CliffordK

Perhaps we will see these on bike shop bikes, regardless of the color scheme.

And, a bit worn looking after hundreds of test rides, and moved from bike to bike.

Seattle Forrest

I can't ride a saddle that doesn't have my name hand embroidered into it. If a shop doesn't stock those, I leave.

znomit

It's really the only way to ensure that all important matchy matchy with the bar tape.

CliffordK

Is your name Brook?

WhyFi

There are a fair number of people, even among those that'll spring for a high zoot bike, that rarely go on rides long enough for a so-so saddle to become problematic.

eduskator

Gotta to agree on that especially in the last year with all the new COVID cyclists.

Sales assploded in my area to a point where almost all the 2021 are either sold out and/or reserved even before they arrive at the LBS. Tons of people with more money than usual buying expensive bikes they'll end up selling once this is all over .

noimagination

I agree. If I'm given a choice of saddle, I'll choose something I'm familiar with. If not, then I'll ride the saddle that the bike came with. Some saddles work better for me than others, but none were unrideable or caused any issues .

PeteHski

If people are not that fussed about saddles, why would they be so fussed about pedals? If say I bought a road bike with an Ultegra group set, a pair of Ultegra pedals would be the obvious choice.

Personally, I would rather choose my own saddle and pedals on a new bike, but I don’t understand why pedals are not included with bikes, while saddles always are. I think it makes less sense to include a saddle on a really high end build where it would be an expensive item to replace if it didn’t work for you.

But I know some online manufacturers like Orbea now provide a choice of saddle options (and many other components too), which I think is a much better idea. The ability to choose saddle, ratios, wheels etc from a menu is the way to go. Especially now shops rarely stock many off-the-shelf bikes anyway.

burnthesheep

Cars do the same things with options packages that include or exclude things that make no sense.

If I had to guess, your bum despite being unique can conform to what they toss on the bike. But, if they put a specific cleat style pedal on there......there's a pretty good chance it's worthless to you. So, no pedals or flats it is.

My personal opinion is that the car and bike world would be better off if folks could have the patience to wait a couple weeks for delivery after placing a custom order in the Japanese lean manufacturing style. Go in for a quick fit, choose your groupset, saddle, pedals, stem length, bar width........wait a few weeks........ride happy. Maybe a test ride on a display model or something.

I always find it interesting that we treat the most expensive purchases in life with such disregard. You HAVE to have a car TODAY so you settle for some bull you don't want or need and a car that likely isn't really what you actually want. Same for a bicycle.

Shrug?

ericcox

I always liked Selle Italia saddles. Then my new bike came with a house brand short nose saddle that I find very comfortable. Picked up a cross bike with a very similar Selle Italia saddle. I'll change saddles when necessary, but as long as the basic shape is good, I am more concerned about shorts and bibs.

stevel610 

Everyone has 2 cheeks on their butt which will fit any saddle. Now we have as many pedal / cleat options as there are flavors of ice cream. And almost everyone has a different pedal setup.

Back in the pre-clipless days you either had racing pedals where shoe blocks and straps fit, or platform pedals that everyone else used.

freeranger

Except when the bike mfr. puts a decent saddle on the bike, if they are using a "house brand" or cheap saddle, the price likely wouldn't drop anyway. The little it costs them would just be pocketed. So in the case of "cheaper" saddles, why not have one come with the bike, for test rides, if nothing else.

Seattle Forrest

Most people aren't going to buy new shoes or cleats because they bought a bike. If the bike has Speedplays, I can't even ride it once until something changes.

This forum is full of people who really love cycling, while most in here want things exactly the way they want them, that's probably not the typical cyclist.

urbanknight

or stem, or handlebars, or seat post (I always seem to need more setback than what they come with). Come to think of it, I would prefer a high end bike be sold as a frame and fork with a group set on it. Chances are it will save me at least as much as I would make dumping all those take-offs at the bay.

Trakhak

I have around 10 bikes currently. Musing on the saddle topic, I just realized that all of the bikes have different saddle models (probably) and that I couldn't tell you what any of them are without looking. I don't recall ever replacing a stock saddle that wasn't worn out or damaged, though I might have at one time or another.

