Selle Italia Diva Gel Superflow

First let me say something about saddle sizing. Measure your sit bones. There are plenty of easy ways to do this with chalk and a piece of cardboard. Look it up on YouTube. Base your saddle size on that measurement. There won't be anything exact but choose the closest size. If you don't find your size in men's saddles look at women's, they tend to be larger. Saddles sized for men are sized for 160 lb. thin Italian men with zero body fat. They won't comfortably fit the standard American male.I am 55 y/o, 220 lbs., 5'8", stocky build. I put this saddle on my mountain bike after trying several saddles that other people swore to me were the most comfortable. In general they were variations of less uncomfortable. It was actually a bike shop owner who told me to try a women's saddle. He didn't say any specific brand, he just mentioned that many people my size find them more comfortable. He was dead on!The large cut out in this seat allows airflow and blood flow. I don't need to stop after 45 minutes or an hour and get circulation going in my underside. I have great blood flow to my man parts which was always a problem with other saddles. I don't even think about it when I have been pedaling uphill for some time. My sit bones are on the cushioney part of the seat and I can pedal consistently without having to stand up to get some relief.If you have been looking for a truly comfortable ride I highly recommend trying this model. You can easily return it through Amazon. There is no need to suffer.

For advanced mountain biking, I need a firm saddle, but my tush likes a bit of cushiness. On epic mountain bike rides to short 2-hour rides, this saddle provides firmness and cushy support. I have one for each of my 3 mountain bikes. I considered buying a 4th after a small tumble drove a stiff 1/2” thick branch through the saddle of one of my mountain bikes, yet even with the 1/2” hole and rip made by the branch, my saddle works fine. The damaged saddle still performs well and has not ripped further, even after several rocky terrain rides in Sedona.Another plus: every so often I cannot ride for long periods. We all know what it means when you return to the saddle after a long period of not riding. The butt gets sore. With this saddle, I noticed that I’m only sore for the second day, and I recover a lot faster from a sore butt on this saddle than other saddle brands. I used to really like WTB saddles, until I tried this saddle.Price: back when I bought my 2020 IBIS Ripmo, the bike shop charged me $175 for this saddle. I bought another saddle on amazon for my 2016 Giant Trance I for $95 in Fall 2020. Now 3 months later, it’s at $114. For my new 2021 IBIS Ripmo 2, I was again charged $175 for this saddle. It’s my local shop, so I would rather support this shop for it to stay open than not, especially with so many local mom & pop businesses closing their doors permanently after the pandemic.

I had a really squishy gel saddle before, and I have had it for many years. I also wear gel shorts. I got this because I was I was having a lot of soft tissue pain and chafing with my old seat. Figured it was worn out and it was time for a new one. This is a very different saddle from the one I had before in terms of profile, firmness, and material. Yes, there's gel in it, but it is a much firmer ride. That said, it has been nothing but comfortable since the first couple of 20 milerides were my backside got used to it. Got the wider size. My sit bones sit on it perfectly, and I'm not getting any of the pain or chafing inside my thighs that I was having. Just took it on a 50 mile ride and I felt way better at the end of that ride than I have been with my other seat on longer rides. I'm about to do a weekend ride in which I'll be riding 250 miles in 3 days. That will be the true test, but as of right now I'm very confident that I will be happy.

I purchased this to replace a Diva Gel Flow that was my go-to saddle for several years but wore out. My previous saddle had a leather cover which was starting to pull away from the bottom of the saddle, and the shell started to squeak badly when flexing (I greased the rails and determined it wasn't those but the shell around the cut out). I tried several other saddles in the interim including two Terry saddles to look for something that was at least as comfortable and possibly more durable and finally gave up and bought a replacement for my old standby. Nothing else worked for me on rides longer than 20 miles and I suffered through several high end saddles that ended up feeling like medieval torture devices after a couple hours or so (I'm a gravel and trail cyclist and typical destination rides for me are in the 3-6 hour range). The new Diva Gel Superflow has the same cutout dimensions as the old Flow. My old saddle was 152mm but according to Selle Italia's idMatch the narrower 135mm/S3 seat was the better option for me. It seems to fit my sit bones just as well without an undue amount of pressure and I'll give it a few rides to see if this is right or if I should go back to the L3/152mm. The seat otherwise seems slightly redesigned, some positives and some possibly negatives. The current generation is microfiber which may not be as durable as leather, but given the overall lifespan of this saddle in the 5-ish year range with my riding, that may not be an issue. At least I won't have to worry about rain damaging the saddle. The rails are slightly longer and titanium instead of vanox, so there is more clamping area. There is an additional groove on the nose to reduce pressure that wasn't in the old version which is nice. It is noticeably flatter than the old version and so far that doesn't seem to affect comfort, but that may be an issue for some repeat Diva riders. The shell is now all nylon and not carbon composite, so we will see if that is a plus or minus. Since the shell on my old saddle was starting to wear out as it was, I will see if going to all nylon will make a difference or not. Overall it is a quality saddle but it's not the exact same Diva as the old leather models. I put many thousands of miles on my old Diva and I'm hoping that the refreshed model will occupy the same sweet spot as the previous saddle generation did for me.Update: I exchanged my original purchase for the larger saddle to increase surface area. No more sit bone pain or saddle pressure, and it’s firm enough to stay planted and exert power without being too firm. Still not sure if I prefer the redesign over the old leather model or not, which is why I’m leaving it at 4 stars. But it’s the closest I will find to what I’m replacing and there is no doubt that it is a high quality and comfortable saddle.