How about the SLR saddle....anyone tried that in the TT position. I like that idea b/c it is flat.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

I can't even handle the SLR saddle on my road bike.

I'm curious as to where the FSA Team Issue Carbon cranks are. Those look like DA cranks with FSA rings on them. He had the same crank setup on his LBL winning Soloist bike. So did most of the CSC riders in the pictures I saw. What am I missing here? Where are the FSA cranks they started the year on?

How about the crank that looks like a DA with an FSA sticker on it?

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

David,
I have SLR on all my bikes. My Roo is set up steep (79 deg), my 'cross bike and fixie are set up pretty slack (73 deg). Very happy with the saddle, despite the financial implications. One has to play with the tilt a lot, though. Horizontal is not necessarily better, and all of mine tilt a bit up, even on the Roo where my arm pads are 12cm below the seat.

Dre'

Are my eyes playing tricks on me? It looks like the left brake lever is a dia-compe 188. Even the shadow it casts has the ball on the end of it. What does look like to you guys?

I'm confused.

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E-Z

--It ain't a good idea to swim near MY bubbles!

I ride an SLR on my road bike and love it. I couldn't stand it on my Saber tri-bike, though. I ended up with a mild case of prostititis before switching it out for the new Aspide triathlon model. No more problems. Your mileage may vary, though. My "stuff" is significantly rounded in the contact region for my tri position.

Here is a close-up: http://www.cyclingnews.com/...fterstechnicalcourse

It does indeed look like a Dia-Compe 188. From the description of the parcours, it was very technical, so Hamilton probably wanted to be able to shift the rear derailleur from the base bar, but didn't need to shift the front that way. Just a guess.

I appreciate the insight from you and Dre'. I have ridden a regular ole Flite for 12 IMs and all the training and have never had a problem w/ my parts. The SLR interests me since it doesn't flare up in back....but it looks a little more "square" on the nose as opposed to "rounded" on the flite...make sense? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks,

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

[reply]I appreciate the insight from you and Dre'. I have ridden a regular ole Flite for 12 IMs and all the training and have never had a problem w/ my parts. The SLR interests me since it doesn't flare up in back....but it looks a little more "square" on the nose as opposed to "rounded" on the flite...make sense? Any thoughts on that? [/reply]

Selle Italia is coming out with a new saddle called the SLK, it is basically an SLR with a more rounded nose. You were not the only one who made that observation about the SLR, and SI listened.

When considering thse saddles, it is important to understand how it works. Like almost all saddles (but especially important with the SLR), the comfort comes not from the padding but from the flex of the shell. The SLR is one of the most comfortable saddles for that reason, even though the padding is thin or none-existent depending on the exact version.

BUT, this only works if you sit in-between the contact points of the rails. If you sit near or on top of one of the contact points, it will not be comfortable. So if you tend to slide to the tip of your saddle, this is not the saddle for you. But if you bike is set up correctly and you sit in the center of the saddle, the SLR may work for you.

As for Tyler, like almost all pros he simply wants the same saddle on all his bikes, comfortable or not. All 20 CSC riders are that way, and I assume most others are too. So when Tyler decided to ride the SLR this year on his road bikes, it automatically followed one would be put on his P3 as well.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle

"but it looks a little more "square" on the nose as opposed to "rounded" on the flite"

this, and the fact that the saddle is entirely flat front to rear, makes this an excellent tri saddle (as long as you have a neoprene seat cover overtop). the lack of a square nose and flat aspect makes the flite a bad tri saddle.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

David,
I'll corroborate Gerard's and Slowman's observations. The "square" nose makes it a good saddle if you like to sit on the front: I tried to do that with a "normal" saddle and I thought I'd end up sliced in half! I used to ride a Vetta Transverse on my MTB/Commuter, and it was great to sit on the back, like a roadie, but once I tried to go aero with it, I understood why the guy who sold it to me called it "the blade". Also, it's true that you have to sit "in the middle". Not only the saddle flexes a lot, but there's some flex coming from the rails. That's why my bike looks stupid with a 76.5deg seat tube *and* a Thomson setback post (reversed). I wanted to go 79deg, and I found that when clamping the seat all the way forward, rail flex was funny and the saddle wasn't as comfy. Now, I'm clamping it in the middle of the rails and I'm happy.

Some people complain that the tip of the saddle snags the bike shorts
when you slide your ass back on the saddle from a standing position. It's true, but I solved the problem when I swtiched to always riding in tri-shorts. Also, despite Slowman's comment, you don't *need* a tri pad on the SLR, even with thinly padded shorts. I'll have mine on for WF, as the road is nasty rough, but I usually don't. But then, he's someone who likes a tri pad on top of his azoto ...

Don't expect the leather to last a long time. If you look at it funny, a nick will appear. Meguiar's leather seat cream (car fanatic stuff) does wonder, as it keeps it slippery even when wet, so less rubbing occurs between the shorts and the seat, thus less wear.

How much more do you want to know? :)

Dre'

I still want to know where the FSA Team Issue Carbon cranks went on the CSC bikes. Anyone know why most of them aren't using them lately?

Don't ask me! I'm way too poor for this plastic stuff ... I ride Ultegra cranks.

Dre'

Sorry Dre, I wasn't asking you specifically, but the forum in general. Actually I suspect that Gerard may be the only one who might know. As I noted when we got news of the CSC-Cervelo connection, we are getting some real feedback from him on the results of this partnership. Specifically, the feedback he gets from the team, over time, will likely result in refinements to the equipment. This may or may not include equipment they hang on his frames. The crucible of the pro peloton puts a premium on durability of components. That's why we often see the crazy specialized gear only on one-off prologue bikes and light use "climbing" bikes. I'm not suggesting the FSA crank is "crazy" specialized or that there absolutely has to be negative issues with them, but if there are real issues surrounding the changes, I think we'd like to know. Bjarne Riis is notoriously stringent on his equipment selection. He won't put up with gear that is less than optimum for his purposes.

I've been using the flite gels on both my road and TT bikes for a couple of seasons. Always feels right on the road bike but on the TT, I think the gel is a little too much because of the different position. Probably for the same reason I feel more comfy riding tri shorts rather than traditional cycling shorts on the TT bike. Anyways, I recently picked up a Selle Italia TT saddle (http://www.schwabcycles.com/...roducts/SELLE-TT.JPG). Only ridden it a couple of times but so far so good. Its flat and also has a rough texture that seems to hold you in one place a little better. Light at only 165g too.

I would be willing to bet that the reason we aren't seeing the FSA cranks on some of the CSC bikes is the wide Q-factor of the cranks. The Team issue crank has a significantly wider stance than some others on the market, and for a certain percentage of riders, this is a problem, or at least a change - and pros hate change (with good reason.)

Tafi rode FSA cranks at Paris-Roubaix, but they were the yet to be released update of the carbon pro, with a cnc-ed carbon plate spider. My guess is you will see Tyler on these soon - they have a narrower Q than the Team Issue cranks.

- Tyler's cranks don't look like DA to me, they look like an off-brand of some sort, and actually look to be a square-taper style. Maybe he likes REALLY low Q....

MH, writing from Dan's computer, still recovering from the FIST hill-climb-O'rama.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/