Strengths: Comfort and cool colors (mine's yellow.)
Weaknesses: Weight; Leather isn't molded, so it's flares on the sides.
Bottom Line:
I'll start with the good stuff-
It comes in a lot of great colors, including pink for the ladies, and is the most comfortable saddle i've ridden. I do rides up to 50 miles on a fixed gear with this saddle, and never feel any saddle pain. It does not need any breaking in.
Now the bad-
It weights a ton. Definitely more than a pound, but any leather saddle you buy will probably just as heavy, unless it's got titanium rails. It costs too much. You can get a really nice brooks saddle for the same price or less. Finally, the leather on a Brooks saddle is quite stiff, and needs a great deal of breaking in. The leather on a Selle is softer and more pliable, which makes it comfortable, but it also makes the sides of it flare out a bit when it's pulled tight, where a brooks saddle has a molded, more tapered shape. It doesn't bother me much, but it tends to make me sit further up on the saddle than I'd like to.
Strengths: It's attractive, It virtually eliminates any percieved pressure on the soft tissue. Even though it is not perfect, I just bought a second Selle An Atomica for my other bike.
Weaknesses: Weight, nose up structure of the saddle
Bottom Line:
First Ride Impressions---I just completed a 3.5 hour ride on a new Selle An-Atomica Watershed Titanico (Clydesdale) and it seemed that it would be good to write a review while the dents are still fresh in my arse. First things first, I don’t have the post-ride, compressed nad thing going on that I’ve grown used to after about 20 years of riding. In fact, the Selle An-Atomica is the first saddle that I’ve ever ridden that has left the soft stuff in the middle feeling like it never left the garage. In that way, Selle An-Atomica hit it out of the park.
However, I’ve learned there is no such a thing as bike seat nirvana. The Selle performed well, but in the last few miles of the ride I was telling myself that I am switching back to my trusted old saddle due to the discomfort caused by the structure of the Selle. As it is proving after the ride, it is gentle on the nads because they sit suspended on the soft leather middle of the saddle, which features a generous cut-out that eliminates any perceived compression of the baby-making pipes. The ‘basket’ created by the soft leather and cut-out renders a surface that flexes and twists with you through your pedal stroke. So, no mashing your stuff on thin padding that covers an immovable, nad crushing, plastic saddle base, as is the case with conventional saddles. Selle has a video of the mechanics of this design feature on their website, and they are correct about the benefit of the design.
Where I found the saddle to cause problems is the severe nose-up angle needed to comfortably place you suspended in the ‘basket’. The nose made staying comfortably in the drop just about impossible. Moreover, I would think that the saddle is best for setups where there is not a big drop from seat to bars. The Selle definitely rewards a more upright position. Yet, in all fairness, that is the challenge with most leather saddles. Even with the venerable brooks models, you can get a comfy ‘out- of- the box’ B-17 with soft leather that suspennds you nicely, but you have to raise the nose to get the suspension. Or, you can get the brick hard Team Pro model that has a thick, taught, leather surface that takes 5,000 miles to break-in. You don’t have to raise the nose on this saddle, but you don’t get that comfortable ‘basket’ thing going either.
I experienced a good deal of grief thanks to the all metal front and rear portions of the saddle undercarriage that the leather is connected too by smooth and unobtrusive studs. Again, the nads were fine nestled in their articulated leather ‘basket’ that is suspended by the front and rear of the saddles biting frame. But, that frame is no joke. The positive thing about this, if there is one, is that the baby making pipes had no pressure on them that I could notice, and the part that I found bothersome was bothering hard stuff that can take a beating rather than the soft stuff that defines my very existence.
The choice is yours, no trauma to the soft stuff (which is remarkable) combined with less than desirable comfort elsewhere vs. compressed nad syndrome and general comfort elsewhere. Pick your poison. As for me, despite what I was telling myself during the closing miles of my ride, I’m going to give it another few tries and see what happens.
Second Ride Impressions---I gave it another shot, and I believe it will be a keeper. I replaced my stout Thompson post with a carbon post. This took a little of the edge off. I also made some position adjustments. To ease the pressure that I put on the nose of the saddle, I added 5mm of stack height under the stem, and lowered the nose slightly. This gave me a more upright position and reduced the nose rub. The nose was still somewhat of an issue, but less so.
Final shot: The Selle An-Atomica will really force you to get the fore, aft, and tilt adjustments right. Good saddle, but nothing is perfect. Did I say, “the nads feel great”?
