Aerohip

Hi guys, anyone have this Saddle? I've been leaning towards a Brooks B17 but a LBS employee was telling me this was a better Saddle. Thoughts?

doublegg66

Take this with a grain of salt,only had my Selle on for about 200 miles,and I do love it-but I've not tried a Brooks.

bikemig 

It has a lot longer rails which will make it easier to set up properly on your bike. Beats me as to comfort but there is a lot of love out there for the selle anatomicas with the cut out center channel. I just picked up one without the center channel and we'll see how long it takes to break in.

jhawk

My LBS has also recommend me this saddle. I'm "uhm'ing" and "aah'ing" over whether to get the Selle Anatomica, or the Brooks B17.

Good to see you again, Aero!

fietsbob

2 Brooks pros 1_20 and the other 30_years old.

the original SA water-shed tanning treatment stretches, so now they offer a second type leather .

Aka ' WaterShed' and 'TruLeather' and the NSX version leaves out the hole down the center..
the hole also seems to allow a stretch past the bolt length. too ..

friend has one of the cut out 'titanicos'

martianone

The great saddle debate - for years (30) thought a B-17 was the best for me and various bikes. Got an Imperial, liked it a lot. Then a champion flyer. The next N+1 came along, was just curious about the selle Anatomica saddle, got one - broke in very quickly and quite comfortable. Probably 15000 km on it, has needed to be tightened a few times, more than any of the Brooks. Another N+1, more of a road bike, started with a Champion Flyer, quite comfortable, but I saw a GB saddle - got the Aravis model. Wow ! Comfortable for me. My partner was very happy to get flyer. Saddle comfort is so subjective as to fit and bike geometry, go for the SA, mine is on my commuter. If I needed to replace the saddle on this bike - I would not consider anything else for this application. Have taken the bike/saddle on a couple of week long tours, comfortable all the way.
OTOH- the Friday with a B-17, Trek 520 has the Imperial, commuter with SA, Roadie with Aravis . Partner very happy with Champion Flyer. All comfortable for a day's ride or several weeks. Been thinking about the latest Brooks creation - Cambrium (sp.) and N+1 ?

Medic Zero

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I wrote up a review of my experiences with the Selle Anatomica Titanico X here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...tomica-saddles

I suspect they keep having sales to clear out their stock of saddles prior to their redesign, but I could be wrong, as the saddles I received from them seemed to each be made to order, but then again I was ordering a red one with gun metal colored rivets from their Titanico line, so maybe only those are made to order, and they have stocks of more commonly ordered ones on hand?

Hope it helps.

Thulsadoom

The S/A saddle is very different from the Brooks saddles.
The main reason for this is that the entire S/A saddle sags under you as you ride as opposed to the Brooks saddles that really only sag under the sit bones. The S/A saddles are very good news for your perineum.
The Brooks saddles all develop a hard ridge right up the center of the saddle which pushes into the middle bits whereas the S/A saddles don't so much.
With the S/A saddles you feel like you have two "slung hammocks", one under each cheek, and each one moves independently of the other. Very different feel from the Brooks saddles.
The older S/A saddles have a reputation for wearing out quickly. The leather stretches and sags and needs to be tightened periodically, and eventually the saddle is junk. Some folks have worn out S/A saddles in only a few hundred miles. The newer ones (Titanico X) supposedly last much longer.
I have a Titanico X myself with about 500 miles on it. I've only tightened the screw once and I weigh around 190. I think this saddle will last much longer than the older ones, however, it is definitely much stiffer than the older ones and therefore not quite as comfortable. There's always a trade-off.
I would say that if you are concerned with perineum issues, the S/A saddle is the right choice. If you're mainly concerned with longevity, go with the Brooks.

Bandera

I'm accidently doing a comparison between a new B-17 "Aged" on my town bike & a Selle Anatomica Titanico X on my Rando-ish build.
With only a few hundred miles on each I could ride either comfortably but the nod would go to the SA for a century.
Longevity has not been an issue on a Brooks for me, the SA is an open question. The longer rails as Bikemig mentioned are welcome on the SA for my fit.

I did take advantage of SA's $99 sale:

https://www.selleanatomica.com/

-Bandera

bikemig 

I took advantage of the sale as well. The SA saddle without the cut out has shorter rails than the one with the cut out but the rails on either model are longer than on the Brooks. It can be hard to get the fore/aft placement right on a Brooks esp. if you have one of the saddles with the old school double rails (i.e. that require either a straight post or a seat "sandwich" to work with a modern seatpost). Brooks designed their saddles for early 19th century bikes and they had slack angles. Bikes changed, the design for Brooks' saddles not so much. That's part of their charm but it can also be a problem.

I bought the SA because of the longer rails. I got the SA saddle without the cut out and shorter rails (because that is apparently a better design if you ride off road and I bought the saddle for a vintage mtb that I am converting to drops). That tells you that SA must have had issues with the saddle with the cut out and longer rails. By next year, you'll be able to have the saddle with the cut outs with shorter rails (which are still longer than the Brooks) and that will fix the problem.

