Nick Kew wrote:

I had a look in my normally-friendly&helpful LBS, and they have
a range of wierd and wonderful things, including some with holes
or slits in, which leads me to wonder how far some people take the
leg-over metaphor. However, they didn't seem particularly keen
for me to test-ride with any of them, leaving me unable to choose.

So, I'm looking for tips. How do I go about selecting a saddle
"blind", without risking a sore bum?

You go to a shop that doesn't think that's out of the question, is my
advice. Or at least get to sit on them in the shop: if they won't even
do that then you want the door, not one of their saddles.

As has been said many times, your bum is a personal thing (cue
multiple-entendre side comment involving a matron) and how it interfaces
with any particular design, size and construction of saddle isn't
predictable over Usenet :-(

I've ridden some popular "you will be much more comfortable on this!"
saddles and found them torture equipment, others have used my Brooks
saddles that *I* think are wonderful and felt they should be used as
cricket bats rather than bicycle saddles.

and - ahem - what are the strange shapes in aid of?

Supporting, or in some cases significantly *not* supporting, various
bits of your anatomy. The cutouts are usually to relieve pressure on
the sensitive "bits" peculiar to either ladies or gents, width will
depend on the personal layout of your sit bones, and so on.

Try before you buy really is the way forward, but some worth trying
would be trad leather Brooks, Georgina Terry Liberators and similar and
Specialized Body Geometry (by no means an exhaustive list btw).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/