Originally Posted by philbob57

I started with Avocet Touring I; after 30 years I got hit by numbness. I then went successively to Fizik Aliante, Brooks B-17 Imperial, one of ISM's lower priced road models, Selle SMP TRK, Selle SMP Blaster, back to the SMP TRK. I had no numbness on the ISM up to 25 or 30 miles, but developed a saddle sore, which I attribute to all the weight on my pubic rami; some people get the saddle sores, though most don't. The SMP TRK was great up to 50 miles (didn;t go farther), and I decided to upgrade to the Blaster. The Blaster is longer from the lowest to the highest point than the TRK is, and that dimension was too long for me - I could never sit right on that saddle, so I went back to the TRK. I've been on the TRK since 2016.

If the TRK stops working, I think I'll try the B-17 Imperial again, because my frame is classic English. If I can't make that work, the next step would probably be Rido because of the low cost.

ETA: I believe the thinking underlying the ISM and Selle SMP (and Rido and apparently SWLab, too) is sound, but my experience is by no means guaranteed to match anyone else's.