Touring Bike Saddle – Hermit's Woodshed

My personal quest for a comfortable bicycle saddle which I can sit on for consecutive hours in relative comfort came to an end (uh,huh,huh) when I tried the Gilles Berthoud Aspin saddle. But that solution didn’t work out for my wife and riding/touring partner. The shape wasn’t quite right. For her the Rivet Pearl saddle provides the best platform.

Rivet Cycle Works is a relatively new player…the saddles were introduced at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Sacramento this year (2012). The founder, Deb Banks is an ultra long distance rider. Like Paris-Brest-Paris long distance. She wanted to take the good things from all the currently available leather saddles and incorporate them into a dependable, comfortable product.

Rivet offers two models- the Pearl and the Diablo. The Diablo at 155mm wide and 280mm long is narrower than the Pearl, which measures 170mm wide and 280mm long. The Diablo is a little bit lighter as well. Both models feature a longitudinal cut-out in the top. Leather tabs on either side of the skirt extend underneath where they meet and are held together with a riveted metal plate. The attention to detail is apparent when one notices the Rivet logo on the metal plate visible through the cut-out. Rivet calls these “suspension” saddles. The extra thick, laminated leather tops are “firm but forgiving”. And the skirt tabs do not allow the saddle to flare out when the leather starts to soften with use. After several hundred miles the leather on Sky King’s saddle is noticeably softer and has some spring or give but the saddle is not developing a “hammock” shape.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Rivet Pearl saddles in natural and burgundy. Black and white also available.

The straight portion of the rails, the part that clamps to the seat tube, is about a two centimeters longer than the rails on a Brooks B17 so the fore and aft position is more adjustable. Both models come in steel rail and ti rail versions.

Rivet claims that the leather they use is waterproofed during the tanning process so that no further leather treatment is required. And the leather is thick….thicker than any other saddle we have seen. There is actually a second layer of leather laminated (finished side out) to the underside of each saddle, apparently to add structure to the leather and mitigate stretching but I would assume it helps with the weatherproofing too.

Rivet Pearl touring bike saddle — A layer of leather is laminated to the bottom. The rails are relatively long for a leather saddle….so you can dial in the position.

Some might hesitate to buy the first generation of a new product, but from what we’ve seen and used, I say go ahead…take a chance.. be a pioneer. Your friends and neighbors will be impressed. $150.00 for the steel rail versions and $250.00 for titanium rails.

Gilles Berthoud Saddles

I now have over 3000 miles on my Gilles Berthoud Aspin touring saddle, so I guess I feel OK about sharing my impressions. (the pun will become apparent later) The Gilles Berthoud Company is located in Pont de Vaux, France. The products they produce are well thought out and elegant and, as far as I can tell, any compromise in materials or methods used in construction is never considered. The leather saddles are unique in several ways. The cantle plate and nose piece are made of a special, composite material. The rails, either steel or titanium, depending on the model, slide into holes molded into the composite pieces. The leather tops are bolted on with stainless steel bolts and specially designed brass washers which have the Gilles Berthoud name engraved on them except the nose rivet which has the individual saddle’s number on it. The idea being that individual pieces of the saddle can be easily replaced. The tension on the leather top can be adjusted with a 5 mm allen wrench so no special tool is required as on Brooks saddles. The leather is supposed to be waterproof and Gilles Berthoud does sell a proprietary leather treatment.

Being able to take the saddle apart may be a good idea, but I have noticed a couple of things one needs to pay attention to. If you pick up a 60 pound touring bike by grabbing the rear of the saddle, the rails may pop out of the cantle plate. It is possible to loosen the tensioning bolt enough to pop them back in place and the saddle is good as new, but US 77 outside of La Grange TX is not the best place to go through this exercise. The bolts holding the leather top on can come loose and need to be checked and tightened periodically. We also discovered that the dye used in the black saddles leaves an unsatisfactory stain on lighter colored pants. The natural saddles don’t appear to have that feature.

The bottom line is that this is the most supremely comfortable saddle I have ever used. The leather appears to be thicker than that on some other brands but it has been pre-softened, and rather than simply sagging or splaying out with use has conformed to my anatomy leaving the impressions of my sit bones. Yet it gives enough support that there is no pressure on the soft tissue parts of the perineum or the arteries and blood vessels. In short, no pain and no genital numbness! As with any saddle, especially leather ones, adjustment of the fore/aft tilt is critical to comfort.
The section of rail that can be clamped to the seatpost is short, like on Brooks saddles so the fore and aft positioning of the saddle is limited, but a set back seat post can help if a farther aft position is desired.

Berthoud Saddle angle — Experiment with the best tilt or angle for your Berthoud saddle.

Berthoud Saddle impression — My sit bones leave a deeper impression on the right side

These saddles are not inexpensive, over two times the price of a Brooks B17, but to my mind (not to mention other parts) they are well worth it. After 4 or 5 or 6 hours in the saddle when touring, it’s nice to not have a literal pain in the butt to worry about. The durability of my saddle so far has been terrific allowing for the mentioned caveats. Those are two things that figure into my calculations of value.