chinese carbon saddles

[feris0n]

I bought mine eons ago (2017) on ebay, full carbon, no padding, for <30 usd. So the chinese carbon version absolutely exists / has existed.

Sorry if my comment was a bit confusing that's what I was talking about. All the ones I've seen like the one you have was just carbon versions and I wanted just a bit of padding like the one from Velobuild. Anyways, whats the experience like with yours? Might just pick up a carbon one if it's similar enough.

[planet_sammy]

I am also using the Mixed 5D saddle for my cyclocross bike, great saddle for the price!

[Serge_K]

Sorry if my comment was a bit confusing that's what I was talking about. All the ones I've seen like the one you have was just carbon versions and I wanted just a bit of padding like the one from Velobuild. Anyways, whats the experience like with yours? Might just pick up a carbon one if it's similar enough.

I never wished it were padded. I found it surprisingly comfortable. I guess it just worked, anatomically. The longest day i've done with it was 210km with 4k D+. I remember starting a dawn and getting back home at dusk having spent the day on the bike, I remember what i ate, i remember meeting a stunning police lady in a random village; i dont remember my ass being unhappy.

Now, sample size: 1. Then again, given how cheap Chinese saddles usually are, if you're on the fence, get it to experiment? I've bought quite a few saddles over the years for different bikes. The ones i dont like i just resell at a small loss and make someone else happy.

[jhearrtot]

So my social feeds urged me to try out Selle SMP saddles for a while.
I've been curious and more or less on a whim I bought the Velobuild replica of what I believe is the Selle SMP Dynamic saddle. It's their long standing classic. I was expecting this to be an instrument of torture. And while I still have to ride this for more than 2 hours straight, I'm really surprised as to how comfy this is. Once you have it dialed in, it kind of feels like you're sitting on something that basically perfectly fits your pelvis. I had to set this way further forward than my previous saddle because it basically has to disappear under your bum. You can't sit on the nose of this thing. There's pretty much exactly one spot only where this saddle feels comfy. But once you've found it, you're locked in position and you basically rotate your pelvis back and forth while sitting on the same part of the saddle depending on how aggressive you wanna ride. You do not move back or forth on this saddle at all. No sliding towards the nose and having to readjust your bum when tucking down. I'm very intrigued.
You do however have to live with the way it looks. The best thing about the design of this saddle is that most of the time you're sitting on it.

I saw your post about this velobuild saddle and immediately reached out to Chris to inquire and placed an order.

A week has passed and it still hasn't shipped. Asked Chris for an update and was told it was out of stock!

I'm now told it will ship mid next week but I'm ready to cancel the order if it doesn't ship as promised.

It's my first time dealing with velobuild and doesn't look promising.

Did you run into the same issue? How long did they take to ship yours?

[Serge_K]

It's my first time dealing with velobuild and doesn't look promising.

Did you run into the same issue? How long did they take to ship yours?

VB is a broker, they buy stuff from factories and resell it. It's a distribution channel, essentially. Their core business definitely isn't selling saddles. Before you order from Chris it's best to ask him what's in stock or not. The good thing is they can usually source anything you want. On my gravel builds i wanted non integrated flared bars with internal routing, and he was able to find that, even though it wasn't listed on the website.
If he took your money, he will ship you your saddle.

[jhearrtot]

VB is a broker, they buy stuff from factories and resell it. It's a distribution channel, essentially. Their core business definitely isn't selling saddles. Before you order from Chris it's best to ask him what's in stock or not. The good thing is they can usually source anything you want. On my gravel builds i wanted non integrated flared bars with internal routing, and he was able to find that, even though it wasn't listed on the website.
If he took your money, he will ship you your saddle.

That's fair and that's exactly what I did and I totally understand if that's how their business works.

He could have told me though that it was not in stock or might have to wait several days when I initially inquired, but he didn't and just told me they'll ship after x number of days. I had to ask several times before they confirmed it was not available.

I can wait if he'll deliver just like what you mentioned, but a clear communication would go a long way.

Thanks for your assurance btw!

