Anyone got recommendations for tan/light brown saddles that are not a Brooks/Brooks adjacent shape? Try as I might I can’t get any of those saddles to work for me, but am vain and want a nice tan color saddle to match some other tan and shiney bits.
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Turbo?
Regal?
I’ve used the velo vl1221 which has suited me well and is cheap and comes in brown.
Find the saddle that fits you and have it re-covered in brown?
Found this:
I know you said “no Brooks “, but a Cambium worked very well for me and I don’t normally do the Brooks thing
Tried a couple of those too. To be fair I haven’t found any perfect saddle though
Smitty needs a new butt
charge spoon?
what are your saddle fit issues? perhaps we can steer you toward something
I always find myself sitting on the nose of the saddle or my sit bones uncomfortably on the rear edge. I’ve also had 5 pro bike fits by 5 fitters on 3 different bikes and after all of them I still never feel comfortable for more than 20 miles or so. I’ve got super long legs for my height and my right hip has limited inward rotation but otherwise I don’t know what’s going on. Every fitter seems to think I’m flexible enough and have enough core strength (though I’d argue I don’t have enough core strength but that’s another topic I’d suppose)
what’s your sit bone width? do you find you sit uncomfortably on your perineal soft tissue or mostly on your sit bones?
there’s a nice natural cork saddle
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I don’t remember what I’ve been measured at but one fitter has told me I need a wider saddle and another has told me I need normal ~140mm saddles. So far my best fit/saddle is a normal 142mm wide Spec Power Arc, but I’m not sure I’ve actually put enough miles on it to say it’s better than the previous ~150mm wide Spec Power (not arc) or Fizik Terra Argo.
I find that I have a lot of pressure on my sit bones with these more modern “flat” saddles. The multitude of Brooks I’ve tried all feel like they are digging a hole in my perineal.
I also generally have the issue of too much weight on my arms/hands. I’ve had some fitters try the tall/short stem and set back saddle but then that just makes me feel like I’m shrugging my shoulders and hunching too much.
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I know you said “not Brooks adjacent” but I find Berthouds fit fairly differently from Brooks. With much thicker leather, they’re mostly supporting my sit bones.
Edit: and for reference, I also ride the Fabric Scoop Flat for a “modern” saddle.
B17 is very short. Team pro and the longer ones are kind of like a hammock?
Selle Anatomica are also a bit more hammocky, and cutout but if you sit on the cantle of a Brooks you probably will on a SA
Have you done the specialized butt measure doofer thing? Mine comes out at 150 on their scale but my fave saddles are the b-17 and the spez power 168 mm.
My most recent fit was at a Spec shop and they measured me and told me I should be on ~140ish
Some good ideas in this thread. Maybe I’ll finally try a bethoud
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Make note of how much larger the plastic rear crescent (as they call it) is on the Berthoud saddles compared to the same part on a Brooks. That’s going to leave a smaller sweet spot for sitting on the leather.
I’ve tried two Bethouds, an Arivis or Aspin (can’t remember which) on a drop bar bike and the wider Mente on a more upright bike. I liked the shapes but ended up wanting to sit far enough back that I was on the rear crescent on both and that wasn’t comfortable. The Mente is 180mm wide but there’s only about 120mm between the rear crescent (the red line in the pic below).
