ISM Road Saddles

mirrormatrix

Anyone on here any experience of these? I've a Specialised Toupe on the road bike for a good few years now, but it has been mildly uncomfortable on the perineum for quite some time and I'm looking for a change. I mostly sit on the nose of the saddle, so thought perhaps the ISM PN 1.1 might be better suited to my cycling style.

Any thoughts/opinions on other good road saddles also welcome. Have tried a number of saddles in the past and have found that only the cut-out saddles tend to work for me.

Have had a number of bike fits already, so position of my existing saddle unlikely to be the root cause.

Luxman

I don't have direct experience although I had researched it. I did take a punt on a standard short nosed saddle and found it very comfy (Spesh Power one). For the winter bike I went with a Fizik Argo , again short nosed and probably even more comfy. I mention these two as they are similar to the ISM, in principle anyway (no protruding nose)

mirrormatrix

Luxman wrote: »

I don't have direct experience although I had researched it. I did take a punt on a standard short nosed saddle and found it very comfy (Spesh Power one). For the winter bike I went with a Fizik Argo , again short nosed and probably even more comfy. I mention these two as they are similar to the ISM, in principle anyway (no protruding nose)

Thanks, that's interesting. The Argo (the R5 version at least) is considerably cheaper than the ISM one so might be worth a punt. Did you find it took a long time to get dialled into the right position on it?

Luxman

As I had the short nose one for a while before the Argo I was already used to the short nose version anyway, so dialling the second one in was fairly simple. When you first sit on one though it does take a bit of getting used to. You have to be careful as the nose can no longer to used as a reference point in the setup. There is still wiggle room on it, some reviews suggest there is only one position but that not really true. There is a video on youtube explaining how to set it up, take care measurements on your existing setup in case you need to reset things.

declan_8

I run a PSN 1.1 for a while for the same reasons down to numbness on long spins. Switched to the ISN from a San Marco Selle I think it was, long and narrow race saddle basically. The ISM did greatly improve comfort to be fair and I got an ISM Adamo for the winter bike and found it too hard compared to the PSN 1.1. I also tried out a Bontrager Aeolus on the winter bike and I think it might of worked if I had gotten the correct width, mine was too wide.

I then purchased a new bike last year which came with a Prologo dimension 143 which I tried out and its been a revelation for me, no issues at all. Needless to say I switched over to the Prologo for the second bike also.

We are all built differently so what works for me may not for you but key is getting a proper width and try out a few different options until your totally happy.

mirrormatrix

Cheers for the advice. Chain Reaction had a sale on so just pulled the trigger on a Prologo dimension. Fingers crossed!

Euppy

I bought one here off someone doing a clear out. First time trying a saddle like it. I got it as I intend to do some triathlons next year and I always found a normal saddle to be uncomfortable when in the TT position.


I have only been using it on the turbo but put in a good few miles. I got used to it immediately and it feels great in both upright road position or in TT position.


The only time I find it awkward is going out of saddle and back to saddle. On a normal saddle I find it doesn't really matter where I land I can make that position work and slowly get back to optimum position. Whereas if I go back into the saddle on the ISM and am not in the perfect spot it feels weird and I cant just slide about easily, I have to lift my ass off the saddle and try and find the right position on landing again.


For me the benefits outweigh that small drawback. I also think I'll get better at re-seating myself with time.


I'm strongly considering getting one for my fixed gear winter bike. I think it'll make it a lot more comfortable descending when spinning very fast but no pressure on the pedals, such that all my weight is going through the saddle. I think this saddle better supposts your weight through the sit bones

teroknor83

I tried an ISM saddle for similar issues and just could never get comfortable on it.

I have since moved onto Selle SMP Hybrid saddles and now have a few of them. Never have had issues since.

Unfortunately trying to get the right saddle can be trial and error.