I had been using a Selle Italia SLK Gel Flow saddle on my road bike almost since I bought the bike in 2011. And it was fine. No major problems. Reasonably comfortable. Fairly light. It was a gift from a friend and former coworker who wasn’t satisfied with it.
Here’s the old saddle:
But I thought I could do better. Pedaling on a trainer helped me realize that rotating my body forward to crouch low in the drops caused some discomfort and I thought a larger pressure relief channel would help. Also the surface of the old saddle was more grippy than I wanted. And I was willing to spend more for a saddle that was lighter than the old saddle.
I looked at a ton of options online, read reviews, and watched some bike fit videos (like this one).
I eventually settled on the Selle Italia SLR Boost Kit Carbonio Superflow, size S3. It was popular and highly rated. I was worried about buying a saddle before trying it, but at some point I realized that it was very similar to my existing saddle, and the differences all seemed like improvements. That was good enough for me to be willing to risk it so in January I pulled the trigger.
And it’s great! Better in all the ways I hoped it would be. A bigger improvement in comfort than I was hoping for. Even sitting on it upright is more comfortable—I don’t know why. Maybe the cushion has more give? It’s also a bit less rounded so the contact area might be bigger, which would distribute my weight more evenly over a larger surface area. Anyway, so I took a bit of a chance and it worked out great.
Here are a few comparison photos:
