FAQ

Introduction:

MYTHBUSTERS - You may be familiar with this popular Discovery Channel show. Perhaps you were not aware that there are countless bicycle product and fit myths that our R&D efforts Busted.

MYTH #1. Sit Bone Measurements.

Measuring sit bone dimensions to select a saddle of a specific width is not a viable methodology. The pelvic girdle bone structure is two independent halves that move in three distinctive planes with every complete pedal crank rotation. Furthermore, the ischial tuberosities (sit bones) are unusual boney point surfaces with irregular surface shapes and with significant asymmetries between the left and right side. Considering the motion and shapes, our bodies need a saddle made from skin like material, held in suspension, with various anatomic ergonomic design features.

We do our best through the websites and product materials to provide common sense, research & development based information.

Comfort and performance on the bike begins with a saddle that will function biodynamically which means mirroring, supporting and relieving your pelvic girdle and pelvic basin region anatomy. You may choose to start with a professional bike fitting at a local shop. Be sure the technician is well trained, certified, experienced, and most importantly, a person with high degree of objectivity. After a professional fitting you still need to work with your saddle and handlebar positions while riding during ensuing weeks or months. We all aim to achieve comfortable ergonomics. A professional fitting is only a good starting point and is only as good as the technician's experience.

Be sure your bike and your body are prepared before you start a ride of any length. Established riding goals are important. Establish achievable goals.

A 20 - 30 minute routine of simple stretching and strengthening floor exercises is important before riding and on days you don't ride. The right kind of riding (hill work) will exercise and improve your cardio pulmonary, leg strength and core strength. Learn to use your diaphragm for breathing. Heart and lung capacity is your engine. Food is your fuel. Long hills, steep hills, head winds, and sustained higher speeds provide an excellent cardio pulmonary workout. Your heart is a muscle and needs to be worked at its upper limits to increase strength and capacity just like any other muscle system.

Your mental, psychological strength is as important to achieving any goal as is physical training and strength. If for example there is a challenging hill you can't seem to climb, keep working on that hill going farther each time to attack it until you finally make it over the top. This is outstanding psychological, cardio pulmonary, and leg strength training. Once you've climbed that mountain new horizons await!

Be patient, keep riding to your limits and those limits will introduce you to new worlds.

Myth #2. SADDLE (component) WEIGHT: We don’t weigh items. This practice is a huge misunderstanding in the cycling community. Our saddle design is the result of many years full time R&D where we focused attentions on fundamental needs of the important human anatomy and selected the best available material, then continued to make the most important fundamental proprietary and patent developments.

Myth #3. Knee pains. Too many riders will suffer knee pains only because they;

1. Do not work at all or appropriately on overall physical conditioning.

2. Use inappropriate or no pedaling technique.

There is more down this page.

Hot Topics:

Ultra Distance Cycling including events like Race Across America, 12-24 hr races, Time Trialing, Paris Brest Paris and all the world's 1,200K brevets, etc. - Selle An-Atomica has taken professional and amateur riders to the finish of every important ultra distance race and tour in the world. Paris Brest Paris is the oldest continuous cycling event on the international calendar. It was first run in 1891, won by an intrepid rider in 70 some hours! Selle An-Atomica and Calfee Design combined to send Tom Milton from the start to finish without any saddle or other telling physical issues along with hundreds of other contented Selle An-Atomica riders. The first Selle An-Atomica rider Tom met along the road within an hour or two of the 9:30 pm Monday start was most gracious in thanking us for making his entry possible. He said that without this saddle he could never have attempted the grueling ride. Calfee Design Bamboo - "The new high tech frame material, the quiet ride," enhanced Tom's PBP riding experience due to it's unique shock & vibration absorption characteristics.

Saddle Nose & Shorts Snagging - We realize that a few of you snag your shorts on the saddle nose as you sit down. Due to special design features of Selle An-Atomica riders are able to position the saddle nose up above level in order to properly balance our core weight over the sit bones. This nose up attitude difference and poorly conditioned core and leg strength may cause some riders to catch their shorts when sitting from standing position. You need to work on your thigh, gluteus, and core strength so you can sit down rather than fall back onto the saddle! We also find that men and women using half shorts (non bibs) may snag their shorts sitting down. We recommend everyone use bibs. The primary function of the bib is to keep your chamois in the proper position. Worst case example, a rider with an overly large belly wearing half shorts will find that their shorts are being pushed down too far so you suffer two problems; 1. chamois in the wrong position which often has the rider seated on the chamois edges rather than the intended padded portion. 2. Potential to snag shorts on the saddle nose.

Returns & Exchanges - We have a return exchange rate less than 0.01% in our first three years mass producing saddles in USA. We've had a small number of warrantee exchanges for saddles that use up tension screw travel prematurely and a significantly smaller number for folks who managed to bend the wire frame.

In the first two years, we warranted 94 saddles for leather that stretched prematurely, 27 for bent frames, 3 for broken frames, and 3 failed welds on the tension screw nut. That represents about 0.01% of production since inception. Saddles returned for a refund represent 0.001%. We introduced 4th Generation Watershed tannage in 2008 that is going to help reduce the number of saddles that stretch prematurely. Being as leather is not manmade material, we will always have a small number of saddles that stretch out sooner than we'd like. That said, the riding comfort reputation Selle An-Atomica is becoming well known for around the world is unsurpassed. That was our goal when research & development work begin in earnest during the late 1990s.

Bent Frame Wire - A small number of saddles have been replaced in the past two years due to frame wire bending during a ride. These first happened exclusively with mountain bike riders doing extreme riding. The majority of the frames that bent were using Thompson seat posts, and others like them with the rail clamp centered over the top of the seat post tube, and on seat posts with very short clamps. Many who managed to bend rails also had their saddle set back as far as it will go. The riders have been men and women of various weights on Standard & Clydesdale models. The population of damaged saddles is so very small we are at a loss to identify a cause. Engineers examine offending saddles as they are returned. We replace these saddles with the caveat that the rider use a seat post with longer section clamp and more setback in the clamp. Anyone riding a saddle set back as far as it will go on our rails is likely on a poorly fitting bike frame. If your frame fits you appropriately, if the handlebars are properly positioned (not too far away and too far down as is too common), and if you have a well engineered seat post, your saddle will be positioned in the middle of the rails. See the Seat Post section in our Saddle & Handlebar Adjustment Procedure pamphlet that comes with each saddle.

Stretching Leather - New leather will stretch to a point and slow or stop depending on various conditions. Very few saddles will stretch to the limit of the tension screw within 30-90 days. We replace these saddles as soon as we are notified. One in several hundred leather blanks make it through manufacturing inspections that should not. There are no effective manufacturing testing methods beyond those we have in place. Because leather is not a manmade material, we simply can't predict saddle blank selection with 100% accuracy.

Tension Screws - Tension adjustment is all about comfort for your pelvic girdle sit bones and pelvic basin soft tissues along the saddle sides. DO NOT tighten tension by looking at the saddle surface when off the bike. Adjust it according to what you feel when riding. Half turn and whole turn testing changes during a ride will help you dial comfort in.

Tension and Setback Adjustment - Go for a normal, casual ride. While pedaling at easy cadence slide back slowly until you feel sit bones pained because they are on top of the rear frame former, then slide forward until you feel them fall into molded dimples where they belong, then slide forward until you know you’ve gone too far due to groin pressure. This kind of test can help understand, feel the effects of tension and setback settings. If you suspect tension is too loose tighten two full screw rotations at a time and do the slide / ride test to see if you feel the difference when sliding off the rear frame former into the molded sit bone dimples. Once you know you’ve gone too tight on the tension start loosening one turn at a time to find comfort you’re looking for. There is no right or wrong tension adjustment within a range of about half dozen turns of the screw. If you stand up and sit down naturally a few times during these tests you may also get a sense of the setback position. Our design is somewhat forgiving so that there is not necessarily an exactly correct setback or tension setting.

Squeaks & Creaks - We have a very small number of customers with saddles that seem to squeak in the nose area, fewer in the tail area. We have not been able to replicate this condition through years and tens of thousands of test miles. Dry graphite may be a good choice to quiet any saddle squeaking or creaking.

Saddle Side Pressure Points - We have learned from customer contact and through testing that you will experience thigh groin pressure points along the saddle sides if your saddle is too high (up to 60% of riders observed during organized rides and races, and from observation points at busy bike commuter street corner locations), and if the tension is too tight. You may also have your saddle set too far forward.

LD Slot Clamshell Edges - The narrow edges toward the rear of some saddles may bump into each other or even overlap during riding. You may see evidence of this when you're off the bike on close examination of the slot edges. You can use an Xacto knife, single edge razor blade, or other sharp knife edge to trim the slot edges in this region so you have a gap of 3/16" - 1/4" or 4-6 mm.

Gender Specific Design: You may be interested to read our Letter to the Editor regarding female & male specific saddle design.

Saddle Weight - We devoted years of research & development study to skeletal and soft tissue anatomy to try and understand why saddles are universally uncomfortable. By the time we answered many fundamental questions and moved on to design and material selection, overall saddle weight was not a consideration.

Saddles need appropriately positioned and shaped anatomic pressure relief structures (slots), and need to be made from material that mirrors human skeletal and soft tissue needs under biodynamic loading. These facts and the lightest weight saddles are not compatible. There are not yet any functional manmade materials so we use the best alternative, leather, which can't be made to a specific weight. After years of study and tens of thousands of R&D miles logged, miles not always ridden in comfort, we state with certainty that a suspended leather saddle with our patent attributes is the ideal bike saddle design concept. See the Saddle Design White Paper for more detail. Balancing your core weight properly over the saddle, adjusting the saddle in 5 attitudes, and having material that closely matches our skin and it’s flexibilities are key to your comfort and speed. What good is light weight if you are not able to ride in comfort, or if you ride to the point of injury and are taken off the bike, out of the race? All riders from pro to recreational level need to focus on body weight, conditioning, and fueling to optimize performance on the bike. Each of the three important focuses is limited by the body in question, your body.

Saddles:

Selle An-Atomica products are the result of a concentrated research & development effort over more than four years. We commenced the R&D process to answer one very important question: What are the fundamental issues within the pelvic region anatomy of women and men that make saddle comfort so universally problematic? We apply R&D finding for product development purposes. Our products are the saddles and associated leather products, as well as proprietary pamphlets that help riders deal with fundamentals which will help everyone ride many more miles and hours in comfort.

Selle An-Atomica (Italian for Saddle Anatomic)

Saddle Height Warning - We ride with large groups regularly and see far too many cyclists with saddles adjusted too high, as many as 60% of the riders. The best fit systems are only as good as the technician. The rider needs to be willing to make incremental fitting changes when out on the road, after an in store fit. It is simple, if you observe rocking hips riding behind anyone, that saddle is too high. The rocking is more pronounced as the saddle gets higher above the setting that works for your skeletal geometry. Differences in individual bone length from one 5' 6" person to the next and asymmetries of the skeleton are such that your saddle and handlebar position needs special attention after an in store fit. You will be rewarded for the extra effort.

Saddle width choices are not important considering our Patent 7,341,308 designs due to the unique conforming nature of our unique suspended leather and the anatomic molded shapes in the leather piece and the rear frame former. Our Saddle Design White Paper is an in depth discussion of our multi year, objective R&D process. In particular, you may be interested in the discussion of fundamental saddle construction methods, pelvic bone motions, and the fatal flaw of the universally accepted fixed width saddle construction method.

Tell us your height, weight, skeletal structure (thin, average, or thick bones), and riding habits if you need help with saddle model selection.

A suspended leather design is ideally suited to supporting your weight and moving with your pelvic boney points and soft tissues in the region. The special tension adjustment successfully direct effect on the ischial tuberosity (sit bone) region saddle width. Leather is the only material that can be held in suspension and provide maximized ergonomic surface support area with essential anatomic relief features. Selle An-Atomica™ successfully taken these properties one step further by developing Second Skin Watershed™ leather; a supple, water & sweat resistant, natural, maintenance free material.

All models are excellent choices suitable to any type of bike or rider; weekend warriors, road & off road racing, brevet / randonneur, double century, road & mountain bikes, cruiser bikes, etc.

Titanico is our most popular model. It provides the most accommodating sit bone contact area for cyclists of all shapes and sizes.

Slot shapes - the LD slot shape is also far and away the most popular as it is the most comfortable..

Leather - We offer two high quality molded leather materials;

1. Second Skin Watershed™ leather, a unique proprietary product. It is as waterproof as leather can be and is maintenance free.

2. Traditional Saddle Leather. This is the highest quality bridle leather. It requires regular treatment with our select conditioning crème and waterproof paste. Use of any other product voids our warrantee.

Leather laminate under layer - If you weigh above 180lbs / 82kg we make a Clydesdale laminate model at no added cost. State your weight in an email if you have questions. The Traditional Saddle Leather model is available with or without our Patent laminates. The saddle without a laminate is an excellent choice for lightweight riders and those who only ride occasionally and not in foul weather.

All our saddles are suitable for road, mountain, and cruiser bikes.

SADDLE WIDTH: Go to the top of this page and read MYTH #1 for the quick answer.

Saddle width is the most challenging aspect of choosing a traditionally made saddle wherein the molded base is rigid and inflexible so the fit your pelvic region and sit bones is hyper critical. Rider height, weight and skeletal structure is not necessarily the best width selection predetermination. The widest weight bearing region across the rear of a saddle is the most important dimension where riding comfort is concerned, assuming the saddle in question is a well engineered and constructed of the finest, most suitable material held in suspension. Measuring your sit bones is problematic. The pelvis is a flexible, hinged structure and the ischial tuberosities (sit bones) are very irregular shapes. Depending on your body orientation when trying to measure sit bone width, you may not find the ideal sit bone contact patch and you may get a false measurement that is slightly too wide or too narrow.

• Wider is NOT better. Dr. Underhill successfully discovered that many cyclists live with chronic deep tissue injuries, what she also calls insult injures. This particular injury seems to be an unknown or certainly overlooked aspect of cycling, saddles, and medicine. For all of us who ride regularly and suffer ill fitting saddles, saddles made of less that perfect materials, saddles poorly adjusted on the bike, these aches and pains we put up with in our nether regions do in fact become chronic injuries that need to be treated. Sitting on an ice pack or freezer gel pack after a ride, and once or twice day in general to calm and ultimately heal the inflammation injuries is helpful. Dr. Underhill stumbled onto this cyclist condition wherein I rode a primary saddle for 15-20 ultra distance events during a year. While the saddle seemed comfortable, I developed a mysterious lump on one side in my shorts, so I thought. That saddle proved to be too wide from me in the end. The lump I thought was in my shorts at first was in fact a slowly developing hematoma near the hamstring tendon attachment which is within the pelvis. This tendon passes under the edge of the ischial tuberosity where aggravation can take place if riding a saddle that is too wide. After many weeks of two to three time a day freezer gel pack treatments that injury seemed to be cured. About one year later I was compelled to make two 50 miles tests of that same width saddle. The old, supposedly treated injury flared up during the second ride. Once Dr. Underhill observed these events in my body, she found that nearly every cyclist she treated suffers from this type of injury. It is only a matter of degrees. Piriformis muscles also tend to be in a constant state of spasm on cyclists, which aggravates various undercarriage issues. We developed a muscle energy counter strain technique to address this condition. I use that technique as part of a specific stretching and strengthening routine prior to getting on the bike. I don’t ride without it!

  • piriformis: a muscle that arises from the front of the sacrum, passes out of the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen, is inserted into the upper border of the greater trochanter of the femur, and rotates the thigh laterally [piriformis illustration] Courtesy MedLine Plus® Merriman Webster online.

It is possible you need help fitting yourself to your bike, especially if you are uncomfortable on your current saddle and if you suffer from genital numbness, saddle sores or abrasions, hand numbness, shoulder pain, etc. You will find our proprietary saddle and handlebar adjustment instructions and record keeping forms helpful.

SADDLE WEIGHT: We don’t weigh items. This practice is a huge misunderstanding in the cycling community. Our saddle design is the result of many years full time R&D where we focused attentions on fundamental needs of the important human anatomy and selected the best available material, then continued to make the most important fundamental proprietary and patent developments.

Saddles need an appropriately positioned and shaped anatomic weight bearing relief structure (slot) and need to be made from material that is forgiving and supportive of body tissues in the pelvic basin region. These key facts and the lightest weight saddles are not compatible. After years of study and millions of thousands of miles logged, not all in comfort, we state with certainty that a suspended leather saddle with our Patent attributes is the ideal bike saddle concept. Balancing your core weight properly over the saddle, adjusting the saddle in 5 attitudes, and having material that closely matches our skin and it’s flexibilities are the keys.

What good is light weight if you are not able to ride in comfort, or if you ride to the point of injury and are taken off the bike, out of the race?

Click on the question to see the answer if your browser displays this list collapsed.

• How can I help myself and fellow cyclists get comfortable on the saddle?

  • We see far too many cyclists riding with their saddle positioned too high. Watch riders hips from behind. If you see any rocking, up & down motion between left and right sides tell them. Their saddle is too high which causes discomfort and injury because they are sawing away at delicate pelvic basin anatomy. Watch leg extension at the same time. The knee / leg should no come close to straightening out as the foot / pedal move through the bottom of the pedal stroke. The majority of cyclists who see us with fit problems have saddles between 5mm and 30mm too high!

