurements. Measure the tip to tip of your and you can use these dimensions to help you find the right saddle. You can also take the piece of cardboard into your local bike shop if you feel like brightening someone’s day.

There’s also a few other methods out there, including this ingenious playdoh technique we found whilst trawling the internet.

There are a few brands that provide fit and measurement guidance online. F’izik is a notable mention with their Body Concept (Snake, Chameleon and Bull based on flexibility and hip movement) and Shimano’s Pro brand also have a similar saddle picker.

In Store

Your local bike shop will also be able to help you with measurement. Some brands including Specialized and Shimano’s Pro sub-brand have specific machines and tools to help you get the most accurate measurement.

Bike & Saddle – Fit & Measurement

The key reason is that everyone is physiologically different – what works for one person is very unlikely to work for another. Differences in the measurements of the sit bones ( Tuber ischiadicum) there are the most common reason why people will get on with one saddle or another, but there are a few other key reasons too:

If you do anything more strenuous than commuting and you’re changing the saddle for the first time, we’d recommend that you go a local bike shop that can help you get fit and setup. Depending on the brand and materials used, a new saddle may make quite a difference to your riding and performance and a bike fit will help maximise this.

There’s a couple of things to keep in mind when buying a new saddle.

Saddle Height

Saddle height or seatpost height is one of the most critical things to get right on your bike setup. Hitting the sweetspot will give you the most power output, provide the most comfort and avoid knee and hip injuries.

The traditional method – using heel to pedal at six o clock with leg straight – is not a bad baseline, but ignores a bunch of other factors. The can include crank length, leg strength and pedalling style. Most bike shops will help you measure your inseam and cleat position (if you use clip ins) to get a much better fit. Many also have specific sizing rigs – well worth it if you’re doing more than a commute.

Saddle Tilt

The tried and tested method for home bum measurement is a piece of cardboard – simply sit on it and you’ve got your measurements. Measure the tip to tip of your and you can use these dimensions to help you find the right saddle. You can also take the piece of cardboard into your local bike shop if you feel like brightening someone’s day.

Nearly all saddles will allow for a degree of tilt – moving the nose and rear of the saddle up and down.

For most people, a “neutral” tilt – that is the saddle being horizontal fore to aft – is going to provide the best mix of comfort and performance. Of course that isn’t true for everyone – many of our local riders prefer a slight tilt to the nose to reduce back pressure and provide more resistance for hard efforts.

Again, unless you’re certain on your preferences a good bike fit will help you get the most out of this.

There’s a great in depth video on the FastFitnessTips channel if you really want the ins and outs.

Saddle Fore/Aft Positioning

All saddles will be able to be slide back or forward in the seat clamp – most saddles will come with markings on the rails showing the degree of fore and aft adjustment.

The traditional and widely accepted view of how to get this setup for you is the Knee Over Pedal Spindle (KOPS) method. With the cranks horizontal, use a plumb line or spirit level to measure from the knee cap down – it should go straight through the spindle. If not, you know if you need to adjust fore or aft.

However, KOPS doesn’t account for many things including conditioning, injuries, pedalling style or torso size and shape. Another one for your friendly bike fitter if you’re doing more than moderate time on your bike.

Bike Saddle Parts

All saddles can be broken down into three key parts:

Saddle Shell

This is the structural part, or the “chassis” of the saddle. This provides the shape and support of the overall saddle. This can be made from a range of materials including plastics, nylons and other composites, carbon fibre and leather.

Saddle Rails

The rails help to provide structure to the saddle and connect the saddle to the seatpost. Rails can be made any mixture of metals and alloys or carbon fibre on performance saddles.

Saddle Cover

The cover is the layer on top of the saddle – this provides no functional quality but to provide extra comfort to the rider. Modern finishes are often synthetic and can include either foam or gel padding, although a riders comfort level is generally determined by the overall shape rather than the finish. Too much padding is generally a bad thing for most riders as it can prevent proper support. Investing in a good pair of bibs also helps with comfort!

Generally, traditional leather saddles (like those made by Brooks) will have no cover – the shape will conform to the rider over time. There are also carbon fibre saddles for weight weenies, hill climbers and sadists (such as those made by Scmolke) that will have no cover whatsoever.

