Rehab

Yesterday I received my used Madone 4.5. Took it for a 27 mile ride this afternoon after finishing the assembly and adjusting fit. My first composite frame and I am hooked.

mjh365

Congrats. Enjoy you're new bike. And the many rides yet to come.

Rehab

Thanks. I did find out how uncomfortable the stock seat is. I guess that will be a future purchase as I was squirming quite a bit towards the end of my ride today.

Heathpack 

Nice! My "second" bike is a Trek Madone with a 4 series frame. I love it, very zippy little thing.

GlennR

I hope you enjoy it as i did my Madone 4.6c.

It gave me many happy miles.

dangerd

Nice bike. Congratulations, enjoy!

Bob Dopolina 

Nice. Enjoy.

Good luck on the saddle chase, that can be tough.

Check out your LBS and see if they have any kind of loaner program or if they can help you, in any way, nail down basic shapes/features that work for/don't work for you.

It is something personal and trial and error is the only way to get it sorted.

Some things to look for are the width of the saddle at the sit bones, the length and width of the nose, a flat nose or a round nose, a flat saddle or one with a drop in the middle. Also consider cut outs yea/nay.

A softer saddle isn't always a more comfortable saddle over the long haul. Be prepared to get it wrong a few time during the process. Once you find something you truly like BUY TWO so you have one ready to go in the future.

GlennR

I replaced the stock saddle with a Bontrager Paradigm RL and loved it the first time I rode it.

Rehab

Thanks to each of you and especially from Bob and Oldnslow2 for the saddle advise. I am going to ride what I have for a few more times and see if my likes adjust a little but after we get into our riding season here in Illinois, I will probably change. I have one of those cheap gel seat covers from Wally World which has actually helped me transition to different saddles in the past, but time will tell.

mjh365

I will chime in on a saddle recommendation as well. I was having some issues until I ( by chance) tried my wife's MTB. The saddle on that bike is a Bontrager WSD Evoke. It felt great! So I removed it from her bike and put it on mine. It's perfect... Even though I'm thin (148 @ 6'0") my sit bones are wide and the width of the WSD Evoke fit me perfectly. Also, this saddle has a nice little depression in the middle to aid with comfort. These saddles can be found online pretty cheap so it may be worth looking into for you. The whole point of all this is it could be as simple as finding a saddle that has the width you need. Good luck....

Rehab

Thanks mjh365. I was looking at the saddle on my FX7.3 and it is quite a bit wider than my Madone.

I am suspicious that I may have wide seat bones also but have never been properly measured or fit for a saddle. I am not a big person either, especially since starting riding again. At my heaviest I was at 208 and now about 165. Bicycling and diet have played a large part in helping me lose the lbs.

I rode 24 miles this morning with the gel seat cover in place and although not a permanent fix, it was a definite improvement over yesterday. It may just take a few trips for me to get used to the narrower profile. Unfortunately, it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow here and then get back to cold. It will be a while before I can sneak in another outdoor ride.... so back to the spin bike.

MikeD1

Congrats on the Madone! I love my Madone. I found that I really liked the seat after I logged a couple of hundred miles on it. They might not be the same, mine is the Bontrager Afinity 3. Anyway, I think it's a good plan to try the one you have for a bit before deciding if you need something else.

timmbo

My Madone came with the Bontrager Affinity 2 and my last Trek came with the Affinity 1. I ride a Selle SMP Drakon which I absolutely love. I am one of the more lucky ones, I have never gotten a saddle sore, and I have never used chamois cream.......even with 100+ mile rides.

Rehab

According to the listing description, the saddle is supposed to be a Bontrager Race but the actual seat is a RavX but I am not sure of the model. The saddle is exactly what was pictured in the Ebay listing but I would guess someone switched the saddle and did not update the description. I am still very happy with my purchase and will change to a different saddle if I need.

bbattle

[QUOTE=Rehab;17386823]Yesterday I received my used Madone 4.5. Took it for a 27 mile ride this afternoon after finishing the assembly and adjusting fit. My first composite frame and I am hooked. [/Q
UOTE]

Congratulations on the "new" bike! I hope the weather lets you ride it a few more times this year!

Rehab

Thanks bbattle. I hope to get more rides in also but any day above freezing this time of year is a real bonus around here.

newbie101

Yeah, this seems to be the no. 1 complaint I read when reading reviews of trek road bikes.

Some great advice, bob.

The history of saddle evolution changed rather abruptly with the intro of the selle italia flite back in the day. That ushered in an era of super light, very narrow saddles where gram counting seemed to be the only design factor.

Since then, the only significant change in saddle design has been the introduction of channels or grooves, with dubious results.

Saddle design is one clear area in which there has been no discernible improvement in design, despite a considerable amount of engineering input from some pretty successful bicycling companies.