Gaelen

https://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/a...z-forum-50857/

Has anybody tried this or is knowledgeable in any fashion? It seems like the way to go, but, $300? I know it works for shoes, but, having just broken in a Brooks, and I love it, I am a little intrigued that an actual shortcut may exist to simply "doing the work". Any thoughts on this method?

UltraManDan

Every saddle is heat moldable with enough ride time

Gaelen

The idea, I think, is circumventing that ride time.

f4rrest

Leather saddles were the original heat moldable saddles, no?

f4rrest

No thanks.

chaadster

It sounds like a pretty neatly executed idea, to me. I would particularly like it for a stationary bike saddle, because I seem to experience more sit bones discomfort in that scenario, as opposed to out on the road, despite my abundance of "sitzfleisch"!!

f4rrest

On the other hand, a heated saddle might be nice.

And heated bar tape.

chaadster

There you go! That's your $1,000,000 idea! A hack of the Reform for low-temp warming! Nice!

jefnvk

Why pay for the costs of a heating circuit in every one? They should just do it like hockey skates: toss it in the oven for a few minutes, and then have you sit on it.

chaadster

Do you really think the "costs" of the heating circuit outweigh the costs and inconvenience of requiring an oven, removing the saddle, and then racing to remount and reposition it correctly before it cools??

jefnvk

I work in the auto world, where a $1 increase in piece cost is sometimes enough for an OEM to kill a project on a $50k car. Yes, I do.

bobwysiwyg

"sitzfleisch"

Ha, ha, very descriptive anatomically for me as well. Might have to get a decal of this word. My German heritage almost demands it. 😁

chaadster

Regardless, the saddle in question is already to market, and while at the upper end of the market, is definitely not the most expensive saddle you can buy, so I don't see the relevance of your comparison. The manufacurer already decided the costs were worthwhile with the heating element built in.

If only from the perspective of convenience, it's hard to imagine choosing a design you need to remove and reinstall the saddle for molding over one with plug-in, in-situ molding.

Of course the idea that engineering an oven molding process saddle would necessarily lower manufacturing cost is both purely and highly speculative.

Wheever

Actually, I think this is a clever idea and solution to many of the problems inherent in fitting a saddle.

There's a custom saddle company that send you a "butt mold" that you then send back to create something similar to this. (This appeals to me much more, because no matter what I do, I always seem to be somewhere at the wrong end of the bell curve, and making changes myself usually produces better results for me.)

The biggest issue I see with these saddles is they're kinda ugly. Very unappealing aesthetically.

jefnvk

It also not hard to see the benefits of having this done at a LBS, instead of sending the customer a $300 saddle and having them demand a refund when they screw it up at home. I've been to REI Garage Sales, I know the competency (or lack thereof) of the masses. It wouldn't be that hard to have a quick release saddle mount where one could have it setup beforehand, and soon as it comes out of the oven it is popped on within seconds and the person on it.

And it is not really speculative about cost. Circuitry costs money, having it is going to cost more.

But in general I think it is a good idea. I just tend to overanalyze execution

(assuming of course you don't piss off anyone who realizes all they have to do is turn it on and sit on it to ruin your perfect fit...)

wphamilton

A big question is, do we know for sure that a shape heat-molded this way is the right shape for support while riding? It seems like is should be, but then again is it really bending down to even out the pressure wherever it maxes during the stroke and is that necessarily what's needed? And even if so, won't that change for different styles of riding and effort levels, so we'd abandon any compromise we'd have with other saddles?

Wheever

That's a really really good point.

One of the reasons my SMP Drakon works for me is that my "sit bones" take all the weight on a level surface, not because there's a dent for them (which would actually make other areas take more weight) but because the shape of the saddle is such that there's very little weight on the rest of my tissues. (The SMP sway-back profile means they're pretty much not touching at all. If the saddle were molded exactly to my butt, there would be deeper "divots" where my sit bones make contact...which seems to defeat the purpose.

So, for me, molding the saddle by just sitting on it and pedaling wouldn't actually achieve what I need. I'd need to sit on it and pedal for a bit, then hand mold it in some way--perhaps the way people mold their Bont shoes by heating them and pushing out on the shell with something like the blunt end of a screwdriver--to make the sit bone points level, then making space in the other areas as needed. (I bet I'd end up with something that looks more or less like my SMP. ) See what I mean?

With the above in mind, I still find the idea of custom molding my own saddle really intriguing. Might have to try one, even though I'm very happy with my SMP.

chaadster

That's the idea I had in mind when I said it might be nice for my stationary bike. On the road, sit bone discomfort is rarely the limiting factor in saddle comfort, probably because of the variability in position, effort level, and all the little bump displacements.

Still, if all else were equal, I'd be interested to try a moldable saddle.

chaadster

I think you're forgetting that designing, engineering, and building a saddle with the right materials to withstand whole saddle heating while deforming only in the right areas, maintaining acceptable levels of comfort, reliability, and durability also costs money. You're simply assuming that proces is significantly less expensive than the heating element used, which I doubt is momething you can assert is true with any meaningful certainty. That's known as speculating.

jefnvk

Umm, you have to do that when using a heating element too!

chaadster

Guy,

You do not have to engineer adhesives, materials, and structural elements like rails, rail mounts, and other parts of the saddle to be heat resistant to molding temps if they're unaffected by the heating element.