Originally Posted by berner

As a card carrying old guy I remember a few farmers who still used horse drawn farm equipment. They would sit for many hours each day on a cast iron seat while using that equipment. Those seats were contoured to the back side and were very wide. I've used that type equipment myself, though drawn by a farm tractor and know those seats to be very comfortable. A bike saddle has to work differently so the shape needs to be different. It will not be true for everyone but for me, a wide saddle (at least 155mm) works best. I also find comfort with a cutout area on the center line. A wide saddle at the sit bones tends to be wide also just ahead of the sit bones and many find such a saddle uncomfortable. To my mind, a shape similar to the Kontact, wide in the back but narrow forward best for myself.

My overall point is that it takes a while to identify the saddle characteristics that are most likely to satisfy and there are still many variations within such a category. There is no other answer but to try many saddles and to range in on saddle types first. I've been at the point of giving up on cycling several years ago. At that point I began customizing my saddle and finally found comfort.