I got my wove saddle this week and have two rides on it so far. I know Nick and I have been following this project with interest. I know that he meticulously iterated the design for the shape of the saddle and foam padding with testing from Sam Long and Rudy von Berg.
Saddles have always been a thing that I considered good if I could tolerate it for 5 hours in aero. Toleration was about as much as I have ever expected. I had been using a Dash saddle and before that I had been riding Adamo.
For several years I have used an XLab BTS single bottle mount. Below are some photos of the Wove saddle installed on my IA Advanced Frame Set.
Starting with a visual inspection of the saddle, it's hard to believe that this thing is literally hand made by a single guy. The fit and finish are superb. The round carbon rails and their attachment points look engineered and professionally manufactured. I compare this with the Dash saddle which is handmade and looks like it. In fact, the carbon rails on my Dash look particularly janky and both of them have cracks after a couple years of use.
The BTS bottle mount includes a black-anodized bar with threaded holes that fits in the groove on the top of the saddle and a bottle cage mounts directly to the bottom of the saddle. This system is far cleaner, lighter and easier to put on and remove than the XLab system I have been using. 10x better at least!
The padding on the saddle is thicker and softer than pretty much any top end road or TT saddle that I am aware of. The semi-grippy covering of the padding is actually molded directly onto the saddle and it looks super precise and clean.
As I hopped on for my first ride and headed up my driveway, I immediately said out lout to myself, "I think I like this saddle!" It was totally spontaneous and genuine, I swear. The reason is that the shape and padding of the saddle was dramatically more comfortable to what I had been riding and it was immediately noticeable. I found the nose of the saddle to be just right for my TT position and the texture of the saddle was just right to make me feel stable in my position, but not so grippy that I could not re-adjust if necessary. The back of the saddle is in just the right place to give support when I sit up on the base bars, which was a big complaint I had about the Dash. It was pretty good in aero position, but terrible when sitting up.
As you can see from the photos and the tape on my seat post, I had to raise the post 5mm or so to match the saddle height of the Dash. On recommendations from Wove, I have the saddle installed a few degrees nose down and I think that is the way to go. I'm actually thinking about pointing the nose even a little further down.
I am more than happy with this saddle. I have not yet done a long ride on it, but if it continues to feel as great as it has so far when I'm 3-4 hours in the saddle, then I will have to declare this the best saddle I've ever been on.
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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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