curdog

I currently ride a Aliante which is several years old. I'm thinking about buying a new one. Does anyone know if the saddle shape has changed over the years?

stapfam

Don't think the shape has changed but from memory I believe there are a few variants that may be down to material or Price and they may ride differently.

Bob Ross

I have an Aliante on all three of my bikes:

- a 2005 Aliante Sport Mg
- a 2010 Aliante Gamma Vs
- a 2011 Aliante Carbon/ki:um

The shape (both "floorplan" and "elevation" views) is essentially identical. The Vs obviously has a different surface contour, what with its "perenial notch" or whatever-the-heck that dickslot is called.

The most egregious difference however is that the rails attach at slightly different points on the saddles, and so just because one Aliante works with your bike fit doesn't mean you can get another set up identically. This imho is inexcusable, a real source of frustration for me.

GFish

Is the Aliante a comfortable saddle?

I was talking to a long distance racer/cyclist last weekend. He said for long rides (200+ miles), he said he's riding a steel frame bike. So I asked if he's riding a Brooks saddle. Nope, said he's riding an Aliante, it just works for him.

So naturally, this got me thinking about an Aliante.

Bikey Mikey

Regardless of what anyone says about a saddle, it's going to come down to fit and personal preference/experience. Is there any LBS around that will let you test ride? I test road a specialized Avatar Gel for about 5 days and then went back to the LBS to test out a Fizik(but don't recall the model). I didn't even get 4 miles before I turned around and returned the Fizik. I ended up buying the Avatar. But, what works or doesn't work for me, or for anyone else, may not work or work for you. Test ride a saddle.

Bike Beat in our area sell Bontrager saddles, not the LBS I use, and their policy, or rather Bontrager's policy, is that you have, I believe, 90 days to return the saddle for a refund. In order to test, you have to purchase the saddle, but a 90 day return is pretty good.

GFish

Yes, completely agree. I'm on my 3rd saddle in less then a year. The current saddle (Toupe 155) is working pretty well, except I have no real experience to know exactly how a saddle should feel. Unless you can try 20+ different saddles, how does anyone ever really know if their current saddle is really the perfect saddle for them?

My LBS's have a limited selection of saddles without any trial and exchange program.

Sorry for diverting this thread, didn't mean to....

Back to Aliante......I take it this saddle works well for Bob and curdog?

t4mv

I like the Aliante as well, but, there's at least one model without the Twin-Flex feature, or whatever...I would avoid that one. I have it on a tandem and on long rides it starts feeling like an ass hatchet.

curdog

I like the Aliante. Think I'm going to order the Aliante Kurve from Competetive Cyclist. They have a no question asked return policy within 60 days of purchase.