salvaging the selle an-atomica

In an earlier post, I wrote about my disappointment with my new Selle An-Atomica saddle. (By the way, they've updated their site. Maybe there's hope for 'em.)

I think I've salvaged it.

I wrote in the earlier post about the wide saddle and the sharp pain that accompanied it. I've made a modification to fix that:

You can see that I've drilled holes in the saddle, and run a few narrow cable ties through toi pull in the sides of the saddle. No more sharp pains in the thighs. You can see in the picture below where I put two other holes that I wound up not needing:

It turns out that I probably could have left those other ties in (and I may put 'em back, if only for symmetry), but I was having the devil's own time with an annoying squeak that developed in the saddle. The leather is loose (it's meant to be), and the saddle squeaked after a while of riding it. I knew it was the saddle, and not, for example, the pedals (because the noise stopped when I stood up) or the handlebars (because the noise continued when I had no hands on the bars). A websearch determined that this was a not-unprecedented, but not common problem, and the suggested solutions were:

• Live with it (oh, dear...);
  
• Pack powdered graphite between the leather of the saddle and the metal nosepiece where the stretcher bolt is;
  
• Cut out a piece of plastic drink bottle and work it between the nosepiece and the saddle (you'll see what I'm talking about in the picture below);
  
• Cut out a piece of inner tube, and pack it in the same place.
  

The graphite worked for a short time. The plastic worked not at all. I cut out a piece of inner tube (you can see it in the picture below stuffed in between the metal nosepiece and the leather of the saddle) and packed in some graphite... and while I had the saddle open, I noted where the paint was wearing away (you can see it in the picture). It turns out that that metal nosepiece rides on top of a rounded metal structure over the stretcher bolt (it's not clear in the picture), and I think the squeak was from the pieces grinding together. You can see the dollop of yellow grease I put over the rounded metal piece (you can also see the grease on the end of the stretcher bolt; that's not where I'm talking about):

I think that's done it. The squeak is, apparently, gone (I did 60+ miles this weekend on some wicked hills in some wicked heat, and my knees were creaking more than the saddle was). I'll just need to keep an eye on the grease-under-the-saddle situation, and see how things go. If you hear no more complaints about this, it'll be a sign that it's still working.

(I've had to adjust my frame and my saddle, shim my stem, get fussy about my chain... do you suppose I'll ever get to the point where I just RIDE this bike? ... Naaah, I didn't think so, either.)