# Saddles



## Sharky (24 Apr 2019)

I've got San Marco Regal saddles on all my bikes and find them really comfortable, however on the bike I use for timetrials, I have the nose tipped down slightly to maintain comfort, but with effort, I feel myself slipping forwards on the saddle and I keep pushing myself back every few hundred yards.

I'm tinkering with saddle tilt, and going to swap my seat post with one that has the fore/aft adjustment bolts, so I can fine tune.

Also wondered if I should just move the saddle forward a cm to where I seem to be sliding to. I do have a fast forward seat post as well that does position me a lot further over the BB, but is quite extreme and doesn't look very aesthetic.

And also wondered if one of the twin nose timetrial saddles would help to get a good stable position.

If anybody has been down this tinkering route, would be good to hear of any successes.
Thanks


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## Once a Wheeler (9 May 2020)

You probably have the perfect solution by now but just to let you know what works for me I will give you the winning formula which has served me well:

Set the height of the saddle so that that your heel just takes the weight of your leg when it is on the pedal is at its lowest point.
Set the fore-and-aft position of the saddle so that your shin is verticle when the pedal is at its farthest forward and your foot is in the normal pedalling position.
It can take some fiddling to get both these criteria fulfilled but worth the time spent. When you have done this you can work out the length of the handlebar extension you need. To do this, put the point of your elbow on the point of your saddle and stretch your forearm with fingers fully extended towards the centre of your handlebars. Add ten centimetres to the farthest extent of your fingers and that should be the centre point of your handlebars.

This formula takes into account that everyone's body is different. I happen to have long arms and long feet for my height so this procedure has strongly influenced my choice of crank length and extension. I also know other riders with very different proportions from mine who have found this a successful approach.

Here's to thousands of comfortable kilometres.


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## gavroche (21 May 2020)

I have tried quite a few saddles on my bikes and so far, I found that the most comfortable is one I bought from Aldi under £10. It is slightly padded and I tilt it forward a bit to relieve the pressure on the prostate area. It seems to be working.


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## Cuchilo (4 Jul 2020)

Just put a SMP Chrono on my TT bike as i like it on the road bike . I have it slammed forward and tilted down a little . I think its very tempting when training to sit on the nose for short bursts but in a TT you may find you dont as its a full on effort ? Im getting good times in training with the change of saddle BUT less traffic on the road , a lot of rest .... hard to say .


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## davidphilips (5 Jul 2020)

Always looking for the perfect saddle and handlebar set up?
Trouble is i find with some bikes is saddle and bars feel different than when fitted to different bikes? At present my preferred saddles are Chromag (only use road bikes now and know they are really for MTBs) with narrow handlebars. 
Having said that on one bike i have the really old type radonney bars from about 30 or 40 years ago and find that they are really great when on the drops or better aero on the hoods, short drop only 38 cm centre to centre at the hoods and best thing is really long reach that gives me great support, rest my forearms when cycling aero on the hoods as i can keep really low/aero for as long as i cycle just have to find a modern bar with same shape?


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## frank9755 (10 Jul 2020)

The ISM two-pronged saddles are different. I've been using one for the last year or so, and it works for me but not for everyone.
I could never get on with angling the seat down as I used to keep slipping forward.
Everyone's different - only way out is to try something


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