Selle SMP Composit Saddle

[Splash]

Hi all.

Spent the first 4 hours on this saddle and as expected - sore but not sorry.

My sit bones were bruised afterwards with a little pain in the back in some places.

i paid for my bike to be professionally fitted to my body - including the saddle. i also wear a quality pair of SUGOI BIBS with generous padding (but thinking of buying some ASSOS BIBS as well)..

i love this saddle still and i know it will take a while for my body to become used to it.

What steps could i take to make this transition quicker to have less pain during and after the ride?


splash

[rnhood]

The SMP saddles work well for some people - generally people that roll their hips forward (like me). There are quite a few iterations of the SMP line so choosing one can be a challenge, even with the chart provided by SMP.

I have two Assos shorts and neither are as comfortable as my Sugoi RS (or RSE). But like saddles, everyone will have their preference and no one size fits all.

[Splash]

thanks

did you have bruised sit bones when you first begun to use this seat?

splash

[tuscanyswe]

I can usually run saddles with very little padding or even no padding but with smps i need more as the contact point is such a small (thin) area.

I much prefer the evolution to the composite for longer rides. Have both.

[oldpotatoe]

thanks

did you have bruised sit bones when you first begun to use this seat?

splash

New to Glider SMP..my sit bones weren't 'bruised', but I could tell I was sitting on them..perhaps for the first time in some years(Rolls before). I had a saddle sore, not 'sleepy winky', and the Glider allowed me to ride while that healed, and didn't make it come back any.

[Splash]

Yeah i guess bruised may be a too stronger word.

But, the bones were tender and 2 days later they still are...

I must say it is light and i did not really feel the weight at all of this seat.


Splash

[oldpotatoe]

Yeah i guess bruised may be a too stronger word.

But, the bones were tender and 2 days later they still are...

I must say it is light and i did not really feel the weight at all of this seat.


Splash

C'mon....I doubt you would 'feel' the weight of a Brooks saddle that weighs twice as much.

[Splash]

Yeah... What i meant to say was that when riding, the saddle just didnt seemed to be too obtrusive, sort of out the way - bit hard to explain....


Splash

[oldpotatoe]

Yeah... What i meant to say was that when riding, the saddle just didnt seemed to be too obtrusive, sort of out the way - bit hard to explain....


Splash

Yep, saddle, like the bike in general, should 'disappear' during the ride...

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Hi all.

Spent the first 4 hours on this saddle and as expected - sore but not sorry.

My sit bones were bruised afterwards with a little pain in the back in some places.

i paid for my bike to be professionally fitted to my body - including the saddle. i also wear a quality pair of SUGOI BIBS with generous padding (but thinking of buying some ASSOS BIBS as well)..

i love this saddle still and i know it will take a while for my body to become used to it.

What steps could i take to make this transition quicker to have less pain during and after the ride?


splash

I'm on the SMP Evolution (a bit more padding than yours, I think), and it took quite a while to get past the bruising. The challenge of course is that once they are bruised, more riding just makes the bruising more sensitive. Vicious circle of bruising. BUT, I've been very happy with the SMP since getting past that point. All in, it took several weeks to get my sit bones acclimated, during which time I thought a lot about using something else. But I've never had any inclination to switch saddles since getting past the pain, and that was 3 years ago. My boys are happy with the SMP, and when they're happy, I'm happy.

In retrospect, I probably should have eased into the saddle rather than go cold turkey.

[LJohnny]

I used the Smp Dynamic. Never had much discomfort, but i remember spending quite a bit of time fiddling with the tilt. I remember small changes make huge differences. More than in any other saddle i fanagled with.


.....

[etu]

Splash,
I've been doing some saddle switching recently myself and found that it really helps to ride in the drops more. Basically as rnhood mentioned, this position tends to tilt your pelvis forward to distribute your weight on the front part of your sit bone and give the back part some rest. Also when you're riding in the drops, you should be pushing harder which means more weight will be on your feet rather than your butt.

[Splash]

thanks guys. great input.

From an anatomical point of view, how do the sit bones become used to this and stop bruising?

splash

[austex]

Good info about SMP set-up:

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/09/all-about-smps/

[hida yanra]

thanks guys. great input.

From an anatomical point of view, how do the sit bones become used to this and stop bruising?

splash

Do you remember what your sit bones felt like when you first started riding a road saddle? If not, ask a new cyclist... no matter how well fit they are, what saddle the pick, their sit bones will be pretty damn tender for a while. They aren't adapted to it. You are significantly changing where you rest on your sit bones with an SMP, and the adaptation curve is going to be real.
Being rotated around the front lip, and having it hold you as a kind of rise/shelf (at least, I assume that's how you have the saddle set up) puts all the weight in new places... sorry chappy- that's life.

for me it was... a week or so of steady riding?

After that it was all gravy until I had to give them up.

Be aware, getting two bikes set up identically when both have SMPs is much more difficult, as knowing where you are measuring to on the saddle us quite a bit trickier.

[Splash]

great advice hida

may i ask why you had to give up the SMP saddles?

splash