Am I Over Thinking It ? The Saddle Conundrum.

Put any serious distance underneath yourself and, unless your kink is masochism, you come to appreciate the comfort of proper fitting bike.

Most cyclists get a cursory fit at the bike shop when they buy a new bike. Typically this involves a 20-something part time employee raising your seat enough and moving the handlebars up or down a little and sending you on your way. Spend a bit more money at the shop and perhaps said individual will swap out a stem and move your seat fore or aft.

In theory,  a proper fit should not be rocket science. Simply it’s the position where the principal points of the body that contact the bike – feet, hands and arse – give the rider an optimum position relative to the bikes dimensions. But what’s the difference between theory and practice, well in theory they are the same, right ?…..

To find these optimum points you have essentially two choices. One, fiddle around long enough with your stem and seat adjustments and probably you’ll find a good comfortable position that allows you to achieve your cycling goals. The same logic also dictates that a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters will, given enough time, complete a work of literary brilliance equal to that of Hemingway.

Choice two is seeking the services of a professional fitter.

A fitter will access your flexibility, your fitness and your cycling goals. They measure you up, look at your cleats and shoes, then you hop on your bike set up on a stationary trainer or specialized bike made for the purpose. You spend an hour or two while he or she puts a protractor on your knees and elbows, adjusts your seat, your cleats, your stem and ask you questions like “how does that feel? Sometimes it feels damn strange at first. Sometimes your power output is measured and adjustments refined to get you into an optimal position.

I sought out a professional fitter in 2009 after a cycling accident left me with a minor fracture to my T8 vertebra. My return to the bike 5 weeks later was damn uncomfortable. About 15 minutes into a ride I would lose feelings in my hands. 30 minutes into a ride, I would start getting numb in my gentleman’s regions. I would shift constantly trying to get comfortable. If I continued to ride, eventually I would lose feelings in my toes. It was most unpleasant. I would walk into the house after a ride sauntering like a cowboy with only a vague notion of what anatomy might be found below my waist. And if I stuffed my hands down my shorts to reassure myself, I wouldn’t have felt anything anyway on account of having lost all feeling in my hands as well.

The fitter decided to move things about. My seat was lowered and my stem raised an absurd amount to where I looked like Mary Poppins on a bike. He moved my cleats around and recommended funny and expensive insoles for my shoes. Nothing helped ease the pain and numbness while riding – other than to stop riding.

Then, after speaking with some other riders and researching,  I deduced it might be my saddle. I threw caution to the wind and bought a stupidly expensive and equally ridiculous looking saddle – a Selle SMP.  A  friend remarked that it reminded him of the Concorde.

So, minutes from returning from the bike shop I bolted it on and went for a ride. 30 minutes and, well…..no pain. 60 minutes – nada, nothing. Problem solved. No more numbness in my feet and neither regions….but I still had the ridiculous Mary Poppins position.

I did some research and found a different type of fitting system – Retul. It was expensive…I think I paid around $250 dollars close to 8 years ago. Completely objective, the Retul fit uses lasers aimed at reflectors placed on various parts of your body. The system measures angles and how your body moves as you spin about all the while the Retul fitter makes adjustments after your bike geometry is mapped by the software. My seat was RAISED and my bars LOWERED. My stem was swapped out for a longer one. A shim was placed under my left cleat due to a leg length discrepancy. The new position was still relatively comfortable relative to my Mary Poppins position but suddenly I was putting out +20 watts more than previously. Afterwards, I got a nice print out of my optimum position to refer to. That year I did a 186km ride and although utterly spent and windburned, I was pain free (my legs being the exception the next morning).

I have pretty much tried to stick to that position since, with a small deviation when I got a new frame in early 2013.  I’ve also swapped my saddle from the wide and thickly padded 150mm wide Selle SMP “Pro” to the narrower and svelte 137mm SMP “Forma” with no padding and find it more comfortable. The SMP Pro now resides on my CycleOps Pro 100 trainer.

So what does this have to do with anything and what exactly am I over thinking? Recall in the 6th paragraph I stated “stupidly expensive and equally ridiculous looking saddle.” Yeah, well….it broke. And sorry for the long winded introduction.

 

I sent an inquiry to the Canadian distributor of SMP hoping that it could be repaired, or some sort of warranty – even a “goodwill” warranty – would get me a replacement or a discount over a new one. Sadly, no. Replacement Selle SMP Forma Carbon Rail saddle, best price  I can find online = 521 Canadian dollars, delivered. Plus the possibility of HST and duties that could drive the price over $600. If I opt for the standard stainless rail model, it would be still be in the $400 range…and I need two of them – one for the Cervelo and one for the Cinelli.

Spending over a grand for two saddles….ugh….and people think golf is expensive.

So here is the conundrum. Suck up the replacement cost of the SMP or find a less expensive alternative from Selle Italia or Fizik, knowing that the fit may not be right….or will it?

I’ve ridden a SMP for 8 years now. Is it the only solution, or am I missing something by not casting a wider net in the saddle domain? Would I have solved my comfort issues had I just gone the RETUL route prior to buying the SMP? Or did the SMP solve my comfort issues and the RETUL just dialed my fit it?

I’m really curious to hear from others experience where adjusting hands and feet position solved the problem of arse….