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Bontrager
Selle San Marco Cromo
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Submitted by
Sprocketeer
a Cross Country Rider
from Narashino, Chiba, Japan (native of New York)
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | One where I can hear NO cars | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Came stock on my older Trek when bought used for the frame | | Strengths: | It's a bit too strong actually, but some people like that. I mean, these days even new, high end bikes are made pretty comfy, but not so long ago saddle comfort was not a consideration in a high performance bike, at least not as regarded the saddle itself. This saddle has a good shape for maneuvering around when you're off the saddle, attacking in a race or making a steep decent. I would not land on this saddle--or for that matter, any saddle. | | Weaknesses: | Basically, if you're a downhiller or technical rider, this might be a good saddle because you don't really sit all that much if you're doing it right and it's one of the few places on a downhill bike you can really save some weight, but this is absolutely not a saddle that you want to be sitting on for two or three hours at a time doing cross-country or touring. | | Similar Products Used: | I have quite a collection of saddles, but my favorite has to be one my brother got me for Christmas, made by TFI in Italy. That saddle is a work of art. It's lighter than many saddles four times the price. Before the TFI I thought an aching back and sore gonads were a natural symptom of cycling too much--not so!! | | Bike Setup: | I have a Trek cro-moly rigid frame that I built up myself with racing parts--totally sweet bike--and the other is a Trek 8000 | | Bottom Line: | The nose was like some kind of torture device no matter how I angled the saddle--and trust me, I tried everything. It's too high and hard in the middle, so it feels like you're litting on a leather covered pole.
To tell the truth, I suspected it was just repeated stress disorder that was causing me such enormous pain in my groin and back. Then Christmas came and my brother, who knows absolutely nothing about bikes, got me a new saddle. In fact, he got me a saddle I never would have bought for myself (I would have gotten something much more expensive and high tech), in fact my other brother (who claims to know absolutely everything about bikes) had this look on his face when I opened it like "the big dummy got him a cheapo saddle." I put it on my bike and that thing changed my world. Suddenly I could ride as many hours as I liked and that's when I realized just how nasty the Selle San Marco was--a cinder block might be more comfortable. Yeah, the right saddle does make all the difference and the Selle San Marco is not the right saddle.
On the other hand, I don't want to knock Bontrager over my experience with this one saddle. I mean, these things are made for riders; they're not comfort saddles--and hey folks, I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of in putting the most comfortable saddle you can find on your bike even if it's not the most impressive or most expensive. Like I said up top, the geometry of this saddle is excellent for manuevering, it's just not something you want to take a long sit on.
I do have a Bontrager FS 2000 on my Trek 8000 and I like it so far. Mighty comfy and has a good technically minded shape. However, I'm going to have to roast the Selle San Marco--I guess it's model year 1997.
Also, notice that Mr. Bontrager himself posted below. I'm very impressed by that. I'm pretty sure Trek's people check on our posts pretty often, because I've seen a lot of product design improvements year after year that followed exactly with the commentary on these pages. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Al F
a Weekend Warrior
from NB, Canada
Date Reviewed: August 17, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | any one | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | it came with the bike | | Strengths: | none | | Weaknesses: | it gives me a new bruise every time i go out riding | | Similar Products Used: | Any other seat would be beter than this piece of junk | | Bike Setup: | read review for bruiser 2 if you really want to know | | Bottom Line: | This seat sucks don't buy it, I hope you never have to go through this kind of @ss pain... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
casual rider
a Cross-Country Rider
from from avalon
Date Reviewed: December 7, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
watershed | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
can use as a hammer to straiten rims | | Bottom Line: | set on it for 5 min. hard as a rock! yeah light 240g but who cares? I got only one butt | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jan Mork
a Cross-Country Rider
from Stockholm, Sweden
Date Reviewed: November 24, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Strengths: |
I´ts light and fits my rearend perfectly! This saddle is really great. | | Weaknesses: |
None that I know of. Oyeah, the Bonty-logo wears off real quick. No big deal though. | | Similar Products Used: |
SSM Techno Dynamica, Bontrager Race (that came stock on my Privateer Comp) | | Bottom Line: | Great saddle at a great price. Was thinking of a Flite, but this was a way better deal. Just bought a SSM Bonty Titanium saddle. I´ll get back to you on that one. | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eug
a Cross-Country Rider
from Toronto, Ontario
Date Reviewed: May 8, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
6 months | | Bottom Line: | I didn't get used to it (see below). My behind still hurts plenty whenever I ride with the Bontrager SSM. I got a new Coda saddle so I'll tell you about it in a few months.
| | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eug
a cross-country rider
from Toronto, Ontario
Date Reviewed: October 14, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
Well, saddles are a very personal thing.Pros:
Looks very well built
Extremely light, especially for a ChroMoCons:
Harder than I had hoped - I especially don't like shifting forward for climbs
ie. I won't be doing 4 hour rides on it.
Grey coating on the leather began to wear off at the seams after two rides.
I don't really like the colour (grey leather/black kevlar).Caveat:
I've only had it a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll get used to it.
| Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Keith Bontrager
a cross-country rider
from Santa Cruz, CA
Date Reviewed: April 14, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I ride these most of the time. A bit hard on the
nose, but other wise, a good fit for me.To Joe from NJ:I think you are BSing. Send me the broken
saddle and I'll buy it back from you. The
Chromo rails are stronger than anything out
there. If you really smack the saddle the
rails bend first. Could have been a defect,
but I've never seen one yet. I've only seen
2 bent rails in about a zillion sold.KB | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
JOE
a cross-country rider
from BRANCHVILLE,NJ
Date Reviewed: December 1, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I snaped a rail the second day I tested the peice of crap! As a result I recieved 5 stiches in my buttocks from the snaped rail. I would shur like to rip Bomtrager a new butthole as they did to me. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt Gersib
a racer
from Lincoln, NE
Date Reviewed: November 6, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
Very good. It's all subjective, but it fits my posterior the right way. | Overall Rating: |
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