Which selle smp

Because of the extreme sloping profile of this seat, it's imperative to get the fore and aft adjustment and the tilt of the saddle just right. The bottom line is that riders who typically experience pressure or discomfort in their sensitive soft tissues will find tremendous relief with this saddle! One of the biggest concerns we had when we first looked at this saddle was that we would end up feeling like we were straddling a small box-frame.

This concern was soon alleviated after the first quick spin and forgotten after a few longer rides. Firm foam padding, stiff alloy rails, and a solid carbon-reinforced nylon shell ensure that very little power is lost in the saddle without sacrificing comfort.

The leather cover and tapered nose smoothly mitigate thigh-rub and minimize saddle-thigh contact, keeping you going with the flow. The SMP Pro ranks well in the performance category, right alongside lighter and stiffer racing-inspired saddles, which is impressive because of its amazing pressure-relieving qualities. It can strike an ideal balance between rigid power transfer, forgiving flex, and anatomically-friendly design, landing among the highest-ranked products in or lineup, and earning our Top Pick for Anatomic Relief.

We have no reason to believe that the lifespan of this saddle shouldn't be several seasons, as long as you aren't chewing on the nose or taking a ton of hard spills. The premium leather black or Lorica colored covers will last a long time, particularly given the strong, tucked-away anchoring under the shell. The shell is tough nylon with carbon fiber reinforcement, adding considerable strength to the framing.

It sits atop rails made of tubular steel - the most common type of stainless steel, selected for its resistance to corrosion. Foam padding can certainly wear down over time, but the firm elastomer foam, which is essentially rubber, showed no signs of breaking down during our testing period and generally lasts much longer than lighter, less dense types of foam padding. The most durable saddles in our lineup all have more streamlined designs with thinner or denser padding and include higher-end materials that tend to perform better and last longer.

We've found that thicker or softer padding tends to wear down quicker and change shape or lose support over time. The only durability concern we have with the SMP Pro is that the leather cover is held in place on the bottom side with staples and glue, without a firm guard around the leather edges, so any small tears could potentially lead to a tearing or peeling cover.

One of the surprising things about the SMP Pro is that it is not just a comfort cruiser for those looking for pressure relief in their soft tissues. Its bulk, padding and dramatic relief channel might suggest that it's for the folks who prefer to stay back and cruise when the attacking starts, and while it's definitely a great saddle for exactly that, its downturned nose and supportive tail are perfect for getting down in the drops and doing some pain-infliction of your own.

We found that the dramatically sloping profile makes it easy to slide back and forth through different riding positions and find a comfortable spot. The firm padding and extreme cut-out channel make this a great saddle for the sit-down and grind style of climbing for those of you lucky enough to have categorized climbs in your life.

Start with the saddle level which in the case of SMP means putting a hardcover book or a cutting board on the highest points of the saddle, i. My Glider on the road bike, for example, is tilted down 2.

Even 1 degree makes a big difference. Very good saddle, wide open in the centre, so the blood flow is very good in THAT zone. Great for comfort. My real beef with it is its cover started cracking precisely where I was seated along its length. What was a comfy saddle for long rides now felt like hell to sit on after a year of riding. I have the Avant and Lite in my collection and the Avant is what I used for a 10 hr ride last year.

Incredible saddles. Loves these saddles. First saddle that worked for me. I have wide sits bones so I need the width. I like the plush padding as well. I am quite flexible and this saddle works on the hoods, in the drops, and stretched out on the clip on aero bars. The tilt adjustment needs to be very precise, but once it is the seat disappears. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. Support us! BikeRumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn more. Which means in turn that if you have a wide pelvis but are flexible enough to be able to roll your pelvis forward well and extend your back well, you may be able to comfortably use a narrower seat than would be expected. Conversely, a rider with a narrower pelvis who is inflexible and sits with a more upright position may need a wider seat than would be obvious at first glance.

Naturally, there are any number of permutations of morphology, function and seat choice in between those extremes. If you have the ability to roll your pelvis forward on most other seats, you are jamming the soft tissue of the perineum and genitalia into the seat. When I recommend a particular SMP to a rider it is usually on the basis of having observed how they function on a bike as well as their size and their global function off the bike. SMP push research linking pelvic shapes and compression issues as a major design criterion of their range.

