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Last month Selle Royal teased a new range of ergonomic saddles, developed in conjunction with the Sport University of Cologne. Now it’s spilling the details ahead of next week’s Eurobike, and we’ve a couple of exclusive pics too.
Promising perfect-fitting saddles for all cyclists (see this 2004 article on penile oxygen flow meters and saddle comfort for all), the Scientia range is made up of nine saddles, created by combining two main rider characteristics: their riding position and their “Ischial variation” – the measurement between their ‘sit bones’.
There’s no UK pricing yet, but on the Continent they’ll go for €79.99. Availability is from September.
All saddles in the range share a set of features:
- BODY CONTOUR – A radius-specific design to provide optimum comfort for differing spine angles. The more inclined the Riding Position, the smaller the edge-radius.
- REAR PLATEAU – An elevated rear section to prevent backward sliding and decrease pressure in the saddle middle which can cause discomfort.
- CENTRAL RESERVOIR – Indentation in the saddle middle whose shape and dimensions have been studied to correspond to ischial variations for greater comfort.
- 3D SKIN GEL – Royalgel™ is placed intelligently at critical points of contact on the saddle surface for added shock absorption, while reducing overall saddle weight.
- CURVA SUSPENSION – The unique curved suspension design is attached at the rear of the base to offer exclusive comfort by avoiding pressure on the seat bone contact points and guaranteeing additional lateral flexibility.
Here’s more on the process Selle Royal and the university went through, specifically about the riding position and ischial variation:
"To find your riding position, you sit on a bike as you would normally cycle, and the angle your back makes with the road is measured.
• ‘ATHLETIC’ matches riders with a 45-degree angle between back and road
• ‘MODERATE’ matches riders with a 60-degree angle between back and road
• ‘RELAXED’ matches riders with a 90-degree angle between back and road
Athletic, Moderate and Relaxed correspond to specifically-designed saddle profiles and central indent.
The second part of the process is determining the rider’s ischial variation. To do this, you must sit on a special gel measuring pad, with your back upright at 90° and apply downward pressure to the pad. Find the centres of the two ischial impressions that are left on the pad and and add together the two numbers. The result is your ischial distance. A distance less than 11cm = Small; 11-13cm = Medium; and over 13cm = Large.
Small, Medium and Large correspond to the three saddle widths."
