Price: $230 (Team); $190 (Performance)
Width: 152 or 162 mm
Nose: 35mm wide
Cut-Out: 32 mm wide, bridgeless
Colors: Black
Rail Material: Carbon (Team) or Inox Stainless Steel (Performance)
Base: Carbon reinforced
Weight: from 165g
Availability: Online and Retail
How Obtained: Company sample
RBR Advertiser: No
A Woman’s Specific Saddle: For Women, Tested by Women.
The saddle is one of three contact points you have with your bike—bars, pedals, and seat. If you are uncomfortable at any of these contact points, you’ll fatigue faster, and the ride will be less than ideal. Get them dialed in just right, and you can ride for miles and miles in complete comfort.
Post-menopause, I found the saddle I’d been using for years, which had a cut-out, was no longer comfortable. Actually, it was painful to ride more than 20 miles at a time. I found comfort again when I went from a saddle with an open cut-out to one with a bridgeless cut-out.
In April, Shimano’s PRO line introduced the Sirin women’s saddle. Its name, Sirin, comes from the mythological creature that is half-woman and half-bird with owl-like wings. The design caught my attention because of its bridgeless cut-out, which offers pressure relief for the soft tissue while also providing support.
“The PRO Sirin Saddles seek to provide comfort to high-performance women cyclists, thereby enabling them to go further, faster,” Niek Verbakel, PRO Marketing Manager, stated. “These saddles are not a woman’s version of the PRO Stealth Saddles but were designed and developed from the ground up to meet the needs we had identified. Details like the 35-millimetre nose width and the bridgeless cut-out are unique to the PRO Sirin Saddles, as is the shape.”
The Sirin saddle is designed for women to adopt a more aggressive, aerodynamic riding position while remaining comfortable. The narrower nose, steeper angles in the transition from the nose to the wings, and a lifted rear profile, combined with dual-density, lightweight EVA padding with soft-cut edges in the cut-out, help ensure comfort.
Installation
The Sirin saddle is lightweight, with the Performance series using carbon rails, and the installation was straightforward. It includes a PRO Saddletool cardboard template to help measure the fore/aft distance (from the center of the bars to the center of the saddle). I found it difficult to hold the template while taking measurements at the same time, so I chose not to use it. In addition to measuring the fore/aft distance, I also measured the height of the old saddle. Then, I removed the old saddle, installed the Sirin, and checked all the measurements, including leveling the saddle.
There are two rail material options for the Sirin saddle. The Team model uses carbon, and the Performance model uses Inox stainless steel.
PRO Saddle Accessory Mount
The two holes underneath the Sirin saddle are ideal for mounting a light, rear radar, or GoPro.
Bottom Line
It’s refreshing to see manufacturers like Shimano’s PRO division acknowledge the fundamental anatomical differences between male and female riders and design accordingly. After the expected adjustment period—typical for any new saddle—I found the fit to be really good. The saddle provides proper support and comfort, proving that gender-specific design, when done right, makes a real difference on the bike.
Sheri Rosenbaum regularly contributes articles and reviews products for RBR. She’s an avid recreational roadie who lives in the Chicago area and a major advocate for women’s cycling, serving on the board of directors and volunteering with the Dare2tri Paratriathlon Club. Click to read Sheri’s full bio or visit her web site sunflowersandpedals.com.