Perfect
- Familiarity: I've used it several times
- Fit: True to size
For background: I had been using one of SMP's regular saddles with the curvy design and bent nose for 10 years after having some man specific numbness with a regular flat saddle and no cut out. I found that design had me really 'planted' in one position and that was fine with me. And the man issues totally disappeared. My typical ride was 80 miles hammering with a group and it was perfect. If I did a solo century or more I would get some seat bone pain but I could deal with it. I figured the pain was where I should be sitting so it's something that just happens with 5 or more hours on the saddle.
Then come this year with covid and group hammerfests cancelled I started doing a lot of solo 100-130 mile rides and the seat bone pain became too much to put up with.
My theory with trying the F30c was that the flat design would have me shifting more and move the pressure around a little as opposed to my prior SMP which had me planted in the same position. And because the seat bone pain was on the inside of the bones I though wider than my prior SMP would be better.
Thankfully this worked like a charm. Not sure if it's the width or being more flat or both but seat bone pain after 100+ miles is gone and the cut out does it's job just as well. The sweet spot seems bigger so I do move around more (on purpose, not sliding without wanting to) and it feels like the pressure is on the top of seat bones not inside. Also much more comfortable deep in the drops getting low as compared to traditional SMP style.
As for the C meaning Compact. I never really use the last few CM on the nose anyway and it eliminates touching the nose when getting on the bike or sprinting so I like the shorter design. But it's not a big factor either way.
If you like the cut out design of the regular curvy SMP but feel it has you too planted in the same position I would definitely suggest the F40c might be the ticket (or another one of the F series depending on your sit bones and saddle length you want). Or if you just want a flat saddle with a good effective cut out.