[Sebastian]

Yeah, I agree that VB isn’t always the most well organised neither the most transparent seller. I never received any shipping notice on anything I bought from them without me asking for it. It was no different with this saddle. Can’t remember since I wasn’t pressed for time. It might have taken the usual two to three weeks. I basically almost forgot that I ordered it and was about to ask Chris whether they had shipped it when I had the package in my mail.

[coffeebreak]

Pretty much everyone who has dealt with VB have similar stories. In my case they forgot to send bottom bracket and extra derailleur hangar. I didn't realize rd hangar was missing and only asked for missing BB to Chris who said yeah he will send it. Nothing happened for two weeks so I asked again and he says oh it wasn't shipped? Let me check. Then next day sent a mail saying it's been shipped. About a week later I got bb in the mail. Another week passed and I got another bb in the mail exact same thing happened with rd hangar a month later too.

There's a clear communication gap between who actually packs/ships and Chris. I received the updated C ring in similar fashion - no tracking, no proper response just one mail from Chris saying it shipped. They might be lousy with communication but they won't steal your money or at least that's how I feel.

[jhearrtot]

Thanks for clarifying! At least I am now well informed about the way they handle communication - just have to follow-up from time to time, sit back and wait! 

[50cars]

I purchased the “3D-1 Gloss Bottom” saddle found here: https://a.aliexpress.com/_ms36gEq - it looks an awful lot like the 3d specialized power saddles. I switched to this from a specialized power comp (not 3d). While the size and form is nearly the same, my ass was sore 30 mins into my first ride with the 3d saddle. Maybe it needs getting used to or breaking in, but for now I would not recommend. Will try it for a few more rides and post an update.

Comfort aside, my ride does look quite nice with the 3d saddle.

[Serge_K]

I think VB is a very lean operation, Chris probably does most / all of the customer facing interactions, and i doubt they have a proper CRM software / system in place. Who knows how they handle "tickets / orders". So if it's just him & tools from 20 years ago (excel, paper, a notebook, who knows) there's nothing automated, and unless you ask, you dont get a step by step follow up of your order.
Being disorganized like this may also help them tax wise, who knows. The more structured you are, the easier it is for any kind of audit to take place. If you throw your arms up in the air and say "whaaaat, are you crazy, do you know how much work that would be to gather all this information?", it's harder to audit
Either way, stuff works with them, it just takes a bit more involvement from all sides.

[jhearrtot]

I think VB is a very lean operation, Chris probably does most / all of the customer facing interactions, and i doubt they have a proper CRM software / system in place. Who knows how they handle "tickets / orders". So if it's just him & tools from 20 years ago (excel, paper, a notebook, who knows) there's nothing automated, and unless you ask, you dont get a step by step follow up of your order.
Being disorganized like this may also help them tax wise, who knows. The more structured you are, the easier it is for any kind of audit to take place. If you throw your arms up in the air and say "whaaaat, are you crazy, do you know how much work that would be to gather all this information?", it's harder to audit
Either way, stuff works with them, it just takes a bit more involvement from all sides.

It pretty much looks like that. Anyhow, I chased Chris again and was told they'll be shipping my order on Saturday (initially promised mid-week, but ok..).

Fingers crossed!

[jhearrtot]

It pretty much looks like that. Anyhow, I chased Chris again and was told they'll be shipping my order on Saturday (initially promised mid-week, but ok..).

Fingers crossed!

I got my order yesterday (finally!). It is indeed well made and weighs 180g on my scale. It has some minor imperfections with the upholstery underneath, but very negligible.

The only problem is that Chris told me initially that it comes in 15CM width that's why I ordered it, but what I got is only 13CM. What a bummer!

[aliexpress_junkie]

I've been testing this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006659891238.html

(The normal padded one)

For a few weeks now and it's been super comfy in a very aggressive racing position. Actually surprising how comfy it is for how little padding there is compared to my old fizik saddle. The rails feel solid and everything. It's not the most lightweight at around 150g but it feels much better than those extremely lightweight ones at 100g-ish.

[AzureEssence]

I have a Mixed 5D 143mm I liked so much I bought a backup one

I believe it weighed about 117g. I usually run a 150mm saddle but I found it pretty comfortable at 143. Didn't look how ugly the Mixed 150mm one looked