Bontrager's InForm RL Women's Specific Design (WSD) saddle has proven to be a very comfortable perch over several months of testing, even during a six-hour mountain bike race – on a hardtail – over an extremely rocky course in Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania.
It has also felt good on road rides of various lengths, where you're more typically confined to one position for extended periods of time.
Credit goes to the well tuned variable density foam padding, a contoured depression – rather than a full cutout – in the mid-section to relieve soft tissue pressure, and three available widths rather than the more common one-size-fits-all methodology.
Each of the sizes isn't just wider, either: in addition to the additional span, the curvature is adjusted to help distribute pressure more evenly across your butt. Note that the widths are meant to correspond to pelvic bone spacing, not external dimensions.
Selecting the proper saddle size involves a visit to your local Bontrager dealer, who should have a special gel-topped bench that measures your sit bone locations. Easy colour coding then helps you choose the correct size.
The saddle's fore-aft profile makes positioning more important than usual as there's a definite 'sweet spot', but even when properly located, the V-shaped notch on the back of the saddle posed a few problems.
The sharp edges can snag even non-baggy mountain bike shorts or form-fitting jerseys when riding down steep trails and can also impede smooth remounts in cyclo-cross. The InForm RL WSD is quite short front-to-back, too, and some riders might miss the extra length at the nose when sliding far forward to tackle a steep climb.
Our sample's white synthetic leather cover has held up well, though riders in particularly nasty climates might experience otherwise. For those folks, there's a black option available, and in either case Bontrager offer an "Unconditional Comfort Guarantee", which means you can try this saddle without worrying about being stuck with it if it doesn't work out.