Saddle Testing...we have a winner

I'm always impressed by Competitive Cyclist. They consistently provide the most detailed reviews of products and have a great "zoom" feature so you can see the goods up close.

They have a demo program for bikes, wheels and saddles. Each one allows you to put some or all of the cost of the demo towards the purchase of the product.

I decided to order the saddle demo to see if there was something out there that I would prefer to my Cedesius. I don't have any issues with my saddle, it's really light and really comfy, but I was curious.

The saddles (11 of them) came in a hard plastic case, 5 on the top layer (1 missing below because it was on my bike)...


and 6 on the bottom.


Some of the saddles got a full test ride, others just got 5-10 minutes while on my trainer. That was the simpler way to get to the 2-3 that I thought fit me the best.

And the winner was...

The Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow.


It did the best job of keeping the pressure on my sit bones and off of my perineum. It is flatter than the standard, and lighter, SLR, which is why it worked well.

If for some reason I grew tired of my current saddle, the SLR Gel Flow would be the one I would pick, but my Cedesius is still the champ. It doesn't have a cut-out, but it does have a groove.

Now, if I could only decide on a Soloist Carbon or an R3...