All share certain features. None of them are flat as viewed from the side. All have a dip in the middle and and degree of dip varies from model to model. Basically, the greater the dip, the more the seat is designed for the rider to potentially rotate their pelvis forward and lower their torso. All are designed to be ridden at a variety of angles from level to nose down, typically between negative 2 and 5 degrees, with the Avant, Pro and Glider being exceptions.

This is measured between the high point on either side of the channel at the rear to the high point on either side before the nose droops down. All have a full length centre cutout, though the width varies between models. The reason for the cutout is that as the rider rolls their pelvis forward and more heavily loads the IPR, there would be uncomfortable pressure on soft tissue and nerve compression without a good sized cutout.

All have a Concorde like drooping nose. My assumption has been that this is to avoid catching the underside of the riders knicks on the nose of the seat when dropping back onto the seat after an off the seat effort.

All the steel seat rail versions have a rail that is one piece, not the usual two separate seat rails. When a seat has a large chunk of the centre cut out of it, there is a reduction in the strength and rigidity of the seat shell. This is regained by having a rail design that is separate where each side of the rail plugs into the front of the seat, but one piece at the rear. An additional factor is the thermoplastic shells seem to be made from much more rigid material than most other brands.

The one piece rail design of the steel railed versions, as well as the carbon railed versions of the seats with thermoplastic shells, means that the rails can be replaced in event of a failure. All that is needed is to undo 2 groups of 4 self tapping allen screws that hold down the 2 cantle plates that secure the rails at the rear underside of the seat shell.

All have extraordinarily long rails. Most seats have a flat section of seat rail 70 — 75mm long. In some high end Selle Italia models, which are otherwise well designed seats, the limit markers are only 40mm apart. Given that Campagnolo, Thomson, 3T and many FSA seat post models and others have seat rail clamps that measure 40mm or more from front to rear, then seats like this have zero effective fore and aft adjustment. Additionally, the placement of the rail is such that it comes a long way towards the nose which means that the seat can be pushed back a long way if necessary.

In turn this means that many SMPs need 10 — 15mm less seat setback to maintain a given rider butt position in space than many other seats do. In terms of custom frame design, this often means that a frame designed for a performance SMP will need a seat tube angle that is 1 to 1. Unless there is enormous certainty on the part of the intending custom frame purchaser, I think it is smarter NOT to design a frame around a seat. Instead use a zero offset seat post on a custom frame with an SMP.

The shape of the Composit and Forma Families means that when the rider rotates their pelvis forward when reaching down into the drops, the rise or kick up at the rear of the seat supports part of the gluteals that would not normally be supported on a flatter profiled, more conventional seat.

That prevents the rider moving back on the seat just as the rise at the front end of the dip prevents the rider moving forward much on the seat in response to differing loads. In my view, this is a good thing. When riders have to push themselves back or forward on the seat to respond to differing loads, there is ALWAYS an issue with their position or functionality or both, whether they know it or not.

The kick up at the rear means that the rider is anchored more securely and is more stable, particularly when forcing the gear, than is the case with flatter profiled seats. Other seats that have a similar feature are the resurrected retro San Marco Concor and the Concor Lite. When pushing hard on the pedals on the flat, gravity is the major opposing force to keep our backsides in place. When riding a steep hill and forcing the gear, often effort must be expended by the upper body in clinging to the bars to prevent the rider pushing him or herself off the back of the seat.

To a lesser degree than mentioned immediately above, it is a good idea to tighten any seat post used with SMP seats as much as is sensibly possible. When seat setback is checked, it has often moved 10mm. And then mark the seat rail with correction pen or similar at the front of the seat rail clamp as per the pic below. If this advice is followed, then it is unlikely that there will be a problem. Glider Lady, Lite Lady and so on. In each case the seat is identical to the usual version in shape and padding with the only differences being cosmetic pink stitching.

SMP maintain that a human pelvis is a human pelvis and that a properly designed seat should work equally well for both genders. SMP beg to differ. Some research of theirs that came my way suggests that while women have wider ischiopubic ramen separation width relative to stature than men do, the average separation width is identical for both genders.

Lastly, one of my favourites. With most seats, moving the seat forward decreases measurable seat height and moving the seat backward increases measurable seat height. Typically, if you move a seat forward 3mm you have reduced seat height by 1mm and if you move a seat backward by 3mm you have increased seat height by 1mm.

What you will find is that the rail angle is designed like that so that moving the seat forward or backward makes little or no difference to seat height.

Whether it does or not will depend on the angle relative nose down that you run your SMP, but within the typical range of minus 2 to minus 5 degrees, not much changes with seat height when the seat is moved forward or backward.

