REVIEW: ISM Adamo Road Saddle

If you're a cyclist, I'm sure you have encountered, at one point in your cycling career, the feeling of numbness on your private parts ( the part where the body meets the saddle ) after an extended period of riding. I personally have felt it in my earlier cycling days, but, not as bad as when I completed the inaugural Philippine Ironman 70.3.

After crossing the finish line, I proceeded to the shower area to wash up a bit and change clothes. While taking a shower, I felt the need to pee and instinctively held my "junior". I felt nothing. It was as if there was nothing hanging there!

The numbness I felt lasted for several days, in fact, more than a week. I was so worried about it that from time to time, I would try to feel it and check if some sort of sensitivity was back.

I've asked friends around and felt some relief that most of them experienced it before, telling me it would come back in no time. For as long as I was out of the saddle and let the circulation of the blood in my perineum area flowing, I was on my way to recovery.

I never wanted to experience the same again!

I've heard of Adamo Saddles, or saddles that has a revolutionary design that was getting popular among my triathlete-friends. It had no nose and claimed to have solved the "numbness" issue with cyclists. The saddle was beyond my budget though. So instead of buying one, I tweaked my bike's configuration to allow for a more relaxed seating position: pointing up, pointing down, leveled, lower seatpost, higher seatpost, saddle set back, saddle set forward, etc. I never thought there were more than one saddle position in a bike!

My knee ached. The relaxed seating position's trade off was shorter leg pedaling length which meant prolonged curled knee and more pressure on the forefoot causing numbness.

I ordered an Adamo saddle from Ebay right away!

There are two models of multi-sport Adamo saddles in the ISM line-up: The Adamo Racing and the Adamo Road. The Adamo RACING is lighter but more expensive and is tri-specific. The Adamo ROAD is heavier but with more gel and has a wider base for road position. I ordered the ROAD.

Adamo saddles are odd-looking and does not conform to traditional saddle designs. It has no nose and has a cut-away from where the nose should have been, up to the middle of the saddle body. Its rails also are higher than traditional saddles. These differences are actually what makes the Adamo better saddles than the others.

It being without a nose and with a cut away makes it gentler on the perineum area. By letting blood flow through the perineum, numbness is drastically minimized.

Its wider tip, though, warrants some getting used to. After riding the saddle for 20kms for the first time, I felt some soreness on my sit bones. Using the saddle regularly enables the sit bone muscles, which is very seldom used, memorize being on the Adamo thereby minimizing or eliminating the soreness. I rode with the Adamo yesterday for more than 100kms and have no sit bones soreness as I write this. Felt like magic!

The Adamo is easy to install. It follows the same installation procedure as other traditional saddles. However, in order to get the full benefit of the product, you need to tweak the position a bit so you'd feel its claimed "therapeutic" effect immediately. If ever you purchase one, try to visit their site www.ismseat.com and view the installation video. Since it has no nose and has a cut-away, configuring it on your bike takes a bit of trial and error.

There are two ways to ride the Adamo: either by seating on a forward position and let the rear-most part of your butt touch the saddle, or, you may want to sit via the sitbones and leave a small distance between the saddles and your "nuts". I prefer the latter.

The Adamo Road also enabled me to bike faster as I'm in the aero position more. Before, I would go aero for a kilometer then use the hoods after. I needed to stand up on the bike to avoid "numbing up". This has been taken cared of by the Adamo. There isn't any worry now that I'd be numb in the private area no matter how long the ride distance is. Now, if that's not enough reason to buy one, I don't know any reason anymore.

Thank you Steve Toll for coming out with this excellent saddle!

In summary:

Pros:

- eliminates numbness in the private area during and after bike rides

- gel-padded and seems really durable

- easy to install

- transition hook on the rear enables easier racking up at transition area

- enables you to stay on the aero position longer

Cons:

- not easily configure-"able", requires some tweaking before maximum benefit is achieved

- soreness on the sit bones during initial use

- heavier than some saddles

If I have been using 5 stars to rate a product, Adamo Road saddle would get 4.5 from me. Great product!

Deo P.