I'm an Aliante guy. Love the saddle. However...... I must have the carbon shelled version. As posted above, the plastic based versions get 'soft' quickly. The carbon shelled guys hold their shape forever.
Starnut
Fizik's new Kurve saddle
Moderator: robbosmans
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nitropowered
- Posts: 1136
- Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:10 am
On Cyclingnews
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/ ... ddle-range
Looks like Kurve is going to be a line, with three shapes similar to the current Aliante, Arione and Anatares
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/ ... ddle-range
Looks like Kurve is going to be a line, with three shapes similar to the current Aliante, Arione and Anatares
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ajh wrote:The one shown is a similar shape to the Aliante
It is a different feel but same fit. It has the support of the Aliante and same shape but the comfort is in the rails and saddle itself. I have never had such comfort from a stiff looking saddle with no real padding.
It takes a few weeks for the sit bones to get used to it but overall it is more comfortable for long hours.
I have always had issues at the end of the week with tender areas, this is after about 25+ hours of riding. After I got a tester of this saddle all those issues went away.
Also the weight is dead on.
AJH,
Do you have any preliminary impressions on the likely durability of the saddle as compared to carbon-shell designs?
KAC
here you'll see the 3 different shapes
http://www.rbaction.net/New-Releases/content/67/4193/Fizik-Unveils-the-2012-Kurve-Saddle.html
http://www.rbaction.net/New-Releases/content/67/4193/Fizik-Unveils-the-2012-Kurve-Saddle.html
Looks awesome except for the color and size of the rails. I'll wait and hope for the carbon railed version.
Recently got a Fizik Kurve Chameleon from pbk and got a few rides in, so I'll give my first impression.
I have mixed feelings about it. It's not heavy, but definitely not a weight weenie saddle. Looks killer with basically some sheets of some weaved material and no padding at all. The material is a little thinner in the area for your sit bones and privates making it more flexible (very flexible actually). It came with the soft insert piece installed already and I rode it with that. I'm planning on trying the hard, haven't done it yet so I haven't tried dismantling it yet. Every other detail looks very well made. One note there is a tiny teeny small dot protrusion near the back of the saddle right in the middle. I thought it was a blemish at first, but it looks like some type of centering marker?
As far as ride impressions. When you sit down you feel like you're sinking into the saddle, felt very comfortable right off the bat. No pressure anywhere, even on my sit bones. I normally like stiffer saddles, cause I don't like padding bunching up and crowding my junk, but this was different feeling. I had to try to a few different angles over several rides to get it just right. About perfectly level (between highest point on the front and rear) worked best for me YMMV. I never felt any pressure on my sit bones from the start of my ride to the finish on any ride. I felt some pressure and numbness in the privates, but I attribute that to the angle I had it set at, after getting the angle just right the pressure on the taint was mostly relieved.
I've never tried a Fizik saddle before, so just going off of what I know works for me I chose this model because I don't do well with very curved or completely flat saddles, middle ground is perfect for me. This design is based off of the Antares which is semi-curved so the general shape was perfect. The problem I ran into though was the width. The wide edge of the saddle kept digging into the back of my thigh/rear. It doesn't help that the edges are really hard (metal?) and has zero flex. It's very distracting. I've heard that is a running complaint with the some riders with the Antares saddle. I'd like to compare to the Kurve saddle based off the Arione, if anyone has one of those how about a trade?
There is a weird sensation when you get out of the saddle and then sit back down. Normally with a hard saddle you plop down and get a secure solid feeling. With heavily padded saddles, they sag after a while so when you sit back down it's already compressed so that's that. With the Kurve the shape bounces back when you get up and when you sit down you sink right back in. You actually feel yourself sinking into the saddle. Not bad, not good, weird. That being said, I feel like I'm riding with a suspension seatpost or a big beach cruiser saddle with springs. It feels kind of bouncy. Helps you smooth your pedal stroke that's for sure.
After the first couple rides I was sure I was going to give up on this saddle and sell it. Reason being I wasn't so keen on the bouncy bouncy, and wide edge cutting into my arse. Then I rode another bike with a saddle I thought was super comfortable before and... it felt kind of hard on the old sit bones... hmn... maybe bouncy bouncy can be a good thing. If only this saddle was just a tad narrower.
