Bought a noseless / hornless cycle seat (Spongy Wonder) :)

[PCharvet]

Absolutely fantastic at removing pressure from the perineal region, in fact there's no pressure at all, and the pads fit perfectly onto my 'sit bones'. The pads are slightly harder than I thought they would be but thats really my only gripe. Adjustment of the seat (angle and length) is everything, though they come with fairly good instructions about placement on the seat post.

I'm really pleased because I've spent absolutely ages (as well as over £200) trying and quickly discarding various 'normal' cycle seats including the Specialized body geometry range, various Selle, etc

Bike seat:

Bike seat (with additional replacement pads, covers, bolt)

Mounted on my Marin Bolinas Ridge '06 hard tail MTB:

Bought the seat from a e-tailer based in Canada (difficult to get noseless seats in the UK), and it arrived pretty quickly:
http://www.tesco-shopping.com/bikeseat.htm

Here's some of the other seats I tried but didn't work out for me.

ISM Touring (the 2 prongs made it uncomfortable for me - they'd either stick into the back of my things or directly into my glutes if I moved the seat backwards).

Some conventional 'touring' seats. The Specialized Expedition Plus (on the right) is horrible and weighs an absolute tonne. The Intake budget comfort (left) wasn't bad - it has a reasonably sized cut out, though you still feel a bit of pressure on your perenium :

So overall, I have to give the Spongy Wonder a thumbs up as its fantastic at removing perineal pressure. The other alternative would be the SpiderFlex seat which has a similar design.

 

[PCharvet]

Here's a picture with the covers removed The pads have sticky undersides so could be removed and replace with different ones in theory....

 

[alienator]

Good luck with that. The big issue with noseless seats is they decrease the amount of control a rider has over his bike, especially cornering. Some writer for one of the bike mags found this out when he ended up on the ground.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[PCharvet]

Yup, going round corners at speed and at a 45 degree angle isn't a good idea...

I can't see it being used by anyone for racing or any sort of time trial because as you point out, if you're whizzing round corners or downhill through a hairpin, you can grip the nose of a normal seat with your thighs to help control the bike. I think its more suitable for touring or fitness riding.

I got into cycling fairly recently to try and get some fitness back because I had pretty horrible footballing injury to my ankle (osteochondral fracture and ligament tear) which has sidelined me for over 12 months with two operations, but found the perineal pressure uncomfortable on long rides.

I've done about 20 miles on this seat so far, but that's mostly road / upright cycling. Once I've got a few more weeks of cycling under my belt (and got my glutes back into shape), I'll let you know how I've got on.

 

[Slugster438]

Noseless saddles work best on bikes such as the Lightfoot Surefoot and Day6Bicycles.

Alternately the RANS bikes (such as the Fusion) already have a proprietary noseless seat mounted (they won't accept regular seats at all).

RANS makes the Gruv which is an "MTB-style" bike but I don't believe it's really meant to withstand being pounded the way an MTB is, it's just more inclined to light trail riding. And the previous two bikes aren't neither; these are really fitness/casual/touring bikes.

...I can't see it being used by anyone for racing or any sort of time trial because as you point out, if you're whizzing round corners or downhill through a hairpin, you can grip the nose of a normal seat with your thighs to help control the bike. I think its more suitable for touring or fitness riding.....

The RANS Zenetic is a "road"-style bike; the general opinion is that overall it's about equivalent to a normal upright bike in performance. The rider position is a bit more aero but is also more closed, impacting breathing. It's certainly more comfortable than a normal bike, not causing any saddle pain--which could positively affect longer-distance/ultra riding.

If you want to ride pain-free, it is possible--but probably not on any "normal" style bicycle.
~

 

[alienator]

If you want to ride pain-free, it is possible--but probably not on any "normal" style bicycle.
~

This is simply wrong. If someone is experiencing pain on a bicycle, then there is either a physical problem or a fit issue. The majority of people ride bikes without pain.

