Originally Posted by
one4smoke
I first purchased a H1 and played with the tilt several times before getting it right. Since the saddle is designed to cradle you, the nose will be tilted up. I simply laid a level across the saddle from the nose to the rear. Got it completely level and it's been perfect ever since.
After purchasing another bike last year, I purchased a X2 saddle because I am less than 190 lbs. Not sure if it's because I haven't ridden it enough to break it in any, but it doesn't seem to be quite as comfortable as the H1 yet. So, I'm going to put that one on my Roam hybrid, and have ordered a H2 with a carbon rail for my road bike.
But, the nose will be tilted up even if the saddle is perfectly level. For me, I've always like the nose up on all saddles and it doesn't seem excessive to me at all.
You got the tilt right after several tries! Good job! For my only long tour about 10 years ago I set up a SA Titanico (precursor to the X1) on my Woodrup frame to go on a 300 mile 50day group sagged tour in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My overall training goal was to have all endurance, performance, and equipment issues resolved two weeks before the start, to be able to ride a metric century two days in a row with an off day before riding more of them. The biggest bike problem was not performance or endurance, but saddle comfort. As I worked up the distance from 20 mile days to 60, I found I could develop a Selle AnAtomica position that was good for several 20 milers in succession. Then I changed to 30 and I found I didn't really have a pedaling or aerobic performance issues, but that some new little saddle pains emerged as I passed the 20 mile mark. By now pretty good at resolving little pains I fixed it pretty quick, sometimes having to iterate a few times. This pattern of having to mess with my set up in very small ways continued into the event riding. By then I pretty much didn't need it, and since I was riding with my older cousin (our history of familial love involves constructively picking at each other, but we would give each other anything the other needed!) it's good I didn't need to display those skills. She's a rider who settled her position 30 years ago and thinks everyone else should have done so. Needless to say she did build a bike specifically for this event.
In any event, having yourself set after only a few tries is commendable and enviable. It often takes me a lot more to get sorted out.
BTW, I don't strong trust in the weight ratings SA uses. That old Titanico was made before they really had a rating system, and I weighed about 180 when I started using the saddle. I've used in on and off since then and my weight has gone up to about 205 and recently down to about 195 to 200. I still ride that saddle, it is really comfortable. I may be over stressing it, but I've now had it for nearly 12 years. I don't think it will break, but when she's gone, she's gone. Maybe at that point I'll have Rudi Mayr make it into a wide-bottom Swallow without cutout.
The "trust" point comes in because after so many years the weight ratings seem to be coming down numerically. Are the really based on stretch rather than actual durability? Even with this "lightweight" rated early Titanico, it stretched to a certain point, and seems to have stopped.
I think Selle AnAtomica is an adventure all by itself, and I recommend them! But they are not the only fine saddle out there. And I cannot claim that we heavier riders, borderline Clydes, will "be OK" with long term use of the SA saddles currently identified for lighter riders. My good experience might just be an outlier. But for someone who wants to experiment with it, the dual-hammock concept can be very comfortable.