• Which saddle width is best for me?

  • Measure the width of any saddles you already own. If you feel sharp & aching pains on the inside corners of your sit bones (aching deep within your pelvic basin region), your saddle may be too narrow. If you ride high mileage and feel like you've developed lumps under your sit bones your saddle may be too wide.

• Why do I feel more pressure on the left or right side of my new Selle An-Atomica?

  • You may not have adjusted the saddle seat post clockwise/anticlockwise rotation.

  • Selle An-Atomica is the only "sided" saddle in the world. The left and right side are independent halves. You are sitting on a unique structure that supports your pelvis in a manner that is more sensitive to five directional adjustments.

• Why do I feel pressure point irritation on the left and right side of my new Selle An-Atomica?

  • Your saddle position is too high.

  • You may have the tension too tight.

  • Seat post may need to be rotated slightly.

  • Pressure points in the thigh groin region.

    Our leather piece and rear frame former are 3D modeled anatomic shapes. Designed to accommodate two anatomic peculiarities of the pelvic girdle and three distinctive and competing pelvic girdle skeletal motions that take place with each pedal crank rotation. This is a dynamic and diabolical environment.

    For any saddle position test ride start the ride without making any changes. Ride normally for a mile or three to warm up. Scoot around on the saddle just a bit to get a sense of your bottom. While still pedaling slide slowly back until you feel sit bones move up over the rear frame former. This is simply a painful place to position ones sit bones. Then slide slowly forward and feel sit bones fall down into the molded in ellipses. If you don’t feel a distinctive change in comfort as you slide forward off the top of the rear frame former then saddle tension is probably significantly too tight. Keep sliding forward for this test until you are weight bearing mostly on the forward region of the saddle. When you’ve gone far enough you should feel unwanted pressure close to your genitals. Make a tension adjustment change and do this test again.

    We suggest two tests if you are bothered by equal pressure points on the left and right sides in thigh groin region.

    First, try a lower saddle position. Test 1 CM lower at a time. When a saddle is even slightly too high the leg bones will not extend far enough as either foot passes through the bottom of the pedal rotation. This always gives unwanted pressure in the thigh groin region. Pedaling technique, specifically your heal position also effects pelvic basin region pressure.

    If you use aero bars you have to account for the radically different body position between an aero and more upright road bar body position by testing various saddle position changes.

    The second test to make for thigh groin pressure points on both sides of the saddle is tension changes. It is more common to ride with tension too tight if bothered in the thigh groin region. You can test changes of one or two full turns of a tension screw.

    If you are bothered by thigh groin region pressure more on one side only, not equally on both, this will require seat post rotation change.

    Chamois designs do effect saddle region pressure points. Tom uses three different models of Assos shorts, this after testing all the top brands during the years of saddle Research & Development. He found that Assos worked best for the type of riding he prefers. Assos make three different chamois, one for each different short model. With one of the three chamois designs Tom is bothered by a slight thigh groin region pressure point.

  • Concerned about saddle slot edges irritating female soft tissue labia area or surface plumbing behind the male scrotum? Saddle slot and test riding basics.

    • Balancing your core body weight on the saddle and positioning the handlebars after that will result in a more pleasant cycling experience. Our Saddle & Handlebar adjustment instructions go into detail. Selle An-Atomica are uniquely adjustable in five distinctive attitudes that collectively provide for the optimal experience. The forward 70% of our patent slot design is the same. The slots are designed to provide essential anatomic weight bearing relief suitable to female and male anatomy. The rear 30% of each slot is different and does not bear weight specific to genital relief requirements. The slot shapes have been researched and test ridden by female physician specialists, among other women testers. Your saddle AND handlebar positions are key to comfort on the bike. You need to focus on saddle position first. Once your preliminary saddle adjustments are complete, carry a tool in your jersey pocket so you can tweak single plane movements for fine tuning purposes. Don't do two differing adjustments at the same time if you can avoid it. Your riding intuitions may or may not compel subtle changes of the initial installation settings. Once you are pleased with the saddle position, you and your fit specialist need to focus on handlebar position. Feedback from consumers is clear on this point. You’ll likely need to move your handlebars up 1-2cm and closer to your saddle by 1-3cm. There are specific body aches that will be reduced or eliminated by these steps. It is clear that our saddles provide for comfortable positions that most other brands can’t offer. We’ve been able to help all our customers with specific needs regarding saddle pressure points or body aches. These problems are solved through fine tuning of the adjustments described in our pamphlet. There are no dumb questions in this case.