That traditional bikes have to involve some form of pain is just some BS that someone dreamed up to sell whatever snake oil they have in their bag.

 

[Slugster438]

This is simply wrong. If someone is experiencing pain on a bicycle, then there is either a physical problem or a fit issue. The majority of people ride bikes without pain.

That traditional bikes have to involve some form of pain is just some BS that someone dreamed up to sell whatever snake oil they have in their bag.

Well I don't know who dreamed it up, but I know it sure sells a lot of padded shorts and gloves.
~

 

[Jim R]

Every seat in your pictures would kill me to ride on. They are all the wide, thick padded / gel foam seats that would seem to make sense but never work well. I have tried many of these same kind of seats and thrown them all away. I also tried many standard type seats (including the Specialized Body Geometry seats - terrible for me) before finally finding one that fits my particular anatomy pretty well (for me it was the Fizik Arione but that is irrelevant).

Look at all the thousands of bike racers and riders in the world that are riding many hours every day on comfortable bike seats. I have never seen any yet riding "Spongy's." I think the problem is that you simply haven't found a standard bike seat that fits you well. Unfortunately this takes experimenting. Fortunately, sites like Ebay make this easier and cheaper (I have bought and sold at least 6-8 seats on Ebay myself without losing much money).

 

[PCharvet]

Fizik Arione.

Looks like a really interesting design, and would love to try it. I even Googled for it and there's an interesting article here which you may have already seen:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/arione.shtml

At the end of the day, everyone's as different as their fingerprints. What works for one person doesn't work for another. I'm really happy with the SpongyWonder simply because it solves the problem which I've had which was too much perineal pressure.

Funnily enough, another one of alternatives arrived in the post today (thought I had been scammed by the Ebay seller as it took weeks to arrive). It's a Rido Saddle which has unusual plastic design again designed to reduce/remove perineal pressure.

 

[Slugster438]

Every seat in your pictures would kill me to ride on. They are all the wide, thick padded / gel foam seats that would seem to make sense but never work well. I have tried many of these same kind of seats and thrown them all away. ...

-That's because you tried them on the wrong bicycle.

...Look at all the thousands of bike racers and riders in the world that are riding many hours every day on comfortable bike seats. I have never seen any yet riding "Spongy's." I think the problem is that you simply haven't found a standard bike seat that fits you well. ....

I tend to think that most of those people aren't really comfortable so much as their saddles are "tolerable". And dare I say - they aren't aware of the alternatives.

If your bicycle was truly comfortable, you wouldn't need padded shorts to ride it.
~

 

[J.H. Dixon]

Good luck with that. The big issue with noseless seats is they decrease the amount of control a rider has over his bike, especially cornering. Some writer for one of the bike mags found this out when he ended up on the ground.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

Hi! My name is Jeff Dixon and I am the inventor of the Spongy Wonder Bike Seat. This report is the only one we have ever heard of out of the 12,000 seat we have sold. I suspect the reason for the fall is either failure to read or follow the instructions. Yes the "feel" of the seat is different and that is why we say in our opening lines in the instructions not to "zip around corners" until you get accustomed to how it feels. There is no doubt that the rider in question has "failed" to follow or read the instructions. We sell seats to bicycle messengers, commuters, triathletes, ultra long distance riders, recreational riders - every category out there and have never received a report of someone "going down" because of our seat. The report mentioned needs to be seen in the light I have mentioned.

 

[IsaacMike]

I am glad that it worked for you, but I had an awful experience with it. I was looking for a seat that would remove the pressure from the pelvic region as well. I tried Spongy Wonder hoping that it would be the answer but found it extremely uncomfortable. Also, when I tried to return it, I found the customer support (the owner who works out of his house) as extremely rude (BUYER BEWARE).

I have since bought the Hobson Easy Seat II. I found this much better constructed and more comfortable than the Spongy Wonder. It was great for releiving pressure from the pelvic area. Anyone looking to solve this problen should check out this alternative.

