steelywheelie

I know that Mimic was originally designed for women — and I’m a dude — yet after trying A LOT of saddles over the past year, my Power Expert Mimic has beaten the competition for overall comfort/versatility (riding in hoods or drops) and weight (just 214g at 155mm).

While it lacks the full cutout, it just does better at cradling ‘the boys’ than full cutout saddles with their rougher edges bordering the cutouts, and provides the most evenly distributed pressure relief with no chaffing. I forget about it while riding which I can’t say for the others…

I’ve also tried the other Specialized Power iterations, including the Power Pro Mirror (plusher but kept grabbing my shorts and locks me in too much for my taste), Romin, Phenom, Toupe, plus the Bontrager Aeolus, Verse and various other road oriented offerings from Ergon and Serfas. And some other brands I’m forgetting.

I know, Specialized started selling Mimic tech as ‘unisex’ in some cases. But I’d still been gradually trying all sorts trying to push that ‘designed for women’ tagline out of my brain…..lol….let’s just say it’s been a fun and slightly obsessive experiment. You may ask how did I try all these saddles? Buy and try for a couple of days riding. Here’s a pro-tip: wrap the rails in basic electrical tape while ‘test riding’. Then it’s easy to return minty fresh with no blemishes. It also doesn’t hurt that I’ve got a lot of bike shops around my area .. so I’m always picking up other bike gear, too, from each of them…..as not to harass a single store and get banned for too many returns…if such a thing can happen.

I’ve declared it the winner! If you can’t beat it, ride it.

Mojo31

Hey, it’s not pink so rock that girly saddle like man who is confident in himself. 😜

My wife rolls with one. Same size, too.

Seriously, I don’t think any of the Power saddles are gender limited or intended to be gender specific.

79pmooney

The saddle that works very well for me came from a company making bikes and parts for women and carries a woman's name. Terry. The Fly. Works so well I have them on 4 of my 5 bikes.

Iride01 

I won't look underneath you to see what sex your saddle is. Who cares, if it fits, it fits.

When I'd bought some otherwise comfortable but a little too snug for long rides bike shoes, I use to wear very thin socks that I could only find in the women's section of stores.

ThermionicScott 

My current gloves were marked as a women's model in the store. No idea what made them so, but they were just right in fit and (lack of) padding.

ZHVelo

Oh no, designed for women.

Sojodave

The Power Pro Mirror saddle does take a few weeks to get used to. It was super tacky at first; however, after a couple of weeks, it seems to be less tacky and is super comfortable. I have had mine for three weeks and I have a 105 mile ride this weekend, which will be the big test on comfortability.

zandoval 

And the search goes on. It's great to see these new saddles getting proven. I see the trend being wide overall spread with a cut out for the sensitives male or female. There also appears to be a good amount of overall flex in the base materials they are constructed from. It's good to see the changes...

Wonder when the ChiCom knockoffs will arrive?

ZHVelo

And?

Polaris OBark

Obviously he did not survive.

You saved US$450.00

ZHVelo

Nah, I wasn't gonna buy it anyway. I found an online store that takes back saddles if there aren't any signs of mounting, so I will just tape the rails really well and go to my fitter for a pressure map. One of the ones I am testing is the Argo Vento, so if that is a good one, I may take it and down the line get the Adaptive version, which is like half the price of Specialized. $450 for a saddle is ridiculous. One saddle I am testing is $90 or so, and mind you, I can only even take into account 7x9 ones due to my seat post clamp, and they tend to be carbon and more expensive.

Sojodave

I didn't suffer with the Power Pro Mirror on my long ride. I was a little sore afterward, but on long rides, I think that's the way I would feel with any saddle. Last year, I did the 104 miles with the Romin Evo and I suffered during the ride. I have the first 1/2 of the saddle level and tilt makes a huge difference with short-nose saddles.

Mojo31

I have the Antares Versus Evo R1 and find it very comfortable. It's made by the same group that makes the Spesh saddle I believe.

ZHVelo

Antares Evo is Fizik, not Specialized. If you have the Adaptive version then yes, the 3D part is made by the same company that makes the 3D printed part of the Specialized Mirror saddles.

Mojo31

Well, I’m glad you straightened that out. But, I didn’t say that the Antares saddle was made by Specialized.

ZHVelo

"I have the Antares Versus Evo R1 and find it very comfortable. It's made by the same group that makes the Spesh saddle I believe".

No?

You made no reference to the 3D printed mesh that is made by the same company for Specialized Mirror and Fizik Adaptive saddles. Those two sentences very much do read like the Antares is made my Specialized.

Sy Reene

I read the comment as suggesting that Selle Royal (the 'group') might be the contract manufacturer for Specialized (the group outwardly behind Fizik and Brooks fwiw). What does the "Made in ..." tag say on Spesh saddles? just curious.

Mojo31

Carbon3d makes the printed parts of both brands' saddles.

ZHVelo

And that is literally what I said in my initial reply to you.

Iride01 

Literally?

ZHVelo

"If you have the Adaptive version then yes, the 3D part is made by the same company that makes the 3D printed part of the Specialized Mirror saddles".

Iride01 

We have a different view of what literally means. I didn't see where you said in a prior post that Carbon3d makes the printed parts of both brands' saddles. So to me you didn't literally say what was said by Mojo31 . Although Carbon seems to be the current name of the business, Carbon3d is just the website URL, AFAIK.

I suppose that since you both were conveying the same idea that the same company made both brands of saddle, then you might could say you said almost the same thing. As knowing the name of the company seems to add more info to the statement of the other person.

I would have just taken the comment as someone just adding the name of the company to what you already said and not made it seem like someone was plagiarizing your thought.

Polaris OBark

Is there any way to try before you buy either the Fizik or Specialized 3D printed saddles?

Fredo76

For me, my new cut-out saddle is the most significant bicycle technology improvement made in the last 50 years. Second would be tire sealant...


Selle SMP TRK

They simply make more of a difference for me than lighter, sleeker stuff. I do like 4-bolt stem clamps, too, even if they aren't quite as sleek.