Originally Posted by
carleton
Yeah, I used to have an Adamo and a Cobb longer saddle…the Adamo absolutely sucked (for the reasons stated above) and the Cobb was better because it was connected in the center-front, but the vertical padding still took some work to get settled onto at near 40mph/60kph when sitting after the standing start. Also, the sliding wasn’t as smooth as the arione. I would slide forward at the end of the event in an effort to effectively shorten my reach to the pedals and spin more to “get my legs out of the way of the pedals” and avoid applying back pressure while fatigued.
I’ve only seen one top racer use such saddles and that was Rebecca Romero (IP specialist).
It’s not impossible to use them for sprint events…but it’s an acquired taste, and IMHO, not popular for a reason.
On the contrary from my experience, I've seen a lot of those style of saddle around. There were quite a few in Rio and locally, the Spec Sitero is quite popular as it's easier to get and you can go and try them out at a dealer I guess. I think the "standard" saddle ergonomics are catching up though. Road saddles aren't all about riders sitting in the cruising position for hours any more, and I think the US crit scene has a big part to play in the change. "Standard" style saddles have wider softer noses than 10years ago to give you more positioning options, especially more comfort when "on the now non existent rivet". I used to love my Selle SMP on my road bike, but as I got stronger and faster and started to move around the saddle more in racing it became a horror and that was where I gave the Adamo a try and it worked for me and still does for now at least