Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle

The Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle not only has a very long name but is now one of my favourite short style race saddles. It's stiff where it needs to be and isn't where you don't want it to be. The padding is a bit thicker than I normally like, but when paired with the carbon hull and rails it works brilliantly.

First things first, as with any saddle review, when it comes to comfort it's entirely subjective – what I find comfortable might, to you, feel like sitting on a bed of nails, or what is uncomfortable for me might make you feel like you're floating on a cushion of air.

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As you can guess from the price, the Novus Boost Evo is one of the flagships of Selle Italia's range. Every saddle maker has a showboating top-end model that uses the lightest and most expensive materials to achieve the lightest weight and highest levels of stiffness and comfort, and if the Boost Evo Kit Carbonio is too rich for you then there are other models in the range, all the way down to £74.90, which still have the same shape. This Carbonio model does give you an extra 10mm of fore-aft adjustment, though.

While we're talking about price, we might as well take a look at the competition.

The Novus is near as damn it the same price as the Cadex Boost, a similarly shaped short saddle that, for me, offered a great balance of stiffness and comfort. The design is clever, integrating the rails into the base of the shell rather than them being separate entities like most saddle designs. The result is a very low weight of just 141g.

I really like the Prologo Dimension Nack, too. I got on very well with its shape, finding it surprisingly comfortable for such a stiff saddle. It uses a carbon construction for the main shell and also for the rails, just like the Selle Italia. It's a bit lighter too at 157g, and 'only' costs £169.99.

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So, the Novus Boost Evo isn't the lightest or the cheapest, but let's look at the good bits.

First up, the shape. Rather than a flat saddle, I like one that has a bit of a curve in it – or 'waved', as Selle Italia calls it. I tend not to move around on a saddle that much, and spend much of my time seated even when climbing.

The upwardly curved rear section of the Novus gives me something to push against, and the short nose (the saddle is just 245mm long) allows me to bend over onto the drops.

I'm not a big fan of thick padding on saddles, so out of the box the Novus probably wouldn't be my first choice, but after riding it now for over 500 miles I've found that, although thicker than some, the padding is very firm and therefore supportive. Its lack of compression keeps you raised above the central channel to ward off any numbness.

In fact, a lot of the give and comfort actually comes from the carbon fibre shell flexing rather than the padding. Where the rails fit into the saddle shell at the rear isn't that far off the centre line. This keeps the saddle firm down through the middle for when you are pushing hard on the pedals, while the 'wings' are allowed to flex.

I've not only used the saddle on the road, it has also been on my gravel bike, and this small amount of flex makes for a very comfortable ride. There is also a smaller amount of flex in the centre of the saddle, which takes out some of the bumps from the road.

When it comes to quality, the Novus Boost Evo can't really be faulted. The edges of the Fibra-Tek upper are tucked away neatly so the underneath of the saddle looks just as good as the top of it.

Overall, I found the shape and the comfort levels of the Novus Boost Evo great, and if money was no object then I'd happily choose this for all of my rides, long or short.

Verdict

Not the lightest or cheapest, but it's a saddle with a great shape and loads of comfort thanks to flex where you need it