Saddle woes over?

[Fatal Swan]

More or less since I started cycling I've always felt I suffer more than most with pain from the saddle - not so much the pressure/friction kind of thing, but in terms of really bad sit bone pain - a feeling like I have constant bruising. I sat on a Bontrager road bike saddle in a bike shop recently (after no recent riding at all) and felt black and blue literally after about 10 seconds - and the pain lasted for some time as well. It's quite normal for me not to ride for a month or two and then been in a lot of discomfort within a minute or two of a ride. I've had most success with WTB V-shaped saddles but even then - and with all sorts of tweaking the position and angle - if I ride the following day I usually get an awful lot of discomfort/pain. I've learned to ride through it, but it's never got any better.

The problem is, I've also become a bit of a weight weenie when it comes to my bikes, which might compound the problem a little - I'm always reluctant to waste a couple of hundred grams or so extra on a bloated saddle when it takes so much effort to lose that elsewhere on the bike! :facepalm: However, I think I might have cracked it at last. I'd read a lot of good things about the Charge Spoon but somehow never got around to trying one (the weight also put me off initially, even though they're not that heavy). But this week I got the chance to get hold of a new Charge Knife for a bargain price. Just got out on the road bike today and for the first time in I don't know how long I haven't even noticed the saddle once at all either during the ride or afterwards. Absolute bliss, to the extent that I'm wondering whether I will ever ride another brand again! And to top it off it weighs 211g, perfectly respectable to the casual weight weenie.

Though with the saddle pain gone I did seem to notice my lungs and legs hurting more than I'd like them to... :roll:

 

[The History Man]

What's the difference? (Knife/spoon).

I like rusty spoons.........

 

[Fatal Swan]

I haven't tried a Spoon yet but I understand that while they're both the same shape the Knife has a little less padding (hence lower weight), but has a more flexible base to compensate. Also the Knife only comes in the Ti railed version, the Spoon in CroMo or Ti - the Knife is about 30g lighter than the Ti railed Spoon.

I read up that the Knife may be better suited to more narrow derrieres, and the Spoon to those a bit wider - that's what made me try the Knife first, but I'll certainly be giving the Spoon a go too.

 

[Max P]

I have the exact same sit bone thing and I'm one of those who have never found anything to come close to a WTB SST and have tried many but come back to the same 15 year (well worn) '98 SST I bought BITD. But, I too just picked up a Spoon to try and have to say so far so good...