German company Ergon are well known in the MTB scene for their excellent handlebar grips, I have a pair on my hardtail, but they also design and produce products for all the contact points such as pedals and in this review, saddles.
I was interested to try this saddle out but also approached it with some trepidation. Afterall, saddles are a very personal thing, one riders super comfy supportive sofa can be another riders bed of nails, and I have to say, the Allroad saddle doesn’t look at all comfortable to me just from the asthetics. But apart from standing next to the bike once riding you are never going to see the saddle anyway. The performance and how it supports you when riding is the important bit!
The saddle is of a fairly standard length and width, it’s no “shortfit” saddle. It does come in S/M, M/L versions though. I plumped for S/M as this was the nearest size to my usual saddle. It has a very square-ish profile with a flat top that slightly kicks up to the rear. It has what Ergon call a “pressure reducing surface” to help combat perineal numbness with a core of, and this is where I’m going to use the Ergon jargon…”BASF Infinergy® E-TPU / Closed Cell Particle Foam” ( I always thought BASF made cassette tapes, but I’m probably just showing my age there by Picturing Pete Murphy from the group Bauhaus in the BASF TV ad……but then the Bauhaus art movement was German..anyway, back to the tech!) with a “Orthopedic Comfort Foam” which makes it sound like one of those fancy bed matresses. It comes with “TiNox” rails and is only avaliable in black.
Now we need to kick all that jargon to the side of the trail because what you really need to know is how it feels when its ridden on rather than how much trapped air is in the closed cell foam etc…..ok. the carbon composite shell is a bit fancy so worth mentioning.
I’ve had this saddle for a few months. I think it’s important to A) give a saddle a chance to bed in, they all mould to your backside to some degree and B) it should be tested in a variety of conditions from hot dusty days to rain and mud with everything in between. Reviewing a saddle after two of three rides and then publishing a review to my mind doesn’t give the full picture. I bet the distributors, Extra UK wonder were the hell the saddle review has gone though!
So I think I qualify on both counts, multiple rides, the wet summer, hot and humid early autumn through to a few soakings and gritty mud and embarrasingly a couple of crashes have all been thrown at this saddle.
I’m glad I went with the S/M size as the saddle felt plenty long enough for perched on the nose climbing and offered support when cruising along. It also wasn’t too wide or long that it caused hang ups on my shorts when descending and getting my weight back over the saddle. I took a few long rides (100k+) without chamois cream in the interests of testing (what a hero eh?) and suffered less discomfort/hot spots than with my usual saddle. I can report my perineum survived with full feeling intact. The saddle isn’t a big comfy sofa, it cushions you but seems to have just the right amount of give while remaining firm enough to support your back side and sit bones. My one criticism is that the nose of the saddle is quite square and depending on the shorts I was wearing would sometimes catch on the short material, not enough to damage anything but enough to make me change position slightly while pedalling. On that note, moving about on the saddle to change centre of gravity to maintain traction or balance was easy. The saddle was grippy enough to stop you sliding inadvertently about and thankfully not sticky enough that it pulls on the shorts material.
The Ergon Allroad has come out on the other side of this onslaught with hardly a mark on it. It’s very hard wearing. Multiple cafe wall leanings haven’t scuffed it either and neither have crashes and miles under my undercarriage. My initial fears on it looking uncomfortable have been completely unfounded, turns out the designers at Ergon do actually know what they are talking about! Would i replace my regular saddle with this one? Well, I’ve not taken the Ergon back off the bike yet and the test period has been finished a while, despite the square nose thing I’m leaving it on for the foreseable!
more details and great sizing info to help you choose the size of saddle would be best for you can be found on the Ergon website here
If you, like me, think the Ergon Allroad pro core looks like it could be uncomfortable then don’t forget the old maxim, appearances can be deceptive. In this case they are, it’s a traditional size saddle made with modern materials by a company that focus on rider performance and comfort. Give it a try and I think you and your derriere will be pleasantly surprised.
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 