When a saddle seems uncomfortable to me on a newly set-up bike, I first try dropping the saddle height a few millimeters. That usually does the trick.

CliffordK

It takes at least 100 miles to break the fanny into the new saddle.

Same thing if you take a few winter months off from riding.

CliffordK

One option would be for the stores to mark the prices up and give a $50 pedal credit with every bike.

I was going to say that a mid-range SPD pedal would go good with many high-end MTBs, but I'm sure there is still a raging debate between flats and SPDs. Or even combo flats/spds.

On occasion if I'm going for a test-ride, I'll bring my own pedals with me.

I don't have any Look/SPD-SL/etc pedals on any bikes. I keep meaning to try them sometime. But, every bike that I regularly ride has some form of SPD pedals (not all the same).

msu2001la

Pedal systems are non-standard and shoes are specific to 2 or 3 bolt systems, so that doesn't work unless you're also folding the cost of new shoes into the build.

As for custom builds, there are options out there from several manufacturers. Trek Project One is exactly what you are describing. You can choose all the parts, choose custom paint, fit whatever wheels, saddle, etc you want.

I'm not sure it's realistic to expect manufactures to provide this level of customization on every bike they sell, but it's definitely out there and available on many higher end bikes if you want it.

asgelle

They do, it's called a frameset.

Seattle Forrest

I bring shoes to test ride and expect a store to have pedals for me to use. 🙂

I used SPDs for most of my time as a cyclist, changed to Keo cleats most of a decade ago to use power meter pedals. I like them.

PeteHski

I wouldn't want to go as far as a full custom build and all the extra expense that usually entails. Just some basic options around the contact points would be nice. Orbea do that very well and at no extra cost. Obviously good shops will swap out parts too.

But I think this is drifting away from the OP's original question. If you are buying a high-end bike, the saddle it comes with is no more likely to be the one you really want than if it came with some random high-end pedals. For me, both of those items are a personal choice on a high-end bike. I think that's what the OP was thinking and I tend to agree.

msu2001la

You really don't see any difference between manufacturers selling stand-alone framesets and manufacturers allowing a menu of options for customers to customize a complete build from?

msu2001la

I guess I disagree with the presumption that everyone buying a high end bike is automatically swapping out the saddle. Unless you're a weight weenie shaving grams, a saddle is not an obvious performance upgrade part (like wheels, tires or groupsets would be) and unless the stock saddle is causing comfort issues I think most buyers likely just ride it and never think about it. I could be wrong about this... it would be interesting to hear from someone in the industry on this topic.

Pedals are not comparable to saddles, IMO. There is no standardization among manufactures and buyers may have shoes that don't work with certain systems. It goes beyond just a comfort/preference thing as the pedals sold on a bike may not even work with the shoes you already own. If bikes came with shoes it would be a more apt comparison.

Leinster

Even the manufacturer that offers a menu is going to have gaps in it. “Aww man, I really like this bike, but they only come with coke bottle cages, and I like the pepsi ones.”

I’m generally not too picky about saddles, but I’ve had 2 excruciating butt-hatchet experiences (one with my CAAD10, the other with a rented Kuota) where I absolutely couldn’t sit on it another minute. Somebody somewhere must have liked those saddles, though, because I see that stock Prologo on Cannondale bikes all the time. If it’s that bad, I’ll buy a new one. If it isn’t, I’ll just ride.

79pmooney

+1 You need a saddle so the customer can do a test ride. Installing one takes a few minutes (unlike pedals that are very quick to install). Plus no bike looks "right" without a saddle. Again, the most important detail on a high end bike is the one critical to the sale. Whether that saddle gets ridden again matters zero to the shop. It doing its part to get that bike in the customer's hands - huge. So they put on saddles they believe play that role well.

This is in general. Some bike manufacturers, like Fuji, don't spend big bucks on parts they know the future owner will almost certainly replace. My 1976 Fuji came with training level rims and a cheap saddle. I immediately put the good seat I'd been racing on (which would have happened regardless). Trained on those wheels and built up nice, light race wheels (of the same hubs and Italian rims).