What is actually the coolest song of the year? So, not your personal favourite song and not the song with the most downloads, but the objectively coolest song of the year? With questions like this, you either get a shrug of the shoulders at the pub table or you start a lengthy discussion. The result: no result.
It is similarly difficult to determine the best of all bike saddles. Of course, there are technical methods for analysing the ergonomic qualities of seating: For example, you can place pressure measurement foils over the saddle and read exactly where uncomfortable or even unhealthy pressure points occur on the tester's backside. If the perineal area is coloured red on the screen, the saddle is not recommended. Alternatively, you can go to great lengths to measure genital blood flow while pedalling on a stationary bike. If this decreases significantly, there is a risk of permanent damage. The tester may be pleased to know about his penile blood flow - but it only says something about himself.
Such experiments are not really transferable. Sure, you could measure 100 bikers in a row with enormous effort and find out which saddle fits most of them. But what use is that in a specific individual case? About as little as determining the coolest song based on the sales hit parade.
EXPERIMENTS NOT TRANSFERABLE TO INDIVIDUAL CASES
Nevertheless, buying a saddle is not a complete game of chance. Ergonomic and technical criteria significantly reduce the number of failed attempts. The most important of these is the right saddle width. Many bike saddles fit poorly because they are actually racing bike saddles. They were often developed by the manufacturers in collaboration with racing cyclists - and these are usually very petite men with a high pain tolerance and an extremely flat posture. Narrow, hard saddles are perfectly okay for them. But bikers sit differently - and they have very different needs.
The test results of these saddle models can be found below as a PDF download:
- Under 80 euros:
MenRED X Clim Airtec, Ritchey Marathon Comp, Selle Italia C 2, Velo Pro
WomenSpecialized Ariel SL 130, Selle Italia Lady, SDG Allure, SQlab 611 (13)
- 80 to 130 euros:
MenFizik Gobi XM, Selle Italia SLR XC, Specialised Phenom SL (130)
Women: Fizik Vitesse, Ritchey WCS Biomax, Terry RSR
- Over 130 euros:
MenPrologo Vertigo Nack, Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbonio
WomenFizik Tundra Carbon, San Marco Mantra
