Selle SMP discussion

well I'll take it, if dammit doesnt (pending price)

yep i'd be very interested in the composit dammit/apc depending..

this is bliss!

Got my new fake Aliexpress saddle in today.

It's for the Flyer which I've brought in from the garage over winter so only fitted, not even sat on it yet.

Looks pretty great, other than the blank plate at the rear where the SMP logo should go. Might just chop that off, don't see that there's anything structural about it.

The rail defintely isn't the one for that kind of saddle (too short and high).

Do you think it's going to be too short to get it set far enough forward?

Should be okay.

I'm extremely wary of those kind of fake, the carbon one I'm fine with as it's a good cheap way (if diving into the deep end) to test out the SMP shape.

But giving how much work have been put into making the SMP saddles in general, it felt a little cruel to buy the cheap one instead of their own (and they're a small company after all).

Fair enough, I'm never going to be in the position to buy anything other than the very bottom of the SMP range new so given that my choice is between fake and 2nd hand, I'm not sure if the morality of buying the fake enters into it so much?

I'm also kinda skeptical about the price tbh. Obviously there is a degree of economies of scale, but if for example Specialized can make a carbon railed pro for £100-£150 rrp I find it hard to work out what your £200 for a SMP Composite goes towards.
Specialized actually provide various shapes/styles of saddles, at numerous price points (and with research into ergonomics), as opposed to SMPs variation on a theme.
Makes me think of Campagnolo's we'll charge what we want because we're Italian and people love that shit pricing

The difference is Specialized is a large company that outsource manufacturing, whether SMP is a much smaller company despite appearance, they also sell bicycles which helped promote their range of saddle.

TL:DR; Specialized can afford to go cheaper, SMP couldn't.

Spez also has economy of scale & low wage country production as advantage.

But that's patently not true, unless you believe that they are losing money on every TRK they sell for ~£35 ?

I'd be willing to pay for the shape, with materials similar to a cheap Specialized for say, £120, which is basically double what Specialized would charge, but I just can't understand something as basic as this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/selle-smp-drakon-saddle/ for a RRP of £195

But that's patently not true, unless you believe that they are losing money on every TRK they sell for ~£35 ?

TRK is hardly a high end saddle, just cheaper plastic material and shitload of foam/gel.

but I just can't understand something as basic as this wiggle.co.uk/selle-smp-drakon­-saddle/ for a RRP of £195.

Buy it from Italy or Germany, like I said, it's a very small company that manufactured in-house, smaller than Fizik even.

I can see Branwen's point.

Take Fizik's Arione, CRC sell Ariones as cheap as £40 and as expensive as £240. While I'm sure the higher end materials in the £240 saddle add something to the comfort, they are basically the same shape and have the same amount of padding. They look extremely similar.

I dunno if SMP figure that people with smaller budgets don't care so much about aesthetics or if they think they don't deserve a good looking saddle* but either way it doesn't endear me to them.

*Even if you can ignore the aesthetic implications of the SMP shape I dunno if you can really call any of their livery designs attractive, even on the highest end saddles.

TBF the Extra was pretty comfortable for such a cheap saddle, obviously it's way too padded compared to the Composit.

I'm gonna strip the Extra to see whether it have a similar shape to the Composit, if I can get on well with the unpadded Composit, the unpadded Extra should work in theory.

ANyone got a composit to sell? Before I buy a new one.

i got my composit for around 150e from Lordgun. Wasnt even that much reduced price. The carbon railed ones are expensive, yep.

I've got a genuine Forma for sale if that's of any use to anyone..

Evolution for sale...

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/279262/

Thanks.

I am thinking about buying the SMP Composit. My "sitbones" real distance is measured to 104mm on cardboard by myself (should be accurate, i did measure it several times).
Do you think the Composit works or should i consider another saddle maybe?

E: the SMP Evolution?

(Yes i have read the whole tread)

the Uk importer does test saddles, so my advice would you to borrow the one you think will work and then buy it if it does.

Sorry but i'm living in Finland and i hasn't that opportunity.

This was the advice I got my from local bike fitter:

I think that their wide range of models is unnecessarily confusing. By
suggesting that there is a 'right' model for you they rather imply
that every other model is not the right one. But I think that they
are very similar. People seem to like them but I suspect very few try
more than one before they buy.

In essence there are two ranges of sizes that overlap in the middle,
and four levels of padding (none, minimum, medium and high).

http://www.sellesmp.com/smp4bike/images/stories/pro2016-en/index.html#p=8

I have a couple of test saddles (Evolution and Dynamic). They're
different widths but people don't seem to notice the difference.
Everyone who has borrowed one has bought an SMP saddle for themself.

I reckon the composit works for everyone who isn't very overweight. As you say the width measurement they give is not relevant.
Depending on the fore-aft and angle of the saddle it changes the effective width.

Sitbones is not revelant to the SMP.