Fizik Antares K:Ium saddle

Fizik have a good track record in recent years, bringing us the Aliante and the revolutionary-at-the-time Arione. The Antares sites between the two in terms of shaping and is billed as the third dimension, an evolution of the two. The outcome of the marriage is a very light, comfortable road perch with a good depth of padding.

When it comes to saddle choice one mans food, as we all know, can be another mans poison. I have tried a great many saddles over the years and have, more often than not, ended up riding one of Fizik’s saddles as my first choice. Their road bike saddles have always been known for their comfort, but have not always been the lightest options out there: The two seem to rarely go hand in hand.

The Antares is designed to address this. I tested the K:ium railed version - Fizik’s own titanium alloy - it also comes in a braided carbon railed version. The first thing I noticed was that it was very light, weighing an impressive 175g, with its lighter carbon railed sibling weighing a svelte 145g.

The nose of the saddle is nice and wide and doesn’t flare noticeably until it reaches the main body, which is quite wide and flat. It is a much more minimal saddle than its two stable mates, with the carbon reinforced shell cut away much higher on the sides than the Arione or Aliante. The cover is a striking white microtex (synthetic leather) body with black sections diagonally across the rear corners where the Fizik name is emblazoned; it's available with the stripe colours inverted too. All in all this makes a very attractive saddle design with colourways that should complement most bikes. It also shrugged off dirt and grease easily, a nice feature for a white saddle if you want it to remain white!

The padding feels firm but it's quite deep for such a slimline saddle and even before sitting on it you can feel noticeable flex in the shell when pressing it with your thumbs. I was hopeful that this was going to be a more comfortable saddle than the weight suggested.

I found it best to set it up level across the whole length of the saddle - unlike the Arione which tends to work best set level across just the nose - this gave the Antares a slight dip in the centre of the saddle, and combined with ample flex in the shell proved to be the sweet spot as far as comfort was concerned. Your weight is carried primarily on your sit bones which are easily supported by the wide rear section, but the dense foam and flex in the shell do a good job of cushioning the road shocks and vibrations. The padding remains thick all the way up the nose, allowing you to move forward for those long turns in the drops or big climbs in comfort, a welcome change for a lightweight saddle

Fizik have chosen not to include the wingflex design of its other two road saddles, a series of cuts through the shell of the saddle in the thigh area that allows the shell to flex at the edge more easily when pedalling. This is a shame, as it's a feature I have always liked on their previous saddles.

On long rides, after several hours on the saddle I found that it was noticeably firmer than the Arione (my saddle of choice), and as with many of the saddles that bear your weight primarily on the sit bones, I found I needed to stand up every now and then to relieve the pressure there. For rides of a couple of hours or less this wasn’t an issue and felt nice and supportive.

Verdict

Ultimately the Antares fills the gap in Fizik’s range for a lightweight road saddle, and manages to retain a fair amount of the company’s trademark comfort. A combination of lightweight, comfort and good looks is sure to make this another success for Fizik.