Bottom line: depending on the application, as Bandera said, the SA may be the better choice.

irwin7638

I've been using Brooks saddles for over 40 years and just bought a Selle Anatomica since they were on sale over the holidays. So far it is really comfortable, it began conforming to me right away. Is it better? It's hard to say, it's winter and I'm not taking any really long rides. I've never had a problem with Brooks saddles, the Selle Anatomica is a good saddle, you might take a look at Velo Orange also. I've had two of them and been pleased with them. Leather works for me.

Marc

Walter S

I think "X" is just a size choice you make when you order.

Bandera

It's a difference in the laminate not the size.

"This is the saddle for riders between 160 and 250 lbs. An innovative second laminate provides increased support to the leather upper."

-https://www.selleanatomica.com/products/titanico-x/

-Bandera

Shifty

I've had my S/A Titanico for 3 seasons, ~15,000 miles. The most comfortable saddle.......ever! I've had Brooks, they are OK, S/A is much better IMHO. I installed the saddle, adjusted it, then first ride was a full century......no problems, comfy all the way. I paid full price, $200, best $200 I have ever spent on cycling gear.
Forget the Brooks.

Thulsadoom

That's the most mileage I've heard of from an S/A saddle. Can you give us some specifics? Such as:

How far through the adjustment bolt are you now?
Your bodyweight?
What kind of bike you have it on?

Thanks.

Shifty

I weigh in at 165, and I keep the screw pretty tight, I like a firm saddle.

The bike is a Cannondale Synapse carbon. I average 5 to 6 thousand miles a year, this year was 5200. Living in Oregon the saddle is exposed to some rain and wet, no problem with that so far, I sprayed the bottom of the saddle with a silicon base water repellent (shoe and boot spray), I guess that is working. I never leave the bike out in the rain, but it's been on the top of the car in showers a few times.

bransom

I've had mine for three years, maybe a bit longer, and I love it. Instantly comfortable. And I'm a big dude: 6'1" and 250 lbs. I've got several thousand miles on it (though nowhere near 15k) with no issues. I think I've tightened it maybe twice. Best $199 ever spent as, finally, the saddle just isn't ever an issue anymore.

iconicflux

I have a Anatomica X and a Brooks Professional. They're both really nice saddles but I'd go with the Anatomica X if touring. The reason being that it doesn't have a problem being exposed to wet whereas Brooks do and you'd need to bring along extra stuff for conditioning the Brooks.

Walter S

My point stands. It is a choice based on the "size" of the rider. Not for everybody. For bigger "sized" riders.

robow

I've been wanting to try one of the cut out models for sometime so recently I bit the bullet and after many years of owning Brooks B17's I will be trying out a SA Ti X. The old knock against them was that they stretched out too quickly but supposedly with the X version and the double laminate, it will wear longer. We'll see. If any interested I will give an impartial review as the year goes on as to the SA vs. B17

tcs

Tensioned leather saddles:
Persons
Berthoud
Tops
Selle Monte Grappa


Gyes
Cardiff, made by Gyes
Velo Orange, made by Gyes
Zimbale, made by Gyes
Origin 8, made by Gyes


Torelli, probably made by Gyes
Dia Compe, probably made by Gyes
Spa, probably made by Gyes
Papillionaire, probably made by Gyes
Rivet, probably made by Gyes

Lepper (out of business?)
Ideale - definitely out of business, occasional NOS available

lubers

Have three of the Selle Anatomica saddles, one on my wife's bike, one on my daughters bike and one on son in laws bike. All three were mine at one time and they all complained they couldn't find a seat that they liked, but were too cheap to buy a good one. None of them gave my saddles back, they love them and won't part with them. My touring bike sports a Brooks Flyer had for about ten years now and still love it. I'm done buying Selle saddles can't seem to hang on to them (oops just ordered another one I had a ten percent coupon so for eighty some bucks I ordered another one for my commuter bike that had a rock hard seat on it), out of the box they are the best, but after the Brooks get broken in they are just as good or better. Either way you can't lose.

redbike72

You can get lots of opinions about saddles but your own backside is always the final judge.
We've seen enough conflicting views on saddles to fill a library.
If you like it, buy it.... if you hate it, don't be afraid to move on.

ricebowl

Switched to a titanico after seven years on a brooks pro. For some reason started having comfort problems with the brooks. The Selle Anatomica is a more comfortable saddle than the brooks pro. But the quality, durability, and looks are lacking. My brooks aged nicely if anything it might look better than when it came out of the box. I haven't needed to add much tension at most 1/2 turn of the screw. Still has many miles of use left on it, if I can figure out why it became uncomfortable. The Titanico noticeably sagged after returning from quick rides. I've only got about 10% of tension left, after very little use ~500 miles. The quality of the leather and workmanship isn't comparable to the brooks. Oh I'm ~165 lbs, I think the weight recommendations were different when I ordered.

Another one to consider is Rivet Saddles, similar to the SA saddles. Company is headed by a former employee of SA, I believe. Made in Taiwan instead of the U.S. But if the comfort and quality are there, origin is secondary.

Road Fan

I just bought a Titanico X in the discount deal, Vintage color. I have a few others, dating back about 5 years ago to Tom Miller's time. I liked my first one quite a lot. I tried two different Watersheds, and did not find those able to set up correctly. This Titanico X will (I hope) have more Brooks-like stiffness with the effective dual hammock concept. We'll see!