I'd say if you need to relieve pressure on your sit bones, this is the saddle for you. If you like a stiff race saddle for maximum performance, maybe not. I'm still undecided. I'm going to try the hard insert and see how that goes.
As I type this I just tried to check prices on the Kurve model based on the Arione, and it seems this saddle is now where to be ordered at this time. Oh well.
I have mixed feelings about it. It's not heavy, but definitely not a weight weenie saddle. Looks killer with basically some sheets of some weaved material and no padding at all. The material is a little thinner in the area for your sit bones and privates making it more flexible (very flexible actually). It came with the soft insert piece installed already and I rode it with that. I'm planning on trying the hard, haven't done it yet so I haven't tried dismantling it yet. Every other detail looks very well made. One note there is a tiny teeny small dot protrusion near the back of the saddle right in the middle. I thought it was a blemish at first, but it looks like some type of centering marker?
As far as ride impressions. When you sit down you feel like you're sinking into the saddle, felt very comfortable right off the bat. No pressure anywhere, even on my sit bones. I normally like stiffer saddles, cause I don't like padding bunching up and crowding my junk, but this was different feeling. I had to try to a few different angles over several rides to get it just right. About perfectly level (between highest point on the front and rear) worked best for me YMMV. I never felt any pressure on my sit bones from the start of my ride to the finish on any ride. I felt some pressure and numbness in the privates, but I attribute that to the angle I had it set at, after getting the angle just right the pressure on the taint was mostly relieved.
I've never tried a Fizik saddle before, so just going off of what I know works for me I chose this model because I don't do well with very curved or completely flat saddles, middle ground is perfect for me. This design is based off of the Antares which is semi-curved so the general shape was perfect. The problem I ran into though was the width. The wide edge of the saddle kept digging into the back of my thigh/rear. It doesn't help that the edges are really hard (metal?) and has zero flex. It's very distracting. I've heard that is a running complaint with the some riders with the Antares saddle. I'd like to compare to the Kurve saddle based off the Arione, if anyone has one of those how about a trade?
There is a weird sensation when you get out of the saddle and then sit back down. Normally with a hard saddle you plop down and get a secure solid feeling. With heavily padded saddles, they sag after a while so when you sit back down it's already compressed so that's that. With the Kurve the shape bounces back when you get up and when you sit down you sink right back in. You actually feel yourself sinking into the saddle. Not bad, not good, weird. That being said, I feel like I'm riding with a suspension seatpost or a big beach cruiser saddle with springs. It feels kind of bouncy. Helps you smooth your pedal stroke that's for sure.
After the first couple rides I was sure I was going to give up on this saddle and sell it. Reason being I wasn't so keen on the bouncy bouncy, and wide edge cutting into my arse. Then I rode another bike with a saddle I thought was super comfortable before and... it felt kind of hard on the old sit bones... hmn... maybe bouncy bouncy can be a good thing. If only this saddle was just a tad narrower.
I'd say if you need to relieve pressure on your sit bones, this is the saddle for you. If you like a stiff race saddle for maximum performance, maybe not. I'm still undecided. I'm going to try the hard insert and see how that goes.
As I type this I just tried to check prices on the Kurve model based on the Arione, and it seems this saddle is now where to be ordered at this time. Oh well.
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inertianinja
- Posts: 284
- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:14 pm
for those that have tried it:
for over a year now i've been riding nothing but carbon saddles - no padding, very little flex, 100g. the Merek MegaDCS, actually. until the past week or so, they've been fine. great support. but suddenly i'm starting to feel a bit fatigued by the lack of padding. I don't want to go to a heavy saddle with thick padding.
i'm wondering if the Kurve would be a good solution. i'm turned off by the fact that it's almost 3x the price and double the weight of my current saddles, but i guess i could just just a bit more give and flex than i'm getting.
for over a year now i've been riding nothing but carbon saddles - no padding, very little flex, 100g. the Merek MegaDCS, actually. until the past week or so, they've been fine. great support. but suddenly i'm starting to feel a bit fatigued by the lack of padding. I don't want to go to a heavy saddle with thick padding.
i'm wondering if the Kurve would be a good solution. i'm turned off by the fact that it's almost 3x the price and double the weight of my current saddles, but i guess i could just just a bit more give and flex than i'm getting.
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