The price of a saddle generally indexes pretty well to the brand and exoticness of the material used. Carbon shell and carbon rails? Expect to pay far more.

Saddle Shape

There are a huge amount of variety even within these definitions, but broadly there are two main shape types catering for different uses:

Racing / Performance

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Comfort & Cruiser

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Our Favourite Bike Saddles of 2020

Best Saddles for Comfort

Brooks Cambium C13

The Cambium is a stunning work of art that also happens to be a great performing bike saddle. Like most great works of art however that comes at a price. If you’re looking for a long term saddle or you have the spare money, then this is definitely a saddle that should be on your consideration list. Our Review.

Best Saddles for Comfort

Shimano PRO Turnix Carbon

The Turnix is PRO’s endurance orientated model – there’s not too much padding and there’s a decent amount of flex in the shell to keep you comfortable. A very good saddle at a good price for those with a bit of flex and like getting miles in their legs. Our Review.

Best Saddles for Comfort

Selle SMP Pro

While on the heavier side, the Selle SMP Pro is a high end piece of kit with a quality finish and durability. For many the distinctive shape and aggressive cutouts make it far more comfortable than a traditional shape, but for definetly one to try before you buy. Just be prepared to get a lot of questions from other cyclists if you do get one – it stands out!

Best Saddles for Racing

Specialized Power Pro

Specialized kicked off the whole movement for short nose saddles when it launched the Power way back in 2015. Fast forward 5 years and it’s still one of the best out there. While there are lighter (and more expensive) models in the range, for us its the Power Pro that still hits the sweet spot of price and getting the power down. Highly recommended.

Best Saddles for Racing

Fabric Scoop Race Flat

The Scoop Flat has not changed a whole lot since it’s original release and it doesn’t have to – it’s an awesome saddle. The race version may not be for everyone on longer rides as it skews towards stiffness, but if you’re after a saddle that’s going to let you get the power down in aggressive positions and you don’t want to shell out a huge sum, then it’s very hard to look past the humble British brand.

Best Saddles for Racing

Bontrager Montrose Elite

The Montrose Elite is one of our favourite saddles. For the money the combination of comfort combined with the ability to put the power down is hard to beat. The Elite is the second tier version with Ti rails and a poly shell. Our Review.

Best Saddles for Racing

ISM PN 3.0

ISM saddles are heavier than traditional saddles due to the reinforcing material needed for the split shell. A few extra grams isn’t generally so much of an issue for those doing tri and TT, but it’s worth pointing out. For us this doesn’t detract from the quality of this saddle. This is a high quality piece of engineering, designed for a specific purpose on which it delivers brilliantly. Our Review.

Best Saddles for Racing

Fizik Arione R3

It’s fair to say that the Arione is now a bit of a veteran being nearly a decade old design and while Fizik have somewhat moved away from their spine design concept the Arione is still one of the best saddles if you’re flexible and into racing at any level. The R3 is stiff an has a deep profile for lots of thigh clearance. If you need more convincing also look up the list of grand tour stage wins on this very saddle…

Best Women Specific

Selle Italia SLR Lady Flow

If you’re after an aggressive women’s specific racing saddle then you could do much worse than Selle’s Lady Flow. While the names is faintly silly, the lightweight and stiffness of this saddle is no joke and we found the ventilation excellent due to the large cut out. Be wary that it might not be for all shapes though – this is definitely one to try before you buy.

Best Women Specific

Liv Contact SL Forward

Liv is Giant’s women specific range and the Forward, as the name might suggest, is aimed at those getting forward and into the drops. While it is great for that, we also found it great for all day rides with a good amount of support and comfort from the lightweight saddle – some might want for a cut out though.

FAQs

How Can I Get A Saddle That Fits?

We can’t stress this enough – go try at a shop or a demo if you can. Saddles are arguably the most subjective part of any bike.

How Can I Get the Best Deal?

As always, you might get the best deal online but we definitely wouldn’t recommend that as a first stop if you’re buying a new model – visit your LBS.

What is the Best Bike Saddle?

We’ve listed our favourites above, but we know from our group rides that there is rarely agreement on saddles – it’s very personal!

What Saddles Do The Pros Use?

The pro team sites and manufacturers will generally list what team uses what, although know that some of the pros will use a cheeky bit of marker to get away with personal preference!

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