Selle SMP discussion

What if I ran them at a lower pressure?

Thanx for the good anwers. Ordered the Composit from LordGun, let's see if it works for me :)

Does anyone have a composit to sell, or if in near new condition to trade/part ex with a near new dynamic?

Hi hi.
The Chinese have even made a copy of the not-for-sale test saddle. Just so that you can convince your fellow riders that you're a total badass who never bothered returning it.

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Is there actually a legit full carbon test saddle like that?

Page twelve in the catalogue: http://www.sellesmp.com/smp4bike/images/stories/pro2016-en/index.html#p=12

The catalogue specifically states that the weird colour scheme signifies that it is not for sale and has to be returned. Mind you, no idea if the test saddle is full carbon.

I've got an original Full Carbon (I know nuts to pay £300 for a saddle!!) but as someone else has posted much earlier in the discussion, the comfort to me is priceless. Before this saddle I tried 43 different makes and models only to send them back or sell them on for different reasons.
I went to Dillglove in Sutton Coldfield as they're local to me and they let me borrow a carbon one with the steel rails which helped enormously with my decision.
I've also got a Composit which is on the bike I use over winter which has a slightly softer feel but there's not much in it, the carbon is definitely the favourite though as I do tend to move around and the polished surface helps this.
Would be interesting to see and compare one of the fake carbon ones.
I can also confirm that the real carbon rails have a split metal cover on the oval carbon rails, top and bottom, presumably as reinforcement and you can only use a top/bottom clamping on a seat post - the side clamping ones will damage the rails.
(P.S. Post 194 had me in stitches!)

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I can also confirm that the real carbon rails have a split metal cover on the oval carbon rails, top and bottom.

Make sense, the fake one is painted on.

Gonna have to get the rear carbon one in future for audaxes, not gonna trust the fake one for that!

Just tried a fake carbon smp on my new bike. To get it even slightly comfortable I had to have it pushed all the way forward on an inline post and it still wasn't far enough. Did 10 miles and feel like I've been cleaved in twain. Back to the Romin I think. If I had a 75 deg seat tube or did a gaston with a reversed setback post I might be able to get on with it. :(

Carbon SMP work best with bibs and quite a lots of adjusting.

It's likely you don't need it that far, just the angle need careful adjusting.

I did 80 k's on a new Composit, set up in same way as the Dynamic I had on the bike before hand.

So damn perfect! Could happily do 100 miles (with bibs!) on it.

Always felt the dynamic was a touch wide. The Composit is spot on, even though there's no padding. Get the angle, and height right and you wont feel cleaved, just relieved.

I was wearing bibs and adjusted the angle a fair bit, couldn't find a sweet spot. Best was about -3 deg, which is what Steve Hogg seems to recommend. I could feel that when I pushed myself further back it was comfortable, but then my knees were in the wrong place. Without being able to push the saddle forward any further there wasn't much more I could do.

I generally need normal saddles pretty far forward on an inline post, that was the main change with my position when I went to see Scherrit. Short femurs, long shins and big feet.

Thanks for the #internetbikefit though ed.

Just realised that the main problem is large bicycles have a very slack seat angle which may contribute to this.

Likely to be a lots slacker than the standard 73 degrees angle ( usually to make the top tube longer).

Yeah, the slack seat angle is a bastard on big bikes. Basically everything carbon is 72.5 at best. This is a Kinesis 4S disc 63cm though, so seat angle is 73.5. Best I can find really... Even track bikes in big sizes are slack as all hell.

"not cleaved, but relieved"

:)
#rep

That is reasonable, 73.5 should give you a decent range.

I find that the angle is incredibly important for an SMP - in that, I can set the angle so it works for longer rides in the drops, but that would be too low for tooling around on the tops, and would load up my shoulders.

That is true, on the tourer, it's perfectly levelled, but on the roadie, the nose is slightly lower.

I've an Lite 209, I put it on a single speed (level) and now it's on another single speed where I sit deeper down.
From an about 40% top tube/me angle it's now down to about 15% so a nearly flat back.

So I noticed I'm sitting pretty much on the nose only. The setback is the same as on the first bike it was on, but there I would use the back of the saddle and be able to use it.

Should I slam it forward, or is that just the way it is, eg, deep down = you sit on the nose anyway due to hip rotation?

Bar trousers crumping up and digging in a bit (hai work commute) it's comfy enough.

^ You're not alone - they are fiddly saddles.
I've only recently put a composit on my roadie (which is absolutely perfect) so now the dynamic is on the fixed. I need to tweak it nearly every day in the quest for comfort again! Getting close though. The slight angle/height differences make a huge difference so persevere and eventually you'll find the sweet spot.

I also found I'm more comfortable on the Dynamic without padded bibs meaning I could now consider commuting in jeans - maybe.

I've just swapped to a composit on my road bike, and I think a combination of luck and being not too sensitive, but I have it just about right.

@JWestland I have mine pretty much flat, and I find I ride on the nose, relatively, at higher cadences and further back at lower cadences / pushing more power. Might be down to different gearing on the two bikes? (also, when you say setback is the same, do you mean reach? Or just the place it is on the seatpost?)

Hi - :)

The setback is the reach relative to the seatpost.
The gearing is the same as the other bike (49x17)
The angle is set to "flat" (parallel)

It's not perse uncomfortable, I just notice I use the nose only and not the tails at the rear of the saddle. Not sure if needs slammed forwards (breaking the rule that setback relative to BB always must be the same on any bike...) or that it's normal due to forward hip rotation.

Is the seat tube angle the same on both bikes?

Have received a Drakon and Pro to test. Hopefully they solve some issues.

Have you tried adjusting the angle of the saddle to more nose down? If you're lower at the front you may be rotating your hips more and therefore feeling the nose of the saddle more. On my lemond where I have a pretty flat back I found I had to have my composit quite nose down before I don't feel the nose, so as everyone else has said worth having a play