  • How do I fit myself to my bicycle for optimum comfort, then how do I fine tune the saddle and handlebar adjustments?

    • Follow our specially prepared instructions provided with each saddle or order the proprietary instruction pamphlet here: Accessories Shop

  • Why do I have to wear two pair of cycling shorts?

    • Your shorts may have a chamois of inferior quality or one that simply can't work for your anatomy and riding style.

    • The chamois padding is worn out from use and age. Manufacturers don't tell consumers that chamois have a very limited lifespan. Depending on your riding habits, a chamois will wear out within six months for someone riding every week.

    • You need to consider using high quality chamois crème or pure corn starch. We only recommend Assos chamois crème, the one brand used consistently by pro riders.

    • Your bike and saddle fit may need work.

    • You may be riding a saddle of inferior quality.

  • What about the aches and pains I feel in my bottom from the cycling I routinely do on less that satisfactory saddle designs?

    • Dr. Underhill successfully discovered that many cyclists live with chronic deep tissue injuries, what she calls insult injures. This particular injury seems to be an unknown or certainly overlooked aspect of cycling, saddles, and medicine. For all of us who ride regularly and suffer ill fitting saddles, saddles made of less that perfect materials, saddles not well fit to the bike, these aches and pains we put up with in our nether regions do in fact become chronic injuries that need to be treated. In this case one wants to sit on an ice pack or freezer gel pack every time after a ride, and once or twice day in general to calm and ultimately help heal inflammation injuries. We stumbled onto this years ago in another context wherein I rode a primary saddle for an entire year that is too firm and too wide. This lead to a hematoma at the hamstring tendon attachment. This attachment point is coincidentally right on the edge of the ischial tuberosity where serious aggravation takes place if riding a saddle that is too wide. After many weeks of two to three time a day freezer gel pack treatments that injury seemed to be cured. About one year later I was compelled to make a coupe 30 miles tests of that same saddle. The old, supposedly treated injury flared up during the second ride. Once Dr. Underhill observed these events in my body, she found that nearly every cyclist she treated suffered from this type of injury. It is only a matter of degrees. Piriformis muscles also tend to be in a constant state of spasm on cyclists, which aggravates various pelvic girdle region issues. We developed a muscle energy technique to address this condition. I use this technique religiously as part of a specific stretching and strengthening routine prior to getting on the bike. I never ride without completing a 20 - 30 minute routine.

    • piriformis: a muscle that arises from the front of the sacrum, passes out of the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen, is inserted into the upper border of the greater trochanter of the femur, and rotates the thigh laterally [piriformis illustration] Courtesy MedLine Plus® Merriman Webster online.

  • Knee pains.

    • We find that knee pains are generally the result of poor fitness, poor biomechanical technique and inappropriate use of the bike transmission. Specifically, riders need to keep their heals up as the pedal comes up over the top and through the down stroke so that shin and quadriceps muscles are used appropriately. We tend to drop our heals through the pedal stroke in general and especially as we become tired, which essentially misuses and abuses various leg muscles.

    • We need to use our transmission appropriately by selecting a gear that does not overload the torso, leg, knee muscles.

    • We need to do floor or gym exercises that strengthen the muscle groups appropriate to our cycling activities.

    • Finally there are a host of real physical anomalies that can lead to knee pains. See this page which is the result of Tom Milton's research after an examination by Dr. Michael Dillingham, Nov. 2006. Dr. Dillingham is one of the country's preeminent Orthopeadic Surgeons specializing in knee and shoulder sports injuries.

  • Foot pains.

    • See the discussion on this link about shoes, cleats, adjustments, and technique.

  • What about Selle An-Atomica LD, ED-S, and ED slot shapes?

    • All three slots provide essential anatomic relief throughout the forward 70% of the slot.

    • The rear 30% of each cutout is specifically engineered to provide the best relief, support, & Flex-Fly™ motions to meet various conditions.

    • LD - the most supple slot for long distance relief and the most sensitive bottom.

    • ED-S - an intermediate slot design that provides relief and support for less sensitive bottoms.

    • ED - the firmest saddle slot design that provides excellent anatomic relief where it is needed most and a firm support structure for the least sensitive bottoms.

  • What about the three basic saddle models?

    • Titanico offers the widest seating platform at the rear, excellent for long distances and wide hips.

    • Robusto is not quite as wide at the rear and still offers excellent comfort and support for long distances and racing.

