Selle SMP discussion

Cool, will try that too perhaps

I have been delighted in general with my move to these saddles. They are a revelation, and I didn't find previous saddles uncomfortable.

This reads like everything was not uncomfortable and now the revelation gives me bruising?

Yeah, as I wrote it I thought it didn't read well.

I used to use a charge spoon. I was always comfortable but suffered from numbness in places that nobody wants to be numb. The SMP is even more comfortable on short rides, I feel more planted on the bike, but I ended up a bit bruised after yesterday, which after only 220km or so was a bit of a shock.

My unchanged setup felt a bit interesting yesterday as well after 100km. Short or long rides, it is all relative ;-)

With the SMP, you do need to do some adjustment to get it just right.

A few days of riding on Dynamic left me feeling a bit bruised as well, plus got some chafing. As SMP product info says, padding is minimal. I'll try and lower the saddle a bit. Does feel very promising and the lack of numbness is really noticeable (first cutout saddle for me, though).

Agreed, I'll take the bruising over the numbness every day

Could it just be that because you could sit on the saddle all day, you did? Do you try and stand / unweight the saddle over rough stuff?

I do always try and take weight off on bumps, and actually made a bit of conscious effort to stand on some of the climbs.

TBF it could simply be taking a while to get used to sitting differently, your sit bones have been used to sitting on saddle for eons, then suddenly you have to use a different bones to sit on it.

I rarely take weight off when going over bump as the centre have a bit of flex, except for the carbon one where I do have to stand up on bump.

Been enjoying the Extra on my commuter, thinking of buying an SMP for the best bike, only slight issue with the the Extra is that the nose is perhaps a littler wider than would be optimal and thus rubs slightly on my thighs (something I have found with several saddles). For people with experience of both is the Evolution a less padded narrower (at the front) Extra? If not are there any that are, or should I just get another Extra/lighter padded version (?) and see how the thigh rubbing goes.

Are there any Selle SMP stockists in London? I'd quite like to see a Dynamic or even a Stratos.

I believe @Mechamorgan was going to test ride some from Cadence in Crystal Palace (now if you call that london or not is a whole other kettle of fish)

They no longer stock them, or didn't when I went down @graunch

Got a lite 209 in, will write up a compare with the pro :)

Been having some discomfort since landing on the toptube of my mtb a few months ago. Wasn't too bad with my Fizik Arione this morning but ride to work on aTurbomatic was torture. I've ordered a fake SMP to see if it helps and may buy a genuine one if it does.

I went for full carbon, no padding as I reckon if it feels ok then maybe get genuine one with a little padding and it'll be even better.

Cheapest I could find the full carbon,

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newest-hollow-mountain-bike-3K-full-carbon-fibre-saddle-road-bicycle-saddle-MTB-front-seat-mat/32368661944.html?spm=2114.01010108.3.182.uc4ZnQ&ws_ab_test=201526_5,201527_1_71_72_73_74_75,201409_2

I ride my forma with normal trousers. Sitbones of metal.

Is the fake carbon shaped flat like the composit @edscoble

Are they actually durable, wouldn't want to have a broken saddle really!?

Flat top? Yeah pretty much.
Durable - YMMV a few broken by user error, I snapped the nose on mine due to my seat post spreading it too wide, but have repaired it myself and since then no problems

the shape is quite the same

a real one has flex though

I've done 3300km on my fake carbon SMP. I was sceptical about durability but mine's been ok.

I think they are a bit overbuilt (though still very light) compared to the real thing.

I'm edging on the weight limit for the fake so I don't expect it'll last forever.

Also it cost £15 so I don't expect it'll last forever, nor will I be upset if it doesn't.

Was going to go with a metal railed Extra copy but thought may as well try the carbon one.

yeh they seem quite overbuilt. Quite likely safer just to overdo it and not worry about carbon flexing like the real one, so you wont have to worry about bad ebay ratings caused by broken saddles.

Sweet thanks. Might try one, find the forma a bit curved for an aggressive position.

I also have mine set up with the middle portion pretty much level, as opposed to the normal nose up position.
Like that it rides like a normal saddle but with a decent cut out