In the model explanations below, I have listed 2 dimensions. The first and larger dimension is the overall width of the saddle at the seat shoulders; i. The second and smaller dimension is the effective width of the seat before it drops down more acutely as viewed from the side. Effective width of a seat is affected by the lateral cross section of the rear of the seat as viewed from the rear.

If the seat is perfectly flat or tapers gradually down to the sides, then the maximum width and the effective width are the same or much the same. However, if a seat tapers sharply down towards the sides then the maximum and effective widths can be quite different.

Lastly, as mentioned above, most of these seats are designed to be ridden at varying degrees of nose down. The long level is to make sure that your bike is levelled between axle centres before you attempt to quantify seat level. I have called the 4 seats below a Family because the unpadded Composit and the padded Evolution and Stratos share a common shell. The Carbon has a carbon fibre shell that is a close relative of the Composit shell in shape, dimension and the rate that it tapers downwards from the centre channel.

I term the rate that a seat tapers down from the centre to the edge tumblehome and anyone involved in shipbuilding or design will understand why. All of the Composit family Carbon aside are available with the option of carbon fibre rails. Only the Composit, Evolution, Stratos and Pro were freely available. I ordered several of each except for the Composit. Both arrived with Composits fitted. I asked what they thought and both gave a strong recommendation. I ordered one and while the shape felt perfect, I was bone sore after long rides.

If I rode the next day, as soon as I got on the bike I felt like I had taken up where I left off the day before with no recovery from the bone soreness. Anyone who rides thick chamois knicks such as can be found in some Assos knicks should be fine. The Composit tapers gradually from the centre channel for a low degree of tumblehome and is a wider platform than it looks. The Composit can be positioned from 2 degrees down to a maximum of 5 degrees down at the nose.

The more flexible the rider and the greater their ability to roll their pelvis forward comfortably , the lower the seat nose should be. This is necessary to keep the rider from sliding forward on the seat. Though the Evolution is built on the Composit shell, it is a much different sitting experience. It has much greater rate of tumblehome and is effectively 22 mm narrower to sit on.

I have seen riders too wide for the Evolution squash them into submission over time with their weight flattening out the padding, but this is not something I recommend. In feel, the Evolution is not a Composit with padding. It is effectively narrower and does not have as pronounced a dip in the profile as viewed from the side.

I sell and recommend very few of these as they seem best suited to small stature, lightweight men or women with narrow ischiopubic ramen separation width. Others can and do ride them but would probably be better off with another SMP option as a first choice.

Yes, there are exceptions, but in percentage terms, not many. The less pronounced dip in side on profile means that they are less suited to the rider who can roll their pelvis forward well.

Think of the Stratos as an Evolution with more padding because that is about the size of it. The only real differences are that brand new they have an even less pronounced dip on the profile as viewed from the side and are marginally wider in effective width. I own one of each and there is very little difference when sitting on them. The Carbon can be quite harsh over rough roads because the shell has zero give. What would be ideal is a carbon railed version of the Carbon and there is, the Full Carbon which is available only in naked carbon, not colours.

I know other Carbon users who are fine with them but from time to time I come across a dysfunctional owner with poor on bike and usually off bike pelvic stability that complains about the slipperiness.

The other differences are that the effective width of the Carbon is a few mm wider than the Composit and the rate of tumblehome slightly less. The shape across the rear is less complex and lacks the little dips that the Composit has. I have never found this to be an issue when moving between bikes, one with a Composit and one with a Carbon. To sum up; much more comfortable that it looks but not a seat for poor road surfaces. The Forma, Dynamic, Drakon and Lite all have the same shells.

The Forma has zero padding, the Dynamic a thin layer of firm padding, the Drakon a moderate layer of padding and the Lite a thick layer of firm padding. These differences in padding affect the shape. The Forma family illustrates why measuring seat widths will only take one part way down the road of determining the relationship of pelvis width to seat width. All of the Forma Family are wider maximum width than the Composit Family but have narrower effective seat widths than the Composit and Carbon because of the much steeper rate of tumblehome.

The Forma has a pronounced dip as viewed from the side which means it provides a stable platform with excellent rear of pelvis support for riders who can rotate their pelvis forward well.

Ideal nose down angles vary from 2 degrees to 5 degrees depending on the functionality and flexibility of the rider. It is as hard as a Composit but again, the carbon railed version makes it feel almost like a padded seat. The Dynamic below is why. This is my favourite seat in the SMP range. It is essentially a Forma with a thin layer of firm padding. For performance riders there is enough padding to take the edge off the bumps and in other regards, it is everything that a Forma is but with the addition of some padding.

