# How comfortable are Full carbon saddles ?



## caballero (Nov 20, 2004)

Hello,
As the title sais, i am looking for input from people using Full carbon fiber saddles, in particular the FSA K force lite saddle.
I want to know just how comfortable they really are ?
It will be mainly used as a race saddle, but will also be used for training aswell.
Any help is appreciated, but only from people who have genuinely used these saddles. Thanks

--Cab--


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## nino (Jan 13, 2004)

*comfortable as well as bonehard...*



caballero said:


> Hello,
> As the title sais, i am looking for input from people using Full carbon fiber saddles, in particular the FSA K force lite saddle.
> I want to know just how comfortable they really are ?
> It will be mainly used as a race saddle, but will also be used for training aswell.
> ...


the really light ones are very comfortable as the carbon shell flexes a lot more than regular saddles which makes for good comfort. that's true for saddles like AX-Lightness or the newer Tune Concorde etc.

however stay clear of heavier carbon saddles as those usually are bonehard and don't flex at all. FSA is a typical example of such a saddle. it looks good but don't plan to do multihour rides on it!


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## bhsavery (Aug 19, 2004)

right, I'd second nino on that... more weight = more material = more stiffness. Also I have to recommend the San Marco Carbon Era saddle, I love it so much. Has a carbon shell Even though it weigh 128g it has a great deal of padding and fit just perfectly (I think). Oh the other cool thing is that it has a cordura nylon cover which is more durable than leather.


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## Jm. (Jan 12, 2004)

That's like asking does a .50 S&W magnum have a lot of recoil?


Now, you could get lucky and the carbon saddle *may* be shaped decently for your rear end, but everyone's rear end is different, so trying to find out what makes a "comfortable saddle" is going to be a different shape for many people. I'm surviving on a selle italia flight TT, it doesn't have much padding, but my rear end doesn't hurt after riding so it must be working fine.


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## rpbt (Mar 8, 2004)

nino said:


> the really light ones are very comfortable as the carbon shell flexes a lot more than regular saddles which makes for good comfort. that's true for saddles like AX-Lightness or the newer Tune Concorde etc.
> 
> however stay clear of heavier carbon saddles as those usually are bonehard and don't flex at all. FSA is a typical example of such a saddle. it looks good but don't plan to do multihour rides on it!


What do You think about these new Selle italia SLC saddle ?. It seems nice with these opening in the middle (close to SLK) and it is all carbon with carbon-titan (or vanox ? ) rails. But what I've heard is that this kind of rails just fails and breaks all the time ?

Anyway would you recommend it for MTB (hard XC/ enduro) ?.
my weigth is 185 lbs.

I think it is the only carbon saddle with this kind of design.

thanks in advance for opinions


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## macsi (Dec 3, 2004)

nino said:


> the really light ones are very comfortable as the carbon shell flexes a lot more than regular saddles which makes for good comfort. that's true for saddles like AX-Lightness or the newer Tune Concorde etc.
> 
> however stay clear of heavier carbon saddles as those usually are bonehard and don't flex at all. FSA is a typical example of such a saddle. it looks good but don't plan to do multihour rides on it!


Tons of saddles proved to be comfortable for me, but I found the FSA carbon saddle to be the worst thing I ever sat on. Despite the titanium rails the shell provides ZERO flex. The shape is also problematic: looks similar to my SSM Aspide, but it places weight on completly different parts of my bottom. FSA should have asked for advice before they cranked of hundresds of thousands of these painful objects...

-b


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