 

[dhk2]

I'm with Alienator here. Wouldn't consider riding on a "half-saddle" due to the lack of ability to hold on in bumpy corners and on fast twisty descents.

A standard road saddle which is wide enough and strong enough to suppport a rider, and that is mounted correctly on a bike that fits the rider properly shouldn't cause pressure on anything other than the sitzbones. So, to me the noseless saddles don't offer any advantage to comfort, only make it difficult to keep the body centered on the bike in any kind of challenging situations. Clearly a bad tradeoff, which accounts for their lack of useage by any of the dozens of riders I know.

 

[cyberlegend1994]

Am I the only one to notice that this thread is 3 years old?

 

[Jeff Dixon]

Hi! My name is Jeff Dixon and I am the inventor of the Spongy Wonder bike seat. I saw that report and I would like to comment.The first thing is that this person did not buy a seat from us so it is questionable whether or not he ever read the instructions. Secondly, we have sold over 16,000 seats and never received a report from a client saying they could not steer their bike. Thirdly, 40% of our riders are road riders.HMMMMM? Fourthly, they has been such a tidal wave of purposeful, deceitful misinformation and downright lies written online about our product it would not be surprising if this was another instance of falsehood. And fifthly, yes you can steer with it, and yes you might slow down a MPH or 2 because you do not "feel quite as much a part of the bike" as you do on a conventional seat. But you are stronger on it as a rider's mind is not distracted with numbing and tingling. And of course most road riders are not making a living on thier bikes. So if you want to keep hurting yourself for the sake of 1 or 2 MPH I guess when we think of all the destructive things people have done to their bodies for performance gain there is nothing new here.

For those of you who are triathletes I would add that ALL the triathletes who bought our seat and called back with praise sais that our seat put them on their aero bars in a more natural way.

Jeff Dixon
Spongy Wonder Inc.

PS. I have 20,000 miles on mine and I like to ride fast and have never crashed. I ride in traffic in Moncton NB Canada - weaving in and out. No problems in what is a very dangerous situation. HMMMMM?

 

[Jeff Dixon]

Hi! Jeff Dixon for Spongy Wonder again. We all know that racers count grams and so, given what people have been willing to do to their bodies (steroids, blood doping, HGH, etc.) it is not surprising that our seat, which weighs more than most racing saddles would be rejected by most. yet most road bike riders do not make their living on a bike and many of our riders have said that the performance gain from having no pain, numbing and tingling easily outweighs the loss due to weight.

 

[Jeff Dixon]

Hi! Jeff Dixon from Spongy Wonder. If anyone wants to go to my site here:

http://www.spongywonder.com/extra-stuff

you will see patents (US only does not include Europe) you will see patents on bicycle seats dating back to 1895. You will also note that they are all designed to eliminate pressure in the perineum. And if there is no problem except fit why have people been trying to eliminate perineal pressure since the late 19th century? The existence of Specialized Body Geometry, Koobi, Cobb, Terry Liberator, etc., etc., etc. establish there is a problem and it is more than poor fit. Unless of course we want to put all the many, many companies who have tried to address this issue with "modified" conventional seats in the category of snake oil salesmen or worse.

Let us be logical: No one wakes up and discovers cancer on the day it starts. And not everyone who smokes gets cancer but are we now denying that smoking causes cancer? There are lots of riders who do not yet have apparent symptoms of serious neurological and/or urological damage. The numbing, tingling and pain do not show up immediately yet when you look at how the human body is built it is obvious that sitting on the perineum is unnatural and therefore will sitting on it is more than likely to produce "unnatural" results.

I might also ass that if you go to my site here:

http://www.spongywonder.com/your-health

you can see a very long but partial list of studies showing that riding while placing pressure on the perineum, genitals, and prostate is unsafe in terms of a riders health.

Let us try and be logical about this.

jeff Dixon
Spongy Wonder Inc.

