Selle An-Atomica: most comfortable saddle ever?

[Danny]

Last year Blonde (who has since sadly gone missing from CC) recommended that I buy a Selle An-atomica as a way of preventing saddle sores*.

Selle An-atomica are leather saddles, with a large cutout, made by a small California based company called MCM.

MCM seems to be largely run by a guy called Tom Milton. While Tom was very prompt at responding to email queries, dealing with him was a bit of a challenge at first partly because he seemed to want an overly detailed description of the exact size and location of my saddle sores, and partly because of the slightly odd way in which he answered questions.

Having concluded that he was a bit of an eccentric, in the Sheldon Brown mould, earlier this year I plucked up the courage to order the Titanico leather saddle, which has a waterproof finish.

From Day One the saddle has been really comfortable and required none of the breaking in you need with a Brooks. Even better, after nine months of use I have not had a single saddle sore.

The saddle isn’t cheap $175 + $25 shipping to the UK, but I would strongly recommend it to anyone who suffers from saddle sores or just wants the ultimate in riding comfort.

* By saddle sores I mean small painful raised lumps which will only go away if you stop cycling for several weeks.

 

[Tynan]

sores can only be a misfit between sir and saddle surely and hence liable to be a rather personal thing?

 

[Danny]

Whether I had had saddle sores or not, I would still maintain that the Selle An-atomica is very comfortable. And their website has a whole section filled with testimonials from people who have had a similar experience.

Also, I missed out describing the correspondence I had with Tom Milton where he explained why he believes that the design of a traditional Brooks saddle is likely to cause problems. Basically, he argues, that over time a Brooks can form a ridge in the middle that puts extra pressure on your perineum.

Interestingly I notice in the latest C+ magazine that Brooks have just brought out a new saddle with a cut-out like the Selle An-Atomica.

 

[New Horizon]

There's a review on BikeRadar of that Brooks. I bought an An-Atomica Titanico a little while ago, in my continuing search for a comfortable saddle. In the light of crazily escalating prices of Brooks, the price isn't too out of the way. It arrived in just a few days from US, with a comprehensive booklet on setting it up, which struck me as pseudo-science babble. My first reaction was that the nose leather was fixed off centre, until I realised it actually pivoted! Its also long at 300mm (x 160mm wide), which gives long rails for plenty of adjustment, unlike the Brooks. The underside is laminated with another piece of leather, and the spec for this can be varied to suit rider weight, and its all held together with chunky copper rivets. The leather felt noticeably more supple than a Brooks (of which I've tried plenty, and never really got on with) and, of course, it features a large central cut out, 200mm long. First ride was good, comfortable from the off, and now after 300 miles, I don't think about it a great deal. It stretched quite a lot in the first 100 miles or so, visibly dipping, but a few turns on the allen bolt each time sorted it and it seems to have stabilised now. This was all to be expected as it was comprehensively covered in the booklet. Its no more expensive than some of the top end saddles available, inc Brooks, and, for me, it’s the most comfortable saddle ever.

 

[Danny]

Thanks for adding the additional info New Horizon. Your experience with the saddle mirrors mine.

Just a minor word of warning, I recently found that that the saddle started "squeaking" badly and couldn't work out what was causing the noise. Emailed Tom who advised me to lubricate the pivot point by the nose of the saddle, which immediately cured the problem.

 

[New Horizon]

I have to admit when it arrived I assumed the nose had been fixed off centre; the 'pivot' action was quite tight and I hadn't realised it did indeed pivot, it just seemed to be horribly lop sided!. Emailed Tom who responded straight away, so it had a squirt of GT85 at that point. Squeaky Brooks saddles have had the same treatment to good effect (springs and leather itself where fixed to rails).