Many people who otherwise would use a Forma but baulk at the thought of an unpadded seat choose the Dynamic as a safer option. Much as I like my Composits, the Dynamic, which along with the rest of the Forma Family were not available at the time the Composits hit Oz, would be my first choice of SMP seat if I was in the market now.

Just a great all round seat for performance riding. The simple explanation is that this is a heavily padded Dynamic and suits a similar activity profile. Even with the padding it maintains a similar deeply curved profile as viewed from the side but the padding widens the effective seat width by lessening the rate of tumblehome.

I use the for heavier riders, endurance riders, Mtb XC riders and a lot of women. This is a newer addition to the SMP line up. Think of the Drakon as a halfway point between the Dynamic and the Lite It suits the same people who choose Dynamics with the benefit for those who need it of more padding. I use a Composit on my road bikes but after a lot of trial and error testing, the Drakon has become my choice for XC mtb racing. Just a great all round seat that suits a wide variety of physiques and weights.

Basically a skinnier, lighter Forma. Very little give in the shell but good shock absorption from the rails to the point where with knicks on, it almost feels padded. Can be positioned between 2 and 5 degrees down at the nose for best results. One for the lightweight junkies but much more comfortable that it appears at a glance. I call the seats below orphans because they all use different shells and are not variations of padding based on a single shell.

The Glider is flatter across the rear than say, a and wider through the centre with less dip in the profile as viewed from the side. It is an ideal seat for moderately large or heavy men or women who ride in a more upright position.

I tend to fit these to flat bar city bikes and road bikes for largish people of less than good flexibility. The Glider is also a good choice for MTB riders. It is best used at a nose down angle of anywhere from level to minus 3 degrees. The Pro is kind of interesting. It is a large, long and wide heavily padded seat for large heavy riders, but as you can see from the pic immediately above, the effective width that can be sat on is quite narrow as the the tumblehome is very steep where it drops to the edge.

Large, skinny skeletoned people who carry a bit of weight seem to find it ideal. Best fitted to comfort bikes and road bikes for recreational riders of that size and morphology. Nose down angle range that suits best is from level to minus 3 degrees. Typical weight: steel rails gms. There is no carbon railed option. In modern terms that means a seat with a length that is the minimum necessary to ensure UCI compliance.

Most TT seats of this type are designed to keep the UCI happy while allowing the rider to effectively sit further forward than would otherwise be possible. The Chrono will allow this compared to the rest of the performance SMP range, but not when compared to other TT seats.

Translation: the rider sits further back relative to the length of the seat than they would on say an ISM Adamo or similar. Much further back. So if you want to sit forward UCI legally, this is not your best option. The other issue with the Chrono is the the deep dip in the profile as viewed from the side. This is similar to the Forma Family, in fact the Chrono can best be described as a scaled down Forma.

This presents a problem for anyone approaching an slightly small to average size human. The shorter front to rear length of the dip means that a female riders vulva or the area just behind a male users scrotum gets jammed hard into the rise towards the nose. Basically, the dip is too short for anyone other than children and very small teenagers.

There is a market for this seat but it is not for anyone of even average size in either gender. Tiny people only need apply. I have never seen a carbon railed version, though they do exist. For the right rider, this is a great seat designed for an upright position, usually on a flat bar bike. Best used at an angle from level to minus 3 degrees.

This has become my first choice of seat for the right kind of fit client. If is flat in profile across the rear and offers good support for bones and flesh when there is plenty of both. The width of the centre channel cutout is the widest of the SMP range. Many readers rider performance bikes and laugh at seats like this. They have their place and have enhanced the cycling experience for many. The more bums on bikes of whatever type, the better a place the world will be.

A simple and useful guide. Also worth reading is some of the other info on their site as it is more comprehensive than that offered on the sites of other seat manufacturers in the areas that count. They are just the brand of seat that helps solve a lot of fitting problems, whether it be comfort, or just as often, an inability to allow a rider to sit back far enough.

And it only takes a few seconds! This is essential if the system is to choose the right saddle for you. For example, you are asked how frequently you go cycling, what type of bicycle you own and how you use it.

Depending on your answers, the app adapts and employs and algorithm to ask for additional information in order to give you a precise response. Once all the data has been entered, the software will show you the recommended saddle. And quick!