Carbon saddles...comfortable?
 

I see these very high priced carbon fiber saddles for $150 and up, and can't help but wonder....Are they actually comfortable? Logic tells me, with a rock hard carbon surface, and only the little chamois in your shorts for padding, it may not be the nicest saddle to sit on. Perhaps for racing only? I asked a guy who sells them, and he says they are comfortable to ride all the time. Not sure if it was just a sales pitch or not.

Does anyone have one of these bare carbon saddles? How are they compared to the Selle Italia SLR or SLK which have a little padding?

Anyone?

Guess the carbon saddles aren't very popular. :(

g'day,

the simple answer is 'No'...they are very uncomfortable & don't provide any significant weight advantages over the same saddle with more conventional materials. (ie San marco Aspide FX 130gm vs San marco aspide carbon 100gm). I've tried this saddle & it was terribly uncomfortable. I would thinjk the only people who could get away with these are extremely lightweight riders. Don't recall ever seeing a pro use one for any lengthy races?,

cheers,

hitchy

Some do offer a decent amount of weight savings (albiet at a huge cost). Such as the Tune Concord(pic1, pic2 ) and AX Lightness Phoenix. I had heard of some breaking with the Concord, but that was the ealier and lighter version that has since been replaced. Of course both AX Lightness and Tune do offer different models of carbon seats as well.

Jan Ullrich used an AX Lightness Seat+Post combo in the TDF and Clasica San Sebastian and it finally broke in the San Sebastian
Bike (ignore the rebadging)
Problem

Lado Fumic (pro mountain biker) broke his AX Lightness saddle during the olympic race and ended up having to withdraw due to being cut.

However, all the saddles I've mentioned above have carbon rails instead of titanium ones. I'd suggest trying weightweenies if you'd like to hear about the comfort. I know a lot of them swear by the all carbon saddles.

What was Ulric riding on this year at the Tour?

g'day,

I can't agree that any carbon saddle offer a 'significant' weight saving over its 'conventionally clothed brother'. As quoted before...in the San marco aspides...30gm saving for $200 AUD more & significantly less comfortable???..doesn't make any sense. If 30g is gunna make a difference perhaps cut your finger nails before the race!

cheers,

hitchy

The same saddle sure, but designing a saddle like it's padded counterpart is a bad design idea in my opinion. I would never spend any money on any type of $100+ saddle, but if I could get one free, I'd choose one that was designed to be all carbon over one that was designed to be padded, then made into carbon.

Pinky: http://www.ax-lightness.de/englisch/...ombination.htm

Selle Italia turbomatic 4.

Best saddle ever.

Correction....Selle Italia have made der Kaiser a custom perch for 2004. Turbomatic 4 was 2003.


http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004...d=ullrich-bike

D'ya reckon?.....I just sold my 3 mth old turbo matic 4 for $50. I broke an Aspide fx, so while waiting for it to be replaced under warranty, I bought a turbo matic...Ok...but pretty heavy, had it on the training bike...wasn't real rapt....the aspide came in, so i took it off. then decided I didn't like the aspide anymore either......anyone wanna buy an Aspide FX (Ti rails) 130gm cheap? (used twice)...I've now got a Fizik Arione which i'm real happy with....netti, (the distributor in Aus) can't keep up with the demand for these things,

Hitchy

See my post, not made by Selle Italia. It's definitely AX Lightness.

as you are probably aware, Hitchy, I'm old school....:)
Got my first turbomatic in about 1991, had the same seat ever since. Crash...replace, wear out...replace etc etc


But those Airones are awesome......a real advancement in saddle tech.

Oh yeah....good post. :D