Ride Out Technologies long term saddle review, an update

I received a saddle from Ride Out Technologies back in July for review and installed it on my Raleigh Sports for a test ride that turned out to be a test Summer.

The saddle is claimed as being the most comfortable bike seat in the world. Some of you have commented on the contrary about that and some of you have agreed. I'll give you my honest opinion about the seat that stayed on my Raleigh bike for the entire Summer by answering a few obvious questions and share my riding experience.

First off, is it comfortable?

In my experience, yes with a few side notes. You have to adjust the seat in relation to your butt and riding style. It may take a few tries to find that sweet spot. I had to adjust at least 3 times before getting there. Also, I found that coasting on long rides would make my left butt cheek go numb. That's because my bike has a coaster hub and that somehow makes me coast with my left leg down all the time. Something that is also of great importance, and the seat outperforms anything else I've tried in that department, no numb genitals ever! That's a good thing. Make that a great thing.

Does it absorb road bumps?

Incredibly, yes it does and very well I might add. I must admit that I was very doubtful when I got my hands on this that it could even come close to absorbing the hits that my fat spring saddle takes, but it does.

Does it ride well?

One of the things that freaks me out about this seat is that as soon as you pedal, it vanishes. The more you pedal, the more "invisible " it gets. A recent all out 29 minutes time trial I did on bumpy City streets confirmed it even more. My brain was being fried by pain signals from my legs and lungs but my butt wasn't even a tiny blip on the radar. It usually is. The swivel effect when you pedal goes unnoticed until you get on another seat, this is just marvelous.

Is it durable?

No signs of wear on the seat whatsoever. I didn't bother being careful. I even dumped the bike like yesterday's laundry on concrete after crossing the line on that time trial run and there's not even a scuff on the Kevlar where it hit hard.

No marks from a hard fall on concrete

Is it worth the bucks?

No it's not a $20 seat from your regular chain store. The quality in the build and material is there. Just the fact that they took the trouble of putting Kevlar on the sides for protection and the decent 375 gram weight speaks well about the attention to detail. Volume is also a consideration, they don't make millions of these but the price might come down if they sell more. I've sat on a brand name $300 leather seat that was only good at trying very hard to go check my prostate! I say it's good value for the money.

Lastly, I have to mention something unique to this seat. After any long ride, my posterior would ache for a while from the ride. Not the case with this seat even when I get a numb butt cheek from coasting. 

It is impossible to please every one in the bike seat department but I think that Ride Out Technologies as come close to perfection. Would I buy one? Yes, they are coming out with an all black model that really looks good and there is no way I'll ever ride a road bike on anything else, unless someone comes out with something better.

Don't forget to check out the how-to articles post

and download my free bike maintenance book if you haven't already.

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

The world's most comfortable bicycle seat

So is the claim of Ride Out Technologies who recently got a link on the sidebar of my blog. If someone makes the bold claim of having the world's most comfortable bicycle seat, I have to check it out. The folks at Ride Out sent me a sample to test for your benefit.

Nothing is more subjective and personal than the comfort of a bike seat. The search for the relief of constant pain to your butt and an end to numb genitals (This affects women too btw) is the single most elusive cycling quest in my book. For me, apart from recumbents, the answer was the Brooks B66 leather saddle, a time tested design since the 19th century.

So I received this piece of 21st century technology via snail mail, well packaged, at my door and my first reaction when pulling it out of the box was: "This looks weird." but if it does the job, I don't really care how it looks. The next thing that hit me was how light it felt. My scale indicates 375 grams, well within the claimed 390 on the website. The overall finish is very good and I really appreciate the more rugged material used on the side of the saddle. That is some forward thinking since the side of the saddle is abused on a regular basis be it on a wall or on the ground. I feel that it is well worth the 84.95 asking price. However, I would have done away with the 90's lime fluo color accent and I love the idea of reflective material on the back of the seat but white is the wrong color. I'm sure that red reflective material could have been found.

Apart from those small details, the rest of the seat is wide enough to accommodate the sitting bones of both men and women (This was confirmed by my daughter.). It has a channel in the middle to allow circulation to the more intimate and delicate parts of our anatomy.

Let's bring our attention underneath the seat where everything sits on a piece of infused carbon that looks like a piece of leaf spring and sitting on that is the seat support rails. That piece of carbon is what gives the flex to the seat.

I installed the seat on my one speed road bike and saw right away that I had to bring the seat down by 1/2 an inch as per the company's instructions. Then I sat down and pushed the pedals forward.

My very first reaction when sitting on a new seat is either "Wow!" or "Crap!" and a bunch of degrees in between. Not with this one. I have no words to describe it more than this: "!?!"

When cycling my attention is not grabbed by how much energy I put into pedaling or how hard I have to push to get up a hill. No, it is the constant feeling of my sitting bones on the seat and the degree of pain at which it is, may it be low or high. All of a sudden I couldn't feel my sitting bones and I was sitting down pedaling!

It's hard to explain but you are sitting on the seat yet you are not. The combination of the cushion design, the side by side flex of the saddle while pedaling and the total absence of feel of the saddle nose makes it as if you were merely leaning on the seat instead of sitting down on it. Weird but in a good way.

I rode on some nasty bumps and I was impressed on how good it took it. Better than a lot of spring saddles that I own. I've installed the seat on a bike that has a hunched over riding position for now. I will also try it out on a cruiser with a more upright riding position to see how well it does in that configuration. So far I've taken only short rides around the block, so I don't know yet how well it will do on long rides.

I will update this post as I test along with the results. I have a good ride planned this evening, so I'll have a better idea.

UPDATE JULY 21ST 2011

I took the saddle out for a one hour ride the evening of that first post. I spent the first half hour trying to find the proper position on the seat by shifting my butt all over it. It was kinda like trying to get a feel for it and looking for that usual seating position. When I got off at my destination however, my butt was just not hurting. On the return trip ,while still shifting position, I found the sweet spot and the saddle just vanished from under me!

I guess that I haven't found the proper setting yet and I will have to work on that. I will reposition the seat for the next ride. I think I have to bring the nose up a bit and the height as well. Keep posted.

Don't forget to check out the how-to articles post

and download my free bike maintenance book if you haven't already.

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)