wasp said:
i'm buying one of those schwinn wide/square seats today they are on sale at canadiantire....
There are two kinds I know of, I have tested them both for a friend.
Type one is a little narrower and has two minor problems: a) It has a front ridge that hits the back of your thigh and becomes a big irritant pedalling over all but very short rides. Try to adjust it down so it does not hit your leg, and either it wont go that far down, or, you fall off. B) adjusting it is difficult to almost impossible --and getting it adjusted right is very important. the crux of the issue is a limit on how far down it will tilt on micro adjust seat posts, not a problem on the old style clamp seatposts from the 1980's. Bigger problem with the feet forward geometry of the seat tube.
type two is a little wider, does not have the front ridge. BUT the surface of the seat is a non skid, grip your clothes type waterproof material that can cause significant problems. One does not realize how many times you do minor litle butt shifts as you ride; each of these become a major issue with this saddle, and at the times when you need full attention on other things- like left turns in traffic. It also has the tilt adjusting limitation, but its not so critical since the ridges are not there on this saddle. I kept one of these for my backup bike hoping the wife will know a trick to make the seat surface slicker, not on her list yet.
Both of these saddles will make it impossible to use body english on the nose of a saddle, another of those subconcious riding techniques. If you do mainly intown riding, no big deal, you will adapt to using the cross tube and a lower part of your leg.
I would not try to talk you out of testing these seats. However do keep your receipt and test for these conditions.
Good luck
d
