Body Geometry Saddle Story
Thursday, 10th February 2005
TriSportNews are currently testing two saddles from Specialized's Designs for Women Body Geometry range, the Dolce and the Dolce Ti.
Body Geometry is both a development philosophy and an integrated, propriety line of Specialized products and technologies that are scientifically proven to provide unique performance and/or ergonomic benefits and backed by recognised third-party experts.
Before we bring you our first thoughts on the saddles here is some interesting background reading on the Body Geometry saddle concept.
1997
Bicycling Magazines article The Unseen Danger was written by Joe Kita with a side bar by Ed Pavelka (about his own experience with cycling related impotence). This article quoted Dr. Irwin Goldstein of Boston with frightening speculation that 100,000 men in the US alone were already impotent as a result of cycling.
Because of the effect of Dr. Goldstein, there was a rapid spread of media coverage on the impotence issue. 20/20 did a piece which inflamed the issues further.
Doctors (urologists) were advising men not to ride bicycles.
Not all urologists agreed with Dr. Goldstein. There was speculation that his numbers were too high and that his data was flawed because there was no way to actually test blood flow in cyclists internal pudendal arteries (Goldstein was only able to test flow while sitting on a bike seat without moving).
Shortly after the Bicycling article, I reviewed the anatomy described by Goldstein as well as the arteriograms he used to justify his arguments. I created a prototype saddle with a V cut and sent it to Ed Pavelka.
In September, 1997, Mike Sinyard, President of Specialized, called me after speaking with Ed Pavelka and asked for help in designing an ergonomic bicycle saddle.
Mike Sinyard had a history of innovation in the bicycle industry (Stumpjumper, FSR, etc.). He believed that ergonomics was a new, important direction for the bicycle industry.
1998
Prototype saddles were created and refined. Production samples were sent to dealers in May 1998. Many of these were returned because of skepticism of the new design.
First field tests came back very positive from Ed Pavelka, Fred Matheny and others.
The first medical study was done at Stanford by Dr. Robert Kessler (professor of urology). This study showed positive results from male cyclists.
September 1998 The BG saddle was given 5 chain rings by Bicycling Magazine.
In the first 12 months, 500,000 saddles were sold around the world.
1999-2001
Clinical trials were done at The Great Tour of Strength in Norway. This race was a single stage of 535 km and had been studied in the Scandinavian medical literature (ACTA Scandinavia). 260 cyclists were studied by Bovim and Andersen with an incidence of impotence of about 11%.
The clinical trial was conducted by Dr. Anders Angelsen, a professor of urology at The university of Trondheim. He found significant reduction in symptoms of numbness and impotence using the Body Geometry Saddle. Results were presented to the Norwegian Medical Society at their yearly symposium.
2002
Dr. Frank Sommer, a professor of urology in Cologne Germany, developed a method for directly measuring penile blood flow while cycling. His method was published in the European medical journals. This method involved gluing a plastic ring to the top of the glans of the penis. The ring was filled with fluid and capped with an oxygen sensor. Oxygen was measured in the fluid. This measurement was correlated with arterial flow in the internal pudendal arteries using arterial catheterization. There was a direct relationship between Oxygen saturation in the fluid and arterial blood flow.
2003
All Body Geometry saddles were tested in Dr. Sommers laboratory. All saddles were redesigned in the laboratory and reassessed. Blood flow increased dramatically.