Tag Archives: saddle

Genius Two-Part Saddle moves as you bicycle to let you go long distances without soreness

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The excitement of learning to ride a bicycle came with the realization that the more time you rode the more pain was inflicted on the butts. Yes, those days of early riding were all about non-stop riding the bike as speeds increased with every confidence boost, and the consequent sore rear by the end of the day.

To keep any bicycle true to the basics and long-lasting, the saddle has to be firm and contoured for maximum comfort. That however is counterintuitive as the seat can be uncomfortable during long rides. The solution is to prevent the body part from being pushed against a stationary support surface. How do you do that? With a movable saddle mechanism that doesn’t strain your butts. Thank god!

Designer: ataraxyBSC

The story of this unique bike saddle’s development started with the idea of a compliant bicycle seat in 2016 by Australian engineer Robin Macan. Sometime after that, he met with industrial designer Philippe Guichard to take things further and create a two-part bicycle saddle that makes it ultra-comfortable for riders no matter the length of time they paddle. This ultimately led to the partnership with Melbourne-based Whistle Design Group to take the vision further and develop an actual product.

Macan finally created his startup ataraxyBSC to solve the problem of a pain-inducing bicycle saddle that’s been left in the shadow for decades. The solution is the vabsRider bicycle saddle with a split seat design. This simple yet clever saddle moves with the movement of legs, rotating around the hip joints to eliminate any pressure-inducing surface contact. Both the sides move independently with the leg movement, transferring pressure from the sit bones to the femurs, This creates a balanced load distribution, and gone are the sore muscles when bicycling for long hours at a stretch.

The user can further adjust the fore/aft and height, or toggle the angle or width of the saddle. The latter I’ve always wondered why no one thought about before. There’s no word about the pricing or availability of the vabsRider bicycle saddle, but you can express your willingness as an early adopter by emailing ataraxyBSC.

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Cork bike saddle amplifies the eco-friendly quotient of your ride

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There was a huge increase in bicycles and all biking accessories during the pandemic as people tried to find alternative means of transportation. Now that we’re almost back to whatever normal is, bikers are still a huge segment of the transportation market for a lot of reasons. One of these is that it’s more eco-friendly that cars since it does not use any fuel. But there has also been an interest in making the bicycles themselves even more eco-friendly.

Designer: Frame Cycles

One new product that can make your bike more sustainable is the FR-1 Bike Saddle since it is made from reconstituted cork and grade 5 titanium. It was able to do away with the usual three plastic layers of the bike saddle and replace it with the single piece of cork. What’s more, this cork is able to have all the properties of those plastic layers: structural rigidity, foam comfort, and weather resistance.

According to Frame Cycles, they were able to create the first batch of these cork saddles by using a firm grade of reconstituted cork so it has the similar hardness to the usual leather bike saddle. This also means that you will have to spend at least two weeks for the cork saddle to break in and start to soften. They will eventually release variants with different grades of cork. The process of sourcing the materials from the cork trees is also less harmful as stripping the bark every 8-10 years boosts the carbon consumption 3-5 times.

Before the cork saddle gets to you, the components are harvested in Portugal and then molded when it reaches Glasgow, Scotland. This is also where the parts are treated with water-based lacquer and then integrated into the welded titanium substructure. Knowing this entire process, it will not surprise you that the FR-1 Bike Saddle is a bit expensive at around $130. But of course, it’s a small (expensive) price to pay if you want a more eco-friendly bike to accompany your sustainable lifestyle.

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