As self proclaimed tri newbie, I don’t know what makes one better than the other.
When we designed our V8 TT + Tri saddle, we paid special attention to 3 areas of the saddle’s design to relieve soft tissue pressure, support the pelvic bones, and prevent thigh rubbing.
1. Channel Width: The V8’s channel width provides ample soft tissue relief, whether riding on the nose or upright towards the rear.
2. Nose Width: The V8’s nose width supports the pelvic bones - it’s not so narrow that the nose sits between these bones and increases soft tissue pressure & discomfort, and not so wide as to rub & chafe the inner thighs.
3. Transition: The V8’s transition from rear to nose quickly tapers to get the saddle out of the way to maximize thigh clearance and reduce the likelihood of thigh rub and chafing.
Take a look at our side by side comparison here to other TT + Tri saddles to visually inspect how we paid attention to these 3 key areas. (nose widths measured at the furthest point forward that the rider can sit on the saddle - saddles with rounded noses are measured further back for this reason)
Well count me as a convert to these saddles (the V8). It’s not that my previous saddles were really uncomfortable, but it was just a /price of doing business/ type of shifting around and popping up to the basebars situation when I would go on long rides.
I went from a Bontrager Hilo to a Sitero to now a Wove. At first, it felt quite rigid and I though maybe even too wide near the front as I noticed contact on my inner thighs. After a few rides on the trainer though the rigidity was something I was getting used to, but what I really noticed was how I could stick to the TT position. It seemed like I was down in the position for longer and longer durations during all of my bigger rides.
I used a demo version for 70.3 Des Moines and had a great bike time (PR), just really felt locked in. I tested the theory by running that race through BBS and compared the CDA estimates with last year’s three 70.3 races and for some cases, the values were over 9% larger - I think that’s mainly due to me not having to pop up on the base bars to adjust my position as often. For the flatter races that’s a huge difference.
Be sure to get the retention loop (or some hair tires) especially if you are using the larger volume bottles. I ignored this advice from Wove and sure enough ejected a bottle on the first bump 100 feet out of T1.
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Wove V8 Saddle Review by an age grouper.
Bit of context: I race quite a bit and train around 12 hours/week on the bike. I’d say I do about a 80/20 split of road/TT most of the time, and maybe 50/50 when I get closer to races. In the past I couldn’t get that much back to back volume on the TT bike because i’d get horrible saddle sores.
Saddles i’ve tried: Fizik Mistica, ISM PN4.1, Selle Italia Watt Superflow. All of these had something wrong. The Fizik tore my soft tissue apart, the Selle Italia didn’t have enough pressure relief, The ISM wasn’t bad but I was sliding around a bit and had some chaffing isues from the prongs. I even tried a Specialized Rovin Evo Pro for a race thinking a narrower nose would get rid of the thigh chafe… turned out I was sliding all over the place.
I decided to splurge on the wove after another competitive age grouper recommended them to me. I have thick thighs coming from a rugby background and I don’t know why but the saddle just works. I can sit 5 hours on the bike no problem. It improved my pelvic tilt forwards which relieved back strain. The saddle does take some time to set up and dial the position because it is just so different than the other traditional TT saddles but it is such a game changer.
Sure, wove saddles are expensive. However, I was spending a lot of money and time trying to get the right fit, with the right integration. Wove just instantly fixed all of these. And when I compare the balance sheet of all previous attempts with 1 wove saddle, the wove is cheaper and just better.
Here is my setup with the Wolftooth B-RAD plate. I did get their bottle retention loop, but I find the elastic is too tight and it’s crushing my bottle nose causing it to leak. I will probably keep using hair ties I found that just work better for me. This is minor and doesn’t change my strong recommendation on the saddle.
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What is your experience with sitting up on the saddle? when my bike is on the trainer, I am probably sitting up half the time and laying down on the aero bars half the time. I also have some minor discomfort on my ISM PN saddle with saddle sores/chafe, and I can see how the Wove would eliminate that, but with the quick taper I am wondering if there is enough support near the back of the saddle to roll back and sit up on the trainer.
I have quite narrow sit bones (run my road saddles in 143mm) so i’m not super bothered about lack of “rear” support. The wove works really well sitting up for me. Will it offer the same amount of support and deliver as much power as a traditional contoured road saddle? Probably not? But that’s also not the intended design… You’re not deliver 900W power attacks up a hill on a TT bike anyways. If anything the aggressive cutouts make it better.
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I am the same as you, sitting up quite a bit. Never had an issue.
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The rear measures 146 mm wide, and when you’re sitting up, it’s been designed to feel like a road saddle. The quick taper does not necessarily reduce support as much as it just gets the saddle out of the way so the rear of your thighs do not touch the saddle while the 146mm width of the rear provides ample bone support. We actually made the rear of the V8 identical to the rear of the Mags, and as Ronan wrote about in his review of the Mags, the quick taper makes the wider rear feel like a more narrow saddle, while providing sit bone support that a lot of people on sub-140mm saddles do not realize they need.
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Thank you Nick I will order one of the next gen v8 saddles early next month.
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Nick, You mentioned that you were going to be rolling out a ‘less expensive’ model of the V8 this spring. How is that timeline coming along? Thanks.
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I’m waiting on my V8+ saddle to ship, and judging by some of the recent manufacturing delays they’ve had with the current V8+ and Mags saddles I’d guess the less expensive V8 will be delayed as well. Note that I’m not unhappy or knocking Nick and Wove in any way, just my read of the situation.
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Getting across the finish line with the version two Mags and V8 saddles has been tough, to say the least. Have been working long days and weekends, including today, with the manufacturer to make this happen asap.
When this is done, attention will turn to future models. The good news is that the delays have been 100% due to getting the foam and cover material dialed and the future models use the same exact foam, cover material and even the same foam/cover tooling, so development time should be relatively quick.
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are there any key differences in v2 vs. v1 of the saddles you can share at the moment?
The V2 models have 7x9mm rails, the carbon curves under at the nose, the foam is slightly softer, the Mags cover material is a tad less grippy, and the top of the V8 nose is even grippier that the V1 V8 but the sides and rear are the same cover material as the Mags: grip only where you need it.
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In the past two weeks, we found a way to wrap the foam around and under the edges of the shell, this required re-making our tooling, but has allowed us to accomplish a long desired goal in terms of finish quality.
We also very slightly changed the shape so that the channel remains more narrow as it goes towards the rear for a bit more pubis/ischium bone support, the carbon wings taper down a tad more while the foam remains the same at the wing, so the edge of the wing where the leg might touch is softer, and we’re every so slightly rounding the nose at the very front (very very slightly) which will allow riders to angle the saddle down a tad less, while still providing a definitive end to the saddle (something saddles with very curved/rounded noses don’t provide - riders tend to search for the end of the saddle and then have to scoot back. the rider knows where the end of the saddle is on the V8)
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