Selle San Marco Azoto Tri Gel

Hi,

I’m in the market for a saddle and have heard both good and bad about the Azoto. Please give me your opinions. Thanks.

I’ve been using it for 6-8 months (roughly 2k miles) and love it. The saddle is not great if you are not in the aerobars but it is the best saddle I’ve tried for the aero position.

It is a little wide in the nose for my taste. The particular shorts I’m using tend to ride up and the bunched up fabric combined with a wide saddle front tend to make things sore. However, I think the shorts would cause these problems on any saddle.

A lot of people including myself love this saddle on their tri bike. The above poster is right. It is not a road bike saddle. I can’t for the life of me tell you why it works well for the aero position, but it does.

As with every saddle, not everyone likes it, but it should be on your must try list.

Comfy in Florida,

Rich, after last week’s TT I’m definitely looking to get either the Azoto or Aspide Azoto to replace my SLR on my Saber. The SLR tore up my nether regions on that bumpy road! I’m leaning toward the Aspide Azoto due to comments I’ve seen like the first post about the width of the original Azoto.

I went from the Flite Gel to the Azoto 800 miles ago and I love it. Very comfortable in the aero position and for me at least, about the same as the flite for riding on the hoods or drops.

I did have to switch to a short with a minimal liner but that is better for running anyways.

the azoto is about 1/2" thicker rail to saddle top than the flite so you really need to measure your saddle height before swapping

For the most part I really like it. IMHO the best thing going right now but there are a few shortcomings.

Any opinions on the Aspide vs the Azoto. I have an aggressive armrest drop so I’m a little concerned about that much padding at the nose of the Azoto, vs the Aspide. I can try both, I suppose.

Rich

And while we’re at it, are there any web stores that stock the Aspide?

Excel has it for $119

http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=8&description=Aspide+Ti+Triathlon+Saddle&vendorCode=SANMARCO&major=1&minor=18
.

Thanks! Excel is just about my favorite web store, but obviously not where I would have looked. And holy cow! At that price, I hope lots of people can share their experiences with it.

I have not used that saddle, I did sit on one and thought the nose did seem wide. One saddle to also look at is the Serfas Crossbow. It is fairly long nosed and I just tried it on my tri bike and it worked fine. No rubbing the wrong way so far. It is really cheap on the e-bay (I have since bought two for around $20 new). It is not a real quality made saddle but with ti rails and an all kevlar cover available it is a pretty decent deal. Aloha G

Hi Rich,

I own an Azoto that I have used on my tri-bike in the past. I am a fairly small rider 5’4" and generally find a narrow saddle the most tolerable. Having said that there is just something about the Azoto that makes the nose of the saddle seem too wide for my body type. I am sure it is a great saddle, but I just don’t think it fits me that well. I would recommend getting your LBS to give you one on loan. If that is not possible, then just let me know and I would be happy to let you use mine to see if you like it. I measure the nose of the saddle to be 45mm wide which is about 5mm wider than my other saddles.

John Thomason

Thanks for the input. Hank at Edge Cyclesports on Laguna lent me the Azoto and Aspide to try out. I’ll take them for a spin tomorrow. Thanks again.

Rich

Rich

Could you please let the forum know how they go - and give us your impression on the differences between the two. I had a similar post up a month or so ago.

Someone is selling new Azoto Tri Gels at eBay for $88 (buy it now). That is the lowest price I’ve found on new ones and grabbed one. Haven’t got it yet and my tri bike is still in the building process.

but there are a few shortcomings.

Tom, Please, don’t just leave us hanging. Interesting that I have ridden a Flite for 13 years and really have never had a problem…is there a REASON to consider changing?

Thanks,

Great question. I’ve been on Flites for several years without problems, both road and tri. I had to replace one due to wear, and I decided to try the “newer technology.” I don’t know what kind of anatomy the ProLink is meant for, but it certainly wasn’t meant for mine. Back to the Flites, or try the Azoto/Aspide?

I just got an Azoto Tri Gel…

After 200 miles…

  1. Looks stupid (sorry, but it’s true)

  2. Uncomfortable out of the aero position

  3. Wide nose causes rubbing on inside of my thighs (I’m 5’10"/145 lbs so it’s not that I’ve got huge thighs)

  4. I can’t really find a comfort improvement over my normal saddle in the aero position (Terry Fly)

great comments. i might add:

  1. azoto rubbing: and the same can be said for the aspide. i still find it helpful to put a neoprene (lycra bonded upper) on either of these saddles, because it covers up all the stitching and embroidery that would otherwise chafe and rub one who is riding in the tri position. also, the lycra is slicker than the standard knitted nylon upper on both saddles. de soto and QR make them. they’re $20 at most.

  2. problem with flite: no problem if you’re not in a particularly aero position. if your armrests are the same height as your saddle you can ride anything. only if you’ve got a deep drop from the saddle to the armrests are you going to feel the need to change. and if you are riding that way, you’ve got to ride up near the nose of the saddle. if you therefore ever need to slide back, you’ve got an unfortunate extra seat height distance from simply sliding back + the distance that comes with sliding up the lip or ramp on the back of the flite. a much better choice, if you like that style of minimalist saddle, is the selle italia SLR, which is flat across the top and won’t give you that extra seat height if you scoot back.

  3. if you don’t have that leg length problem with the flite, it’s because you’ve got the nose of the saddle slightly higher than level which, again, is fine if you’re a road racer. but if you truly had an aero position, no way could you ride a flite in a tilt configuration like that.

i ride flite saddles very comfortably. i’ve got several in use now. on my road race bikes.

Unbelievably timely, Dan. I’ve just re-done my set-up, with everything forward for 78 degrees. (Feels like the bike is riding behind me, rather than under.)Whereas I had always thought your equation made the arm rests unrealistically low, I’m suddenly just about there. Things are becoming clearer. Thanks!