adlai

This thing about leather seats being the best might just be an area in bicycling where mysticism and superstition take precedence over scientific method. I've never actually seen a scientific study that explains the advantages of a leather saddle. The best argument I've seen is that the leather saddle is like a hammock.

Now, generally I don't find hammocks that comfortable. You sit there with your back curved and it is a recipe for lower back pain.

But if you take a look at a plastic saddle, you will see that it flexes to a similar degree as a leather saddle. And it doesn't have rivets which are areas of the seat where you simply cannot sit. On a plastic saddle the entire top is soft.

Also leather saddles appear to be treated similarly as leather car seats where there is a lot of paint and artificial treatments.

it appears that leather saddles might be like audiophile mysticism. Like the marker on the cd making it sound better or the $1000 oxygen free cable.

Polaris OBark

I think the difference is audiophools claim they have magical abilities to hear differences where none can physically exist. (One guy I have in mind claimed to hear differences between lossless files with identical checksums.) They dismiss things like double-blind studies, and are typically very anti-science, and claim to be able to hear differences that cannot be measured (yet there are plenty of examples of measurable differences no one can hear).

In the case of saddles, some hurt less than others. That is just a matter of fit, subjectively. I find my most comfortable saddles are leather, but I don't think they are inherently superior. I would rather ride with a more light-weight plastic or carbon fiber padded saddle, if I could fine one more comfortable. I am still looking (and wasting money).

BlazingPedals

OK, I'm ready.

phughes

Might need more.

csport

Granite saddles do not flex though.

ofajen

I make no claims to being an audiophile, but I did actually test something that I sometimes hear people talk about but clearly haven’t tested.

Some people claim you can’t hear the difference between the correct and reverse polarity of an audio signal. My experiments indicated that is mostly true, but I got one weird result.

I recorded a solo cornet track (chosen for its asymmetrical waveform) and played it back through a device that let me instantly and precisely reverse signal polarity. In the moment of switching, not only could I tell a difference between correct and reverse polarity, but it even created a change of perceived pitch. Very weird!

OTOH, if I rewound the tape and listened to the whole track through on one polarity or another, I couldn’t tell the slightest difference. And on other content, like a drum kit or a mixed program track, I really couldn’t tell the difference during switching or playing back the track one way or the other.

But still, clearly hearing a difference in perceived pitch seemed weird to me but it was consistent with the cornet sound.

Otto

trashbiker

I found the shoulder? part of leather saddles will shape to the user over time. Kind of like how when a leather boot breaks in, the upper will bend with how your foot bends. Before I got a bike fit my hip would rock to the right and the saddle was shaped differently on that side. That being said, I would think the comfort ceiling is similar; it just depends on what works for the individual and bike fit. Even a couple mm on seatpost adjustment can change how a saddle feels.

Personally I think the hammock thing is baloney. A saddle should have more tension unloaded than a hammock unloaded. Leather saddles look killer on the right bike though.

genejockey 

I am loath to believe that I know what others can and can't perceive. Years ago, while my wife was out shopping, I replaced my heavy gauge Monster Cables with higher grade cables. No doubt there was no measurable difference between them. When my wife came home, having no idea what I'd done, she said, "What did you do to the stereo? It sounds better!" Take from that what you will.

EDIT: Myself, I don't know that I could hear any difference. And a year later our first child was born and that was pretty much the end of audiophile pursuits for me.

Polaris OBark

My wife moved one of my speakers slightly, and I could hear the change.

Trakhak

Having spent the money for the Monster cables and gone to the trouble of installing them, you probably bumped the volume up to check how the new configuration sounded. Sound systems generally sound better at higher volume as long as you don't push them into distortion.

I used that fact to win a bet, many decades ago. My then-girlfriend had quite a high-end system for the time - Thorens turntable with Rabco linear tracking arm, McIntosh integrated amplifier, Acoustic Research speakers - and I had just bought a decent-quality Tandberg tape recorder. I mentioned to her that the Tandberg recorder was comparable in quality to her components. She sneered at the suggestion.

So I made a short recording of a portion of a musical passage from one of her LP's and challenged her to identify which she was hearing - the original or the recording. But, unknown to her, I bumped the volume up of the recording, very slightly - barely perceptibly.

I switched between the LP and the recording playback a few times. She confidently picked the tape as sounding better. I then hit the Pause button on the Tandberg, demonstrating that she was wrong, wrong, wrong, and explained (possibly a tad condescendingly) how I'd biased the test.

Unaccountably, she didn't then fling herself into my arms, breathless with desire. Women.

noimagination

Have you ridden a leather saddle?
I have two bikes I ride regularly. One has a leather saddle, the other a "plastic" saddle. They feel SIGNIFICANTLY different. One is not necessarily better than the other, we all have our preferences, and those preferences can change over time or even from one ride to the next. But the difference is real.
Sorry, but you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

easyupbug 

I ride both and agree with you in general having kept leather, plastic and even one carbon. However, we summer in a small community where I bike to friends, food, etc., in street clothes and know for comfort to only bring my bikes with Selle Anatomicas for the occasional longer rides.

PeteHski

I have several “plastic” saddles that have a large variation in comfort. So I don’t think the material has much influence overall. It’s like comparing frame materials. Design is more important than the material.

As for Audiophiles, I thought the digital age would be the end of the ridiculous interconnect cable nonsense. But I was so wrong!

joesch

Yes, lets consider leather, plastic and carbon saddles. And what about the rail types, include all the choices plus diff metal types like TI, CroMo, and Mang. etc ... The constructions and saddle architecture is also important for feel and durability. All these choices make a diff for different riders and rider builds.

big john

It doesn't matter what the saddle is made of or how much it costs, if your butt doesn't like it that's all that matters.