Specialized Saddle with Ti Rails for Titanium Brompton

Today I took the plunge and bought a lightweight Specialized saddle with titanium rails.




I have been attempting to reduce the weight of my already Superlight Titanium Orange Brompton of late and transform it into more of a sporty number. With this saddle I have taken off over 300g when compared to my Brooks B17.




It is dramatically lighter than my Brooks and even the standard Brompton saddle cannot compete with its slight build!

The all too important questions - what does it feel like when riding? Very good. It feels as if not more comfortable than my Brooks. It is designed with a grove cut through a portion of the middle so that vital arteries aren't as compressed. This really does seem to work well.

Picking up the saddle is a little like when I first picked up my Pearl Izumi Barrier Lite jacket - hard to believe it weighs what it does.




The saddle comes in three sizes and the helpful people at Specialized assisted me in choosing the correct size. This consisted of sitting on some memory foam and the staff member measuring the imprint my rear end made with an overly engineered ruler.

Will this make me faster? Probably not. That isn't why I bought it. It could be argued that these weight saving attempts are the equivalent of a mid-life crisis where some 40 something buys a convertible. That definitely isn't that case with me. First I hate convertibles. Second with this saddle on my Titanium Orange Brompton, my new clipped in pedals and cycling in central London I would almost certainly overtake that 40 something in his convertible!

I bought this saddle as I think it looks rather good on my Titanium Orange Brompton. I love the light weight and titanium rails and physiologically if will surely give me a boost at the Brompton World Championships and when I next attempt to ascend Ditchling Beacon.