Varonha Frameworks winter bike / FW Evans 650b conversion rat bike fun

Data doesn't tell you whether yer bums gonna be happy on a saddle, only trial and error does, I've gone through quite a few different saddle shapes and sizes, and as funky as the may look, Specialized Power saddles are amazing (and Spesh Phenom if you want a 'traditional' length saddle).

Yeah, I can't believe how wide of the mark the pressure pad turned out to be. Obviously no substitute for real world experience!

If this new Antares doesn't work out then I have a list of criteria to look for in a replacement... basically long, thin, with a padded nose, no unpadded edges, maybe a subtle dent down the centre.... as stealthy black as possible and preferably available in budget and fancypants options so I can run the same shape on this and the Saffron.

Easy, right?! : /

Rolls are extremely comfortable

I don't get why you wouldn't use the Rolls then. Comfort should be the prime motivation when choosing a saddle.

Absolutely 100% this. Looks come second.

but are big, heavy things so not ideal either

as stealthy black as possible and preferably available in budget and fancypants options so I can run the same shape on this and the Saffron.

By 'fancypants' what I really mean is lightweight.
One Rolls is roughly equivalent to two (not even particularly weeny) modern saddles.
This bike is already pretty weighed-down by the guards, dynamo stuff and groupset... And ideally I would have the same perch on the Saffron, which will be an out-and-out road bike.

Shame they haven't updated the Rolls (since the Due) in the same way as the Regal and the Flite.

rolls is like sitting on a couch but yeah, as you say, weighs about as much as a three piece suite : /

I find the antares so firm - I'm just about used to it now but it was definitely a shock at first

Absolutely 100% this. Looks come second.

Looks come about third really.
I'm happy to loose 5% comfort to performance.

I guess it depends what you want to use the bike for.

I’m on Specialized Powers also. Find them good but not perfect. The plus is that they come in various levels so I’ve got a standard cromo on the steel mudguard dynamo bike and a carbon one on the road bike

I've gone from having the modern flites with cutouts to a specialized power and back again after re-gigging my not-professional-but-have-been-on-it-for-years-bike fit after being in a desk job for the first time since uni. The cutout on the flite is small but the middle gets a bit -hamock-y- after a while and it fits my arse well. Perfectly happy to lend you my power saddle in 143mm if you fancy picking it up?

Lots of love for Specialized Powers.
If the Antares doesn't work out I might take you up on that loan offer, cheers.

Had some fun last night ploughing through many many photos of saddles trying to find something that ticked all my boxes - a process of elimination, remembering what usually goes wrong for me, and therefore what I definitely don't want.

Afterwards, I measured my arse and filled in a bunch of online fitting questionnaires (on manufacturer's websites); interestingly many of them suggested things I'd already earmarked.

Top of the tops are:

San Marco Aspide
Pro Turnix
WTB Volt
(All in non-cutout versions).

All have long narrow noses, subtle central dents, and padding in sensible places.
All also available in black... and I think at a range of price-points depending on weight, although I've not looked into that in detail yet.

If anyone has one of the above lying in the parts bin let us know!

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the last one looks similar to fabric scoop, I have one in my shed if you want to try?

Forgot Fabric existed!
That's very kind of you @amey, thanks.
I'll see about this Antares first before I start wasting your time : )

edit: do you happen to remember if it was flat or shallow, etc?

sure! I think the one I have is the wide version (not sure, I had two, sold one).

Did Sherrit not suggest SMP? Sorry if this has already been covered.

Yeah he did, Scherritt loves SMP!
I tried one out (not sure which model) and it was okay... the ridges are quite uncomfortable but the concept is intriguing.

And (perhaps controversially) I think they look cool!

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Wide will prob be no good but if it's narrow I might well take you up on it
: )

I've got a WTB volt lying about

No way... Are you in London? : )

The very same

Cool man - Like I said to amey, I'll give this Antares a go before I start borrowing stuff.
Cheers though, gotta love this forum.
: )

No problem. It's in a box somewhere and managed to evade my recent clear out so it's not going anywhere rapidly. It's here if you fancy it

What with this morning actually being sunny, and me actually having cleaned my bike last night, I went out with the 'proper' camera to try and get some nice shots of the paint in the sun. Difficult to achieve as the paint is very dark and the silver are very bright.

It fell over and got covered shite after about 5 minutes (obviously) but I did manage to get a few sunny drive-side shots. My flimsy excuse for spamming my own thread is that there's a different saddle on it now (so far so comfortable, by the way):

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Whilst this is up... I also designed a rear light bracket for a Bontrager Flare to go on the mudguard. Martyn at Raceware has agreed to turn the dream into a reality so hopefully that might happen soon. He's also doing a 26.0 Garmin mount that'll be centred when it's pushed up against the side of a quill stem, perhaps even with the capacity to carry a battery pack as well, if he can figure out the fiddly water sealing system that Garmin use.

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Lovely bike. Turned out very good!