Weight Weenies

Soooooo, I purchased a Fizik Antares 00 saddle for the second time in my life, and for the second time, it has shredded the underside of my bib shorts. The same thing happened a few years ago, but I put it down to the material on top of the saddle, and didn't really look any further in to it than that (and simply replaced the saddle). This time though, the material on top of the saddle is slightly different, so I started looking in to a bit more. From what I can see, it's actually the carbon material over the rails that's causing the issue. To prove this, I have put electrical tape over the matieral, and this does seem to have resolved the issue. I emailed Fizik about it, and they didn't really understand what I was talking about, simply saying, if I wanted to return the saddle for a warranty claim, I could go ahead and do that (which I really can't be arsed to do). Pretty poor.

Both times Wiggle have kindly replaced my bib shorts F.O.C, so big props to them for good customer service.

I've read some older posts online, so this done not appear to be an isolated issue.

I am wondering if anyone has any thought? I am not a particularly big rider, 67kg, I ride mostly centre of the saddle, occasionally pushing forward for efforts, and right back when on drops. I don't move around a huge amount though. I'm keen to get to the bottom of it (excuse the pun) as it's always a worry that I'll ruin another pair of bib shorts.

Cheers

I believe I posted about this years ago as I've experienced the same problem with this exact saddle. Only one I've ever had this type of issue with and I've been through a bunch. It tore up a couple pairs of nice bibs before I figured it out (only took a couple rides). 65kg here so not big either...

Your legs are rubbing the saddle rails and/or saddle clamp. The aggressive wing flare of this saddle, flat profile, and tall height are a bad combination for riders with bigger thighs.

For the sake of your bibs I would recommend just getting a different saddle. It simply doesn't work for some people. In my case, I settled on an MCFK saddle and my bibs have been damage free ever since.

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I had the same issue with the Aliante 00. Electrical tape fixed it for me and so I just moved on. Luckily I noticed before completely ruining my bibs.

i switched from the Antares 00 to the Arione 00 and that solved my issue. so much rub on the Antares, so little with the Arione...narrower nose.

kode54 wrote:i switched from the Antares 00 to the Arione 00 and that solved my issue. so much rub on the Antares, so little with the Arione...narrower nose.

Had it on my Arione 00. Also a small rider, 65kg. If I go back to Fizik I'm definitely sanding down the exposed braiding.

p3dalfaster wrote:I emailed Fizik about it, and they didn't really understand what I was talking about, simply saying, if I wanted to return the saddle for a warranty claim, I could go ahead and do that (which I really can't be arsed to do). Pretty poor.

Out of curiosity: what could Fizik have done to be considered to have good customer service?

Thanks for the replies guy, glad to know it's not just me.

Out of curiosity: what could Fizik have done to be considered to have good customer service?

Good question. To be honest, instead of the templated “warranty” reply, they could have at least acknowledged and tried to understand my issue. If I were Fizik, I would have sent my email to a product specialist, and asked for them to respond to me.

Having a think about it last night, I think I will go back to Prolgoo. Fizik Antares anyone?

You can remove the 'sandpaper'.......it's just a cloth tape.

You can probably solve it with a seatpost that has a bigger setback and push your saddle more forward.

Not ideal no doubt but that's the problem with some saddles that have a narrow nose and a longer than normal rail.

deltree wrote:If I go back to Fizik I'm definitely sanding down the exposed braiding.

The "exposed braiding" is really cloth tape albeit drenched in additional glue or something to prevent it being peeled off. I had a Fizik Kurve saddle which uses aluminium rails with the same cloth tape, where I carefully cut it off with a knife in order to use the saddle with a seatpost that clamps from the sides.

This is interesting to me.
I have had the same issue with Antares- but the R1 model in the rain.
Shreds sit bone spot on each side of bib.

I too have had this problem.... but with 2 different R1's.
I wasn't 100% certain what actually rubbed on my bibs, but I smoothed down the braiding on the rails a little, & also the R1 has the wing flex cutouts which I smoothed down the edges of a little. Seems to have fixed it for me.

Good to bump into this topic. I'm running a Fizik Arione R3 Versus and good to realise that I'm not the only one here. I went on a 135km ride yesterday in my brand new pair of bibs (first ride) and noticed material of my bibs got completely shredded.

I really love the design of the saddle, but it's clearly not for me. Either my position on the bike is completely off or it's a massive design failure.

I have also observed this issue over the last last 8 years or so of riding Fizik saddles (Fizik Kurve Snake, Kurve Antares, and currently Tundra) with a respite a couple years back to try the Fabric Ultimate and Scoop saddles, I have always felt this was more a result of the bio-mechanics of how I pedal and not specifically the saddle.

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