Selle Royal responds to yesterday’s ‘bikes and the bedroom’ saddle article

Thank you for sending me through your article although I am, of course, disappointed that you have taken the line that you have.

Certainly The Impact Agency had no intention of generating coverage which would be detrimental to the cycling industry as, of course, it is not in our interest. And in terms of some of the coverage secured in the UK I think you’re falling into the same trap as some of the tabloids you criticise by being over sensationalist with your heading, "global attacks on cycling".

So far neither ourselves nor our partners in the USA have picked up on the story being run over there.

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For Selle Royal’s benefit here are three international newspapers which have covered the story, all of whom lead on the ‘cycling causes impotence’ angle’:

Sydney Morning Herald:

http://www.smh.com.au/…/1055615678100.html

Washington Times:

http://washingtontimes.com/…/20030615-085230-8667r.htm

The Australian:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/…/0,5744,6626404%255E23289,00.html

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And as for the UK you make no mention of a lot of the positive coverage which has also been secured, not only this year but over many years by Selle Royal in support of the cycling industry.

Whilst I agree the national media in the UK picked up on a message which The Impact Agency did not intend, we stand by our research which, amongst many findings, shows that saddles with cut-out contours and holes can create areas of hyper-pressure in the perineum more than flat wide saddles filled with gel. Provoking discussion and debate can sometimes work to the industry’s benefit particularly as, you say, the topic of male impotence and cycling is one which has rumbled on for many years. Which is why we were keen to balance our findings with advice for cyclists from the experts, and the majority of the media did include some of these tips in their reports. And in terms of the Utah State University Research you mention, it did not specify which saddles were tested, nor for how long and its conclusions were fairly inconclusive. I say this not to be critical of their research, more to indicate to your readers the vast differences between the two studies.

And our research does not finish there. Selle Royal is committed to supporting cycling around the world and part of that commitment is the continual investment in scientific research to make better products and get more people cycling.

BikeBiz.co.uk has asked to be supplied with all the positive media reports and The Impact Agency has started to supply some:

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/…/dont_ignore_saddle_sore.php

BikeBiz.co.uk has also been sent MP3 files of radio shows. If anybody would like these large files forwarded email saddles@bikebiz.co.uk