Selle San Marco Aspide Supercomfort Racing Saddle

The Selle San Marco Aspide Supercomfort Racing is a new take on the standard model, adding more padding and a redesigned cutout for more pressure relief. The narrow shape is ideal for those who like a racy position, but I'm still not convinced on the comfort front.

Saddle design is a very personal thing, but luckily for me I seem to adapt to most shapes and widths. One thing I've always been on the fence about, though, is whether removing the central portion of a saddle makes for a more comfortable ride. Some people are fans – George, for instance, liked the cutout on Selle San Marco's Concor Supercomfort Racing Saddle, saying it relieved pressure and allowed for ventilation, but I'm not sure I notice the difference.

> Find your nearest dealer here

I've ridden the Aspide before on a few different bikes and got on okay with it; I like the shape, especially in its narrowest guise like our test model here (132mm wide – a 142mm version is also available) with its curved profile. The tail swoops down before flattening out and then the nose drops, ideal for when you're crouched over in the drops as you don't get any pressure points at the front end.

This Supercomfort edition has an added gel layer and a redesigned cutout, but for me it just seemed to emphasise the pressure around the actual cutout. This Aspide is quite firm, especially around the edges, and when you look at the size of the hole in relation to the body of the saddle you find yourself sitting on two very narrow strips either side. This means your contact patch is very small, and I found it quite uncomfortable. Anything longer than two hours in the saddle became a bit of a chore.

For shorter, harder efforts the Aspide makes a little more sense because the supportive nature of the saddle gives you something hard to push against to get out your maximum power.

The hull is reinforced with carbon fibre, which keeps things pretty solid, with just a small amount of flex – although the rails don't give much away. Selle San Marco keeps things pretty close to its chest with the rail material, which it calls Xsilite – a high percentage of silicone with particles of titanium and carbon apparently. It's quite rare to see a saddle at this price without titanium rails or even carbon fibre.

> Buyer's Guide: Find the right saddle for you

Weight-wise, the Aspide is competitive. At 206g it's 34g heavier than the £150 Bontrager Montrose saddle recently tested.

In terms of value, though, the Aspide looks a little pricey. If you really want a channel to remove pressure then the Fabric Line Titanium, for instance, is much more comfortable (for me anyway) and £69.99. The Aspide is a decent enough saddle, with a nice shape, but considering its construction and technology I'd say it's looking a bit overpriced.

Verdict

A really nice shape for getting the power down, but maybe a better choice for shorter, harder efforts than longer rides