Getting comfortable on Selle Anotomica x2?
 

I just bought a Selle Anatomica X2 for my Trek Domane road bike. Took it on a 30 miler yesterday, stopping a zillion times to make little adjustments. It feels horrible on my sit bones if I sit up (sometimes sit all the way up to stretch, or just more upright in general) at all...it's like rocks under there. If I tilt my hips more parallel to the ground in a more aggressive position, it seems OK, but I don't want to always be trapped like that. It does seem to be good for soft tissue at that angle (I'm female). I haven't had this super harsh sit bone issue with any other saddles.

I tilted the nose up a bit to avoid slipping, but am not sure if I'm sitting on the divots or not. How do you know if you're properly positioned on this thing?

How are your hands?

https://youtu.be/iStWy7zG8ac

A nice user experience. If nothing else, keep trying.

Thanks. This guy does make me want to keep trying.

I've had a few of these over maybe 10 years. I don't think you need to worry about the divots. I think you do need to worry about your sit bones (yes, those bony parts at teh widest area of the saddle. You should not have your weight on the hard metal bar (aka the cantle plate) that goes across the back, but on the somewhat elastic leather ahead of that bar. You also should not have those bones so far forward that the saddle pressure is ahead of and closer together than the sitbones are. When you know where this nice fore/aft location is, adjust the tilt so you are not sliding backward to rest your weight on the hard metal cantle plate, and not sliding forward off of the wide part of the saddle, because this will concentrate your weight where you are most sensitive - not good for either gender! "not sliding forward due to gravity" is the concern here, and yes that is a thing!

If you are sliding forward when you reach for the barsyou might need to locate your handlebars closer to your saddle location.

Selle AnAtomica also suggests adjusting the tension screw so the smallest gap is about 6 millimeters (1/4 inch). This tends to support your weight at the correct height. These saddles (all models and weight grades) tend to stretch , but they stop stretching as they are used more.

I hope this helps!

Then experiment with saddle height, moving it just a few mm at a time, to get good leg extension without toe stretching, not much hip rocking, and (for me at least) an easy spin.

Thank you! That is very specific and helpful. I'm going to ride today with this in mind. Much appreciated.

Might your sit bones be hitting the rigid rear structure of the saddle when you're more upright? That was my experience with an SA-H2. That saddle was just a hair too narrow for me to sit semi-upright comfortably (pretty sure my sit bones are wider than average).

When you lean forward, the your sit bone contact points are narrower than when you're upright. The more upright you sit, the wider a saddle you need, generally speaking.

That's an excellent point and I suspect, correct. I went today and with advice from here, ended up with a fairly comfortable ride, but only 20 miles. I didn't need to sit up much. I'm right about at the 30 day return window, and torn (I like the way it looks, which shouldn't really matter)....

I know generalizations are dangerous to make, so I will quote Peter White:

The context is describing a Berthoud saddle, but they are quite similar in some respects.
Source: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/bersaddles.php

tyrion, were you able to slam the saddle back about 1 cm to get your bones off of the cantle plate?

I’ve had a lot of different sensations on Selle Anatomicas. Usually things get better if I tense up the tension screw enough to get 6 cm between the edges of the cutout.

I tried all kinds of things. The most comfortable configuration was all the way back (on 25mm setback seatpost), angled up slightly, and slightly more tension then it came with. But I just couldn't get it to work for me as well as the trusty B17.

To beat a B17 that fits well and is broken in for you is a challenge for any non-brooks saddle, without a doubt!

If you don't have a reason to replace the B17 I would say don't. For me '17s, Professioals, and '17Ns don't let my butt get far enough back. My 17 and my Ideale 92 fit well on a 1952 frame with 70 degree seat tube, but very few bikes today are built that way. And the highest setback seatpost I've found, the Nitto S-84, still isn't really enough. So that is my motivation.

I just noticed I said that I get 6 cm of spacing between the slot edges - Sorry but that is wrong! I get 6 MILLIMETERS, which is what S-A recommends. Wider than that does not work well and can over-stretch the leather (hence contirbuting to a quick demise), and narrower than that results in sag. Ultimately sag will have your butt dragging on the top of the seatpost! So I try to maintain it at 6 mm-ish.

Well, thanks to the sit bone width comment, I tried scooting to the side (kind of riding one-cheeked) and discovered the fabled "hammock". I also felt where my sit bones were while sitting up----pretty close to the rivets. Thus, I conclude that in spite of the SA marketing saying that the saddle works for everyone-- not me. This thing seems to be too narrow for my sit bones. I'm bummed, because the side-sitting hammock was fantastic!