Fizik Aliante R1 saddle review

Fizik's Aliante saddle is designed for less flexible riders, which it calls Bulls. We've tested its carbon railed version.

Cycling Weekly Verdict

A comfortable saddle designed for less flexible riders, with good cushioning. It’s light without completely breaking the bank. But the shiny area near the rear can slip around a bit under some bibshorts.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Comfortable for less flexible riders

  • +

    Very light

  • +

    Clip for Fizik saddle packs

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Lateral stripe is a bit slippery

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Fizik categorises its saddles – and increasingly its other products like its bars and its newly introduced shorts – according to how flexible you are, calling this its Spine Concept. So if you can bend to touch your toes with straight legs, you are a Snake, if you can’t you are a Bull and if you’re somewhere in between you are a Chameleon.

The Aliante saddle is designed for those who are Bulls – and I definitely fit into this category. It’s got a wide profile to the rear of the saddle and a pronounced upward turn, whereas the Arione, which is designed for Snakes is much flatter and also narrower.

The Aliante comes in two widths too: 142mm or 152mm. The R1 is only surpassed by the £279.99 Aliante 00 in Fizik’s Aliante hierarchy, coming with a carbon composite base and braided carbon rails under its foam padding. This gives it a low weight of 183g.

>>> Saddle height: how to get it right (video)

Also in the