I purchased a new carbon road bike with the intent of doing some double centuries next year. I have very wide sit bones (which does NOT mean I'm fat! - I'm a 32 waist) and am a huge fan of the Selle SMP TRK, a (much) cheaper and more padded version of the Selle SMP that I use on my commuter and mountain bike. I bought this saddle hoping to get the same sort of riding experience for quite a bit less weight and I paid about 4 times as much to do so.Right out of the box, the Avant is a fancy saddle. Huge booklet. Nice Italian flag thing attached to the rails. They might as well put it in a box made of mahogany and rested it on a bed of Easter grass. It is less bulky and much harder than the TRK. I've done several trips of 70 to 120 miles on this seat and it's not as comfortable as the TRK. I have to stand a bit more to relieve the butt and although the width as stated is just a hair narrower than the TRK it definitely feels narrower - like there's less of a saddle underneath you. And there is, its considerably lighter.You don't sink into it like you do to some extent with the TRK. It's more of a serious cyclist saddle - who else is going to pay this sort of money for a saddle? It's still a much bigger saddle than what you will find on a typical weight weenie's bike. After the long rides I've been doing every weekend my butt feels pretty good and the only irritation comes at the edge - on the upper leg right where your leg is rubbing against the edge of the seat. Something I could probably solve by lowering the seat a bit but perhaps losing power to some degree. I paid a lot for my fitting, don't want to mess with it! With the TRK I could literally ride forever (ok, maybe an exaggeration but it sure seems that way) without any problems whatsoever but again, at at least a 100 g weight penalty. I will continue to use this seat on long rides and see if I can toughen up the upper legs a bit before lowering the seat a tiny bit. Maybe chamois cream would help and the irritation isn't all that serious - more of an annoyance for a less than a day post ride.If I'm feeling rich I might try the Selle SMP Plus, a little bit heavier than this but slightly wider and similarly priced. The Selle SMP seat in general is in my opinion the most comfortable seat made by a country mile. I've tried a lot of saddles and these things rule. They are so much easier on your junk. Find the model with the right width and level of padding and you'll wonder why you ever used anything else.UPDATE: I lowered the seat a little bit and much more comfortable with no irritation. I was hesitant to do so because the height was set at a bike fitting but it's all good now. The "hardness" doesn't bother me now and it was quite comfortable on a 50 mile ride this morning. Changing from 4 to 5 stars.UPDATE II: Completed my first double century on this saddle. It's awesome. The final twenty miles or so I had some pain in my rear but it may have had more to do with my cheap bibs or forgetting to apply some more butt cream at the final rest stop. I have absolutely zero pain in rides of 120 miles or less. As I use this seat more if feels more and more comfortable and the extra padding on the SMP TRKs that I use on a couple other bikes seems unnecessary. If there's one thing I could tell a novice male rider it would be to try an SMP saddle with bib shorts and riding will be a hundred times more pleasant.