I was checking on the website and can’t tell the difference from the V-flow and the V-flow plus (other than shape) I guess I don’t understand which saddle is designed for what. Anyone care to enlighten me? Also anyone have any idea what type of saddle John will introduce later this month?
John maybe you can chime in here…
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The Plus version has substantially more padding. Actually if you look at the Plus, it looks like an ISM Road saddle with a nose tip added on. The nose is a good bit lower than the padding surrounding the cut out, which I would imagine would give a very similar ride to the ISM saddle.
Curious: did Cobb have a falling out with ISM or did he just go his own way? At St. Anthony’s last year, he was there with Laura Bennett showing people how to ride the ISM saddle. I know Blackwell went under, but for Cobb to go straight to selling saddles seems like a blow to ISM.
thoughts?
I raced with the V-Flow Plus at Oceanside yesterday. While my race went horribly, my nether region felt great on the bike. It’s way more padded than what I usually ride (Fizik Airone), but the ISM+drop nose design kept things comfortable. Not the most aesthetically pleasing saddle on earth, but my major concern is keeping my you-know-whats from going numb…and the aforementioned you-know-whats felt fine all day long.
Brad Culp
Editor, Triathlete magazine
bculp@competitorgroup.com
Along with extra padding, John told me the Plus is lighter. Can’t remember how much though. I’ll try and find the email and post.
Just found it. 295g vs 275g for the Plus. It has a 180 day money back gurantee. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but might.
I was checking on the website and can’t tell the difference from the V-flow and the V-flow plus (other than shape) I guess I don’t understand which saddle is designed for what. Anyone care to enlighten me? Also anyone have any idea what type of saddle John will introduce later this month?
John maybe you can chime in here…
The shape seems like a pretty big difference. The Plus is meant to be an evolution of sorts on the ISM design. The split noses have some trouble maintaining structure (that is, one side often ends up a bit different than the other). So adding a drop-nose gives structural integrity. Both are really good, and it’s largely dependent on where you ride as to which you’d prefer. The plus is a “flat profile” saddle, and is probably a bit more popular among people I fit. But the traditional flow is better for people who really park right on the nose of the saddle. With the guarantee, it’s easy to try both. As a setup note - for tribike riding - the plus should be level across the top, whereas the regular flow should be level on the nose.
I got a V-Flow Plus saddle for my road bike about a week ago and I’ve been very happy with it, around 200 miles on it thus far and the boys have had a complaint.
Getting one fairly soon for my tri bike, and this is the first time I’ve heard of a reason to go w/ the original V-Flow. I’m one the the aforementioned nose riders. Thanks for the heads up.
I rode the Vflow plus today for the first time. I had been riding the ISM saddle. For me there were pluses and minuses that I will list for those who care. For starters I am about 5’ 7.5" and weigh about 149. I never had any real issues with my ism saddle other than it was like riding a piece of wood at times.
The vflow plus is much more attractive and has a lot more padding! It also has a much longer nose on it which for me would probably require a longer stem vs the ism. I found it hard to ride the nose without closing my hip angle. I was def more “crunched” up for lack of a better word. I did like the “narrowness” of the saddle but the length is my only real issue. I set the saddle back in the rails as far as possible pre ride. Today was extremely windy here and I use my knees to grip the top tube and with the ism no issues. The Vflow+ was longer and subsequently was in the way.
All in all, it is a very nice saddle but for me probably a little too long in the nose. I suspect I could ride it and be happy but it would require a new stem and some other tweaks which I am not wild about making.
Perhaps one of the new saddles will work better. Jordan, what do you think of the description I posted would like your thoughts? Sounds like your post agrees with my initial impression.
All in all, this is a nice saddle and it will definitely work for a bunch of folks out there. I will also say they are shipping fast and are very customer oriented.
Hope this helps.
I like the way my ISM ‘fingers’ flex when I’m riding. If they do become misaligned, all I have done (one time) is loosen the seat clamp and the ‘fingers’ automatically realign. I’m sure if I went for a long time they would not realign.
To the poster who said the ISM is like riding a piece of wood, which model do you have? I tried the race version and it put way too much pressure on my pelvic bones. The road version with its extra padding has been great.
I’m excited to see what other products John Cobb releases.
I am riding the race version. I will look into the road version thanks for the tip.