| Specialized Power saddle review

Today Specialized announced the release of its new Power Saddle, a hybrid of many of the company’s existing designs that aims to ensure rider comfort while in an aero position. CyclingTips’ Wade Wallace has been testing one for a month now and had the following first impressions.

Specialized designed the Power for the purpose of being able to ride in a low, aggressive, aerodynamic position while staying comfortable and not restricting blood flow to the nether regions.

The most notable thing about the Power is that it appears to be a combination of many of Specialized’s existing Body Geometry saddles. It bears the most resemblance to a Romin but with a shorter nose (by 30mm) and a more generous groove in the middle. However, the widest part of the saddle measures the same as the Romin and comes in 143mm and 155mm sizes, going as wide as 168mm in the Expert and Comp models.

Dr. Roger Minkow, who designs Specialized’s Body Geometry saddles, has been working on and researching saddle design since 1997 to help erectile disfunction by cutting up existing saddles on the market. After a method of measuring penile bloodflow was discovered in the early 2000s by using a transcutaneous oxygen monitor (which is used to help treat burn victims that has bloodflow sensors attached to the skin), he was able to refine his designs further. That development, Specialized says, brought us to where we are today with the Power.

Dr. Roger Minkow and his transcutaneous oxygen monitor to demonstrate the blood flow improvements that the Power can potentially offer.

According to Dr Minkow: “The interesting thing is that even at 0% bloodflow to the region, male riders cannot feel the difference. If you get numbness, that’s most likely because there’s compression of the nerves. It doesn’t mean it’s the constriction of the artery. You can’t feel the constriction of the artery.”

But as Dr Minkow explains, women are quite different in that regard. “That’s totally different from women who can feel everything exactly where it hurts. A woman can always draw an exact diagram and tell you exactly where the pain is and that will always correspond to where the high pressure area is.”

Specialized says that the Power was designed to suit both men and women’s anatomies, with three available widths to choose from.

On a recent visit to Specialized’s headquarters in Morgan Hill, a demonstration of the transcutaneous oxygen monitor by Dr. Minkow showed how significantly the bloodflow fell when a rider went in the drops while using a saddle from a different brand. In comparison, when the saddle was switched to the Power and the rider crouched down into the drops, the bloodflow loss was significantly reduced.

For the past five years my saddle of choice has been the Specialized Romin. It’s been excellent to me and has been one of the most comfortable saddles I’ve used, but I wouldn’t say that it ever let me completely forget about the fact that a tiny piece of carbon and foam was propping up all my weight.

I’ve been riding the Power for just over a months now and was impressed from the moment I first sat on it. Sitting up on the hoods or crouched down in the drops, both positions are just as comfortable and I can, for nearly the first time, say that I almost forget that a stiff, thinly-padded carbon saddle sits beneath me. Personally, the overall effect of the design translates into a feeling of decreased pressure in the perineum, and a comfortable but solid platform for the sitbones and surrounding area. Specialized says they designed the Power to accommodate one position, and one position only. Their rational for this is that if a rider needs to move forward and backwards on the saddle, then it’s not right. For me, this doesn’t pose a problem (and I will often move forward on it). But the only way you’ll find out is if suits you like it does me is to go and ride a few kilometers on one yourself.

The Power comes in the flagship S-Works model which is a pricey $300 (USD), but also a more economical PRO model which comes in at $200 and offers nearly identical comfort and weight. Also available are the Expert and Comp models which have different foam and rails at $130 and $100 respectively.

Disclosure statement: Specialized is a long-time supporter of CyclingTips and we would like to thank them for the opportunity to be one of the first to review the Power. Wade travelled to California as a guest of Specialized.

Steve G

I wouldn’t mind giving one a go.
It’s gotta be better than the SMP I used; that was horrid.
- Rosco
  
  perhaps try more than one SMP?
  They make 30 odd models for a reason.
CC

“After a method of measuring penile bloodflow ” - haha, sorry childish i know !
- scottmanning
  
  Don’t worry I was wondering how the “demonstration of the transcutaneous oxygen monitor by Dr. Minkow” during Wades factory visit went for him…
Tommy_P

So it prevents erectile disfunction.. how did the marketing dept not call it the ‘hardman’ ??
- david
  
  I think ‘power’ is close enough
Jaybo

maybe not the right place to ask but do you know when they’ll be available locally, and whether specialized stores will stock them as a ‘test saddle’ too? i have a romin test saddle at the moment, was about to go swap it for a toupe & give it a crack but quite keen to check one of these out now (especially for my track bike, where sitting in the drops for more than 2-3 laps is proving to be reasonably annoying)
John

This review is very similar in its word to word comparison to the review done by Cyclingnews.com
- http://www.cyclingTips.com.au/ Wade Wallace
  
  I hadn’t seen it yet. But we were both part of the same presentation though, so we had the same information.
- scottmanning
  
  Why mess around the bush? Why not just come right out and accuse was of plagiarism? Sheesh!
Arfy

After hopping off the saddle you can still saddle up the wife. Perfect!
- CC
  
  You’ve obviously not ridden far enough
scottmanning

Interesting. I too love my Romin and ride it happily all day. I do get some numbness from time to time however and have been a little concerned about it. I see the MD claims that this is no indication of blood flow however. Also interesting seeing a large wide gap. I ready an opinion piece once by an expert of some description (physio maybe) who made the comment that a larger gap equals less surface area, which equals higher pressure in the contact areas. That logic makes sense but this saddle doesn’t claim to reduce pressure, but improve blood flow and I can see that increased pressure in some places could equal blood flow in others. I am keen to give one a go ASAP. Apparently not in Aus yet??
- http://www.cyclingTips.com.au/ Wade Wallace
  
  From how I feel on this saddle, there feels like there’s a nice solid platform supporting the sitbones and very little pressure anywhere else. I’m not sure how that translates into overall pressure on the sitbones, but there is certainly less pressure in the place that matters.
- Rosco
  
  Inreased pressure over boney area = decreased pressure on perineum.
  No brainer really.
Rosco

The comment that it was made for one sitting position only just seems entirely stupid.
Think for a second about where you sit when you are on the hoods. Then where you sit when in the drops. How about when you are chewing stem in the warny for 6 hours? Or shifting weight backwards when descending? Not only does the seating position change, but your weight is shifted to different spots along the ischio-pubic ramus, ie your seated position gets narrower.

The idea of a static position makes absolutely no sense to me.
That was the reason I gave up on specialized saddles. The romin I had was great sitting in one position, but after doing the warny one year I felt like I had managed to contract a nasty STI in the space of one race.
- peter
  
  I agree every racing cyclist moves around on the saddle , not because of discomfort but to get more power.I think their aiming at the beach road type rider who just cruises around after all they are the ones spending all the money.
G

Seems very similar to my Adamo saddle which is the 2nd best investment I’ve made after my PM.
CC

Is that Dr a Urologist Wade ?
- http://www.cyclingTips.com.au/ Wade Wallace
  
  I believe Dr. Minkow is an MD.
Jon

The saddle is Fantastic. I’ve been on a Romin for years, put this one on awhile ago and it’s awesome. Really eliminates any presure on the front.
Anthony James

To bad this saddle is so big. I have such a narrow sit bone that I try to never switch saddles. this last time around I had to try over 40 saddles before one fit without hurting. So going from a narrow 128 to a 143 is never going to happen in my lifetime
Don Cafferty

I wish Specialized had provided more measurement detail. Those of us who are concerned about thigh rub like to know the width of the nose. At first, I was concerned by the large sized cut-out but then realized that the saddle possibly functions like the noseless, 2-pronged saddles. Joining the “prongs” adds security to the saddle as suggested by your review. Knowing the length of the rail for fitting the saddle to the seatpost would also be useful.
winkybiker

Looks an interesting saddle. But Spesh’s bully-boy lawyers (and the woo-woo-fantasy engineering claims of the ugly Zertz’ vibration damping abilities) have ensured that I’ll never buy another thing from them. Pity, because much of their stuff seems otherwise well engineered. But I’ll stick to my SLR.
lefthandside

If this had come out 6 months ago I probably would have bought one. Specialized seem to have studied Selle SMPs closely - this is meant as a compliment. I think Specialized’s diversification into bike fitting is problematic for various reasons but I really do like the work they are putting into saddles.
Ryan

Any instruction from Spesh on how to properly set up this saddle? Based on this pic, it looks like the front half of the saddle is parallel to the ground with the tail kicked up as designed? With the Romin, I remember Spesh recommended slight nose up to situate the sitbones in a fixed position.
http://images.cyclingtips.com.au/content/uploads/2015/03/DSC09082.jpg
- http://www.cyclingTips.com.au/ Wade Wallace
  
  That frame is only aligned so that the saddle look straight(ish) in the photo. It doesn’t represent how the bike is when it’s sitting flat on the ground.
Wayne Meek

Does anyone know when this is being released in the UK, what cost and colours?
PAolo

They should tell Contador it’s not right how he moves around on the seat. Can’t be good, only won eight GT’s doing this. Seems like a good saddle, but too much marketing talk doesn’t help.