 

[Jeff Dixon]

Hi! Jeff Dixon from Spongy Wonder. If anyone wants to go to my site here:

http://www.spongywonder.com/extra-stuff

you will see patents (US only does not include Europe) you will see patents on bicycle seats dating back to 1895. You will also note that they are all designed to eliminate pressure in the perineum. And if there is no problem except fit why have people been trying to eliminate perineal pressure since the late 19th century? The existence of Specialized Body Geometry, Koobi, Cobb, Terry Liberator, etc., etc., etc. establish there is a problem and it is more than poor fit. Unless of course we want to put all the many, many companies who have tried to address this issue with "modified" conventional seats in the category of snake oil salesmen or worse.

Let us be logical: No one wakes up and discovers cancer on the day it starts. And not everyone who smokes gets cancer but are we now denying that smoking causes cancer? There are lots of riders who do not yet have apparent symptoms of serious neurological and/or urological damage. The numbing, tingling and pain do not show up immediately yet when you look at how the human body is built it is obvious that sitting on the perineum is unnatural and therefore will sitting on it is more than likely to produce "unnatural" results.

I might also ass that if you go to my site here:

http://www.spongywonder.com/your-health

you can see a very long but partial list of studies showing that riding while placing pressure on the perineum, genitals, and prostate is unsafe in terms of a riders health.

Let us try and be logical about this.

jeff Dixon
Spongy Wonder Inc.

 

[Jeff Dixon]

Hello Jeff Dixon. I am sorry if I was rude to you. It is however a shame for you not to recognize that everyone has a bad day. Have you ever had one? Please balance your posting by pointing out all the incredibly happy customers who sent testimonials. I also have so many saved I cannot find the time to put them on my site.

Hobson might be a good choice for some but I would also point out that it is now 6 years removed from your original posting and the new foam system we have is comfortable and long lasting. the polish on the frame is improved and the contour of the foam.

Others companies work to improve their offerings and do succeed and so have we.

Once again: I am sorry that I was not all "sweetness and light" with you.

Jeff Dixon
Spongy Wonder Inc.

 

[Jeffrey Dixon]

Hi! Jeff Dixon from Spongy Wonder. Please forgive me if I am repeating myself. Most of the comments about steering with a noseless or hornless seat come form riders who have never ridden one. You definitely do not free quite as much "a part of the bike" because you no longer have something "wedged up" into you. Have I slowed down 1 or 2 MPH in corners. Could be. But then again I ride a mountain bike with Hutchinson tires and with that type of equipment you do not want to be cornering at 45MPH anyway.

The idea that the Spongy Wonder Bike Seat is dangerous needs to be "put to bed." It is now late June 2013. We have sold almost 17,000 seats with no reports of crashes and no returns with reports of lack of control. I ride in Moncton in traffic. I weave, I ride fast, I corner, I signal. No problem. There might be an issue with some folks of not being able "to teach an old dog a new trick" and because 90% of our return seats (overall return rate of 4%) look like they have only been ridden 1 - 3 times it seems possible that the seats in this category were simply not ridden enough for the rider to become accustomed to them. As an analogy I would offer: If all you know is dogs and you get a cat it does take some time to become accustomed to it. That being said it is true it is not for everyone. The problem is there seems to be a lot of comments that amount to "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" if you know what I mean.

I also ride cross country and on some single track.

I would like to add (probably repeating myself again) that we have been in business for 14 years and if there was an issue it would have showed up by now. If a rider believes that having a horn (in terms of cornering) is absolutely essential... then OK. But most people are not cornering at 45MPH. Additionally, when riders are not in a race and/or riding their spinners and/or commuting, and/or out for a recreational ride - whatever - way continue to hurt yourself? But once again I need to make this issue clear: 40% of our riders ride road bikes with a "classic" road bike configuration with a sizable portion of them being triathletes. The triathletes who have called after spending time on our seat all said the same thing beyond their praise for relief: The Spongy Wonder put them unto their aero bars in a more natural way.