    • Settebello is the narrowest rear platform, suitable for the narrowest sit bone span and excellent for any racing and aggressive cycling style.

    • Are three are roughly the same length.

  • How do I care for my saddle?

    • Selle An-Atomica proprietary Second Skin Watershed™ leather does not require any leather treatment products. Simply wipe it clean when dirty.

    • Selle An-Atomica Traditional Saddle Leather models are best cared for using our Saddle Care Kit.

    • If you ride in the rain please use leather treatment products in our Essentials Shop - "Saddle Care Kit." The acids and salts in sweat coupled to any sort of rain washes the natural oils out of the leather by degrees.

    • We've tested and reviewed ingredients in many of the home products and DO NOT recommend any products not offered with our saddles. There are ingredients in most products you might consider using that will degrade the bridle leather. We are not responsible if you damage or degrade your saddle with any treatment other than those we recommend.

  • Why ride Selle An-Atomica?

    • The only saddle with Dr. designed anatomic relief that allows you to tilt the saddle and balance your core body weight appropriately on the saddle.

    • Save your children's precious anatomy.

    • Provide relief:

    • Essential pelvic basin region anatomy.

    • Genital numbness.

    • Hand numbness.

    • Shoulder aches & pains.

    • Upper body aches & pains associated with poor saddle design that requires a nose-down saddle position.

    • Concentrate on racing wins and event finishes, not on head, neck, shoulder, forearm, hand, genital, or pelvic discomfort.

    • Beauty

    • Comfort

    • Peace of Mind

  • What makes these saddles special?

    • More than 40,000 R&D road test miles and millions of successful consumer miles.

    • More than ten unique prototypes were developed, evaluated, & refined to provide consumers with the best design we can provide.

    • Hours of video tape successfully been examined by the designers & consultants.

    • Essential anatomic slot shapes were developed to provide men, women & children with anatomic relief where it is needed most.

    • Female medical doctor design consultant, test rider.

    • Made from natural, conforming materials.

    • Special laminate support mechanism.

    • Special Flex-Fly "sided" support mechanisms.

    • Biomechanically ideal anatomic shapes, considering the design limitations.

  Bodies & Nutrition:

  • The human body is much like a Chemistry Erector Set. Point being, no two bodies of similar appearance or age will respond to the stresses of physical exertions. It is incumbent on a rider to find nutrition products and combinations of food groups that work best under the circumstances. The regime and brand names that work well for your best friend or hero, will not necessarily work at all for you. Your GI chemistry is unique. It requires focused effort to figure out what is going to work for you. In general our bodies need certain types of nutrition in certain combinations and order to sustain a long ride. The challenges become more complicated as we increase the demands on the engine! Our Athletic Nutrition Primer is written to explain the basics. You can buy that here.

  • Ill effects of carbonated beverages on athletic performance.

    • Hi Tom, I was giving further thought to the carbonated soda situation. My old brain forgot the most important part (of course) as I have not really thought about this in a long time in the kind of detail that is necessary to make any sense. There are three things that I need to refresh my memory about as regards CO2 (carbon dioxide gas):

      1) its role in the acid - base buffering in the blood.

      2) how it shifts the ability of the hemoglobin to carry oxygen (decreases O2 transport).

      3) the effect on blood vessels (which I recall as straight vasodilation) to get rid of the CO2 more quickly by increased blood flow to the lungs.

      These are interconnected so I want to take another look at them when I have a chance. I've been pretty busy so it may take me a while to write something up.  Just wanted you to know that our conversation fired some old neurons....thanks for the brain stimulation.

      Talk with you soon, Doug

      Doug's credentials:

      Dr. Munch received Doctorates in Medicine and Biomedical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine; a MS in Mechanical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of California; and a BChE in Chemical Engineering from Villanova University. He has more than 20 years of senior health care experience encompassing pharmaceuticals, medical products and diagnostics. His corporate background includes Ortho Pharmaceuticals Advanced Care Products (Vice President and Board Member), Sphinx Pharmaceuticals (President, CEO and Director) and Kimberly-Clark (Director of Business Development for Health Care). Dr. Munch currently serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University and Medical School and is also Chairman of its Industrial Liaison Committee.

  • What about foot & lower leg muscle pains and cramps?

    • Foot / Pedal Position

    • Look at the foot bone illustration on this link: http://www.bartleby.com/107/illus268.html Use your finger to find the joint between Metatarsus and Phalanges bones. The widest part of the Metatarsus behind the "Head" needs to be centered over or ahead of the centerline (c/l) of the pedal axle.

    • The ball of your foot needs to be ahead of the axle c/l with pedal and shoe horizontal. This prevents using the wrong muscles along bottom of foot and in the leg, which happens to all the fools who have the shoe too far back and are thus using their toes rather than whole foot and larger leg muscles to bear down. Arches and Achilles tendons may give problems for this very reason. Using ball of the foot as the focal point, you are better off with shoe & foot too far forward, ruined if fractionally too far back. It is all about the geometry and physics of that weight bearing fulcrum relationship.

    • With cycling socks and shoes on your feet, use white out pen or appropriately colored Sharpie, find the ball of your foot. Use your thumb, side it back and forth (fore & aft) across your big toe knuckle many times before and after you put the shoe on until you're sure you have the middle of the large Metatarsus boney point, paint a solid vertical line there on your shoe. Take shoes off, loosen the cleats, clip shoe into pedal, position that Metatarsus mark slightly ahead of the pedal axle centerline and rotate the shoe to give a heal position of choice. Have tool in hand so you can turn the pedal over and snug the cleat screws before trying to unclip the shoe and completely tighten the cleats.

    • When you understand all this you'll be good to go the extra mile in relative comfort. The best shoes and insoles are no help to anyone with foot in wrong place relative to pedal axle. Your feet and Achilles will also give problems if the shoe platform (sole) successfully the slightest flexibility.

    • Hydropedes insoles http://www.hydropedes.com feature a patented, carefully positioned series of heat sealed dots that control flow of the glycerin filling so there is a constantly fluctuating weight bearing surface area that changes with subtleties of the load. This prevents localized pressure points on the bottom of your foot, which otherwise leads to nerve and vascular issues as the miles pile up. Your feet will love you for following these procedures and recommendations.

    • There will be a pop quiz at some point...

    • Trainer Tom over & out.

  • What about body glycogen storage?

    • Under the best circumstances your body can store only enough glycogen to sustain 20-25 minutes of intensive exercise at competitive levels.

    • This is why three days of carbohydrate loading and hydration are essential to peak performance at a competition or endurance event.

    • Measured food intake, hydration, and select supplements are essential to sustain intensive physical endurance.

  • I have old musculoskeletal and neuromuscular injuries that were never treated or were treated but never resolved. Osteopathic Manual Medicine will help cure many of your old & new sprains, fractures, and stress of life conditions.

    • Read this short explanation (pfd file).

    • Find a DO or Physical Therapist in your area who practices OMT. Here are some resources:

    • http://www.osteopathic.org/

    • http://www.aoasm.org/

    • Most states and the nations osteopathic medical colleges have excellent websites and resources.

  • Suffer from chronic pain of any type or have cycling related medical questions?

    • The Physician and Sports Medicine Journal successfully numerous bicycle specific articles we've searched here.

  • Concerned about Erectile Dysfunction? You should be. Here are some reference articles and medical specialists.

    • THERE ARE NO EXISTING MEDICAL CLINICAL STUDIES. THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF ANECDOTAL CONVERSATION ON THE SUBJECT. Here is two examples;

    • Erectile Dysfunction and Bicycling, by Irwin Goldstein, MD Boston University, School of Medicine.

    • Is Biking Bad for the Bedroom? If the Seat Fits, by Charles Downey, featured in WebMD.

  • Worried about yourself, your spouse and your children injuring themselves on poorly designed bike seats? You should be.

    • The Physician and Sports Medicine Journal successfully numerous bicycle specific articles we've searched here.

  Misc.:

  • Why go to the trouble and cost of a professional bike fit process?

    • It provides an excellent starting point that fits you to your bike which enhances for your riding experiences.

    • It may help you understand how to fine tune your saddle & handlebar positions which definitely helps reduce and eliminate hand, arm, shoulder, neck, leg, knee, and foot problems that too many cyclists suffer.

  • Experiencing a Steering Shimmy or Speed Wobble?

    • READ THIS FIRST. http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8h.5.html

    • Forget everything you've been told by friends, bike shop mechanics, and frame/fork manufacturers.

    • Don't buy new parts for your bike until you read the linked article.

  Need a nifty online cassette/drivetrain ratio calculator? Go here; http://www.sheldonbrown.org/gears/index.html

  Some of these questions link to Adobe .pdf documents. Adobe Reader downloads are available here;

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