Astute Skycarb VT saddle review

At £360, there's no doubt where the Astute Skycarb VT saddle is positioning itself in the market: this is an unashamedly premium performance saddle aimed at cyclists looking for the ultimate blend of lightweight and performance.

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Apart from the padding on the top, the whole saddle is constructed from carbon-fibre, it's no surprise that the the Astute Skycarb VT hits the mark when it comes to weight. At 147g this isn't quite the lightest saddle on the market, but those extra 30 or 40g shouldn't cost you too much.

However I wasn't so convinced by the comfort on offer by this high-end saddle. Although the saddle features an impressive amount of padding given the low weight, which when combined with the carbon rails helps to edge off road buzz, neither myself, nor one of Cycling Weekly's other testers got on with the curved shape of the Astute Skycarb VT saddle.

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Maybe I was just a poor match for the shape of the saddle, but I really found the saddle uncomfortable on rides of longer than a couple of hours, and certainly didn't enjoy the weekend where I put in two long rides on consecutive days.

Astute says that it will be adding more designs with different shapes later this year, so I'll be interested to try these once we have some in to test, but in the meantime this is definitely saddle to try before you buy.

Visit the Saddleback website for more details.