Fizik, Arione and Antares fitment?

PLuKE

I am looking at buying a new saddle, the Fizik range has my eye.

Looking at Fizik saddle fitting guide, it seems that I will be wanting a Antares.

But the look and description of the Arione seems more to my liking.

How important and essential is it to have the correct saddle for how flexible I am?

I like the R1 models of both saddle. Has anybody got any experience with them?

Many thanks

Luke

crankycrank

The only way to know if a saddle will work for you is if you go and ride on it. Any recommendations or points for style are basically useless in finding a comfy saddle for you. And yes it's near impossible to get test rides but you may find a shop that will let you test ride their bikes that have some different saddles on them (and it's good practice to buy from the shop that gave you the test ride).

jameses

There are quite a few shops around that have fizik tester saddles avaiable (in hideous colours so you don't feel tempted to run off with them!), might be a good idea to see if there's an LBS that does this?

londoncommuter

Or if you're after a high end R1, why not pick up a cheaper bottom of the range model on ebay first to give it a go (if you're not near a test centre).

Miles253

Ebay is a good shout for new saddles, but the new fizik ones are still few and far between on the Bay. Find a local dealer with test saddles. I just put in a few weeks of riding and commuting on a test, they were fine with it as i bought the saddle from them

giant_man

PLuKE wrote:

How important and essential is it to have the correct saddle for how flexible I am?

It's not, it's only marketing bs so it sounds good. The shape is THE most important thing here, especially with Fiziks imo.

iron_duke

giant man wrote:

PLuKE wrote:

How important and essential is it to have the correct saddle for how flexible I am?

It's not, it's only marketing bs so it sounds good. The shape is THE most important thing here, especially with Fiziks imo.

Not the most flexible (result of emergency spinal surgery) but after my LBS leant me an antares followed by arione for a couple of weeks testing ended up with an arione as it just felt the better choice of the two for the riding I was doing.

Bought my saddle through same LBS after and the owner got an R1 in for me at pretty competitive price without me pushing what the internet was offering. Am fortunate that they are a good shop and usually my first port of call for most cycle related bits.

norvernrob

The Antares is 142mm, the Arione is 128mm. That to me makes a lot more difference than flexibility, I can easily touch the floor with legs straight so should be on an Arione according to Fizik but it's way too narrow and I've got an Antares instead.

Btw, the Antares R3 with carbon rails is £121 currently at Wiggle, the R1 is £200 pretty much anywhere and it's virtually identical, even the weight is only 10 grams lighter at 155g to the R3's 165g.

iron_duke

NorvernRob wrote:

The Antares is 142mm, the Arione is 128mm. That to me makes a lot more difference than flexibility, I can easily touch the floor with legs straight so should be on an Arione according to Fizik but it's way too narrow and I've got an Antares instead.

Btw, the Antares R3 with carbon rails is £121 currently at Wiggle, the R1 is £200 pretty much anywhere and it's virtually identical, even the weight is only 10 grams lighter at 155g to the R3's 165g.

At 5'7" and 65kg the width difference will explain the preference. Not measured between my ischial tuberosities (sit bones) but have always got on with narrow saddles in the past.

norvernrob

Iron_Duke wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

The Antares is 142mm, the Arione is 128mm. That to me makes a lot more difference than flexibility, I can easily touch the floor with legs straight so should be on an Arione according to Fizik but it's way too narrow and I've got an Antares instead.

Btw, the Antares R3 with carbon rails is £121 currently at Wiggle, the R1 is £200 pretty much anywhere and it's virtually identical, even the weight is only 10 grams lighter at 155g to the R3's 165g.

At 5'7" and 65kg the width difference will explain the preference. Not measured between my ischial tuberosities (sit bones) but have always got on with narrow saddles in the past.

I'm 5'9, 68kg and sit bones are just over 100mm but I can't get on with narrow saddles! I tried the 134 that came on my Scott and was p*ssing fire for two days after. Anything flattish, firm and 140+ I can sit on all day without a problem.

There's a really nice World Champion Arione on Ebay at the moment, different and very nice looking.

cattytown

Like others it is getting the one that fits. The flexibility gives a start - but that IMO is more related to the profile of the saddle - flexible may prefer flat, less flexible a scooped saddle.

Either buy and sell on here or ebay, or get thee to a dealer and try them.

Anonymous

I would go with your gut instinct and try the Arione first ;-)

PLuKE

I seem the Arione is longer aswell as thinner than the Antares.

From what I have been reading, the Arione is longer, so you can get more positions on the saddle.

I can buy both the Arione and Antares R1 for £150 online.

Luke

huwdolphin

I'm selling both my Arione and Arione tri, I just don't get on with them. Just shows that not every saddle will suit everyone. Going to try an ISM Adamo Road as the Fizik Tritone on my TT bike has been a revelation