Tune Skyracer saddle

Tune's Skyracer saddle is a featherweight carbon saddle that provides surprising comfort. The cutout works well to relieve pressure and I've been happy to use it for longer hill climb training sessions. The price does make it an expensive way to save weight, though.

• Pros: Superlight; pretty comfortable for regular riding
• Cons: Delicate carbon edges; not cheap

Tune's Skyracer uses a bare carbon construction that will please the weight weenies. At 66g it beats many of the hill climb favourites and the max rider weight of 100kg is impressive. It's also more comfortable than it looks – I was still able to enjoy longer hill climb training sessions in relative comfort, though I wouldn't want to do my normal road riding on it.

If you've got this far and you're still wondering why someone would want such a superlight saddle then I'd suggest this review isn't for you. Hill climbing and weight weenieism is a weird world, but it's one that I love.

The Skyracer is one of the lightest production saddles on the market. It beats the Bontrager XXX (68g, £299.99), Berk Lupina 12K (70g, £260), AX Lightness Leaf Plus 3K (93g, £269). Only the Selle Italia SLR C59 (61g, £399.99) is lighter. It's still stunningly light.

For many, that's where the review ends. Their saddle is there purely for race efforts, and if £265 is worth the weight saving, then crack on.

Personally, I don't have that kind of cash to throw at a race day only saddle, and I like to train on my bike as much as possible so comfort and durability also come into consideration. On the comfort front, although I wasn't sitting on a cloud, the Skyracer's shape was fine and the central cutout ensured there was no numbness.

Over rougher ground, I could feel the lack of padding, and the narrow 126mm width made me aware that I was perched on a bare carbon sliver of a saddle. That said, I was able to head out for interval training in the local hills for around two hours without too much discomfort.

Durability is a tough one to judge because, in terms of pure mileage, this saddle hasn't seen a lot of use. The Skyracer is made using recycled carbon rated to support a 100kg rider. Tune says that there will be no material fatigue, even after '200,000 test cycles'. While I can't prove/disprove that claim, the saddle does meet the safety requirements of ISO 4210-9.

It's made from a single piece of carbon fibre – there's no adhesive bonding to be found, reducing potential weak points. Tune uses a thermoplastic material to bond single long-fibre carbon 'snippets'. While this is great for the strength, it also creates a beautiful finish with an almost marble-like upper layer.

The one potential weak point of the saddle is the rim: you won't want to be leaning your bike up by the saddle. It's possible to scuff the carbon, and if you do that in the wrong place it could eat away at your shorts and then your skin. (If it does get damaged, Tune can recycle the Skyracer – up to five times – using electrical fragmentation and other processes to get the carbon fibre pieces back to a usable product.)

The 7mm full carbon round rails are 43mm wide and seem pretty strong. While I was careful with the torque wrench to keep things under 10Nm, I had no slipping or creaks in use.

I've covered the saddle's main hill climb rivals above, and for weight vs cost the Skyracer looks really quite good. I do have one left-field suggestion for riders wanting a hill climb and road racing saddle in one, though: a Repente Aleena 4.0. It's more expensive at £295, but the detachable cover means you could have a normal saddle for general riding that can be made lighter on race day, simply by detaching the cover.

> Buyer's Guide: 14 of the best high performance saddles

The Skyracer, though, is probably going to be your race day only hill climb saddle, and if you want one of the lightest out there, you won't be disappointed.

Verdict

One of the lightest available, and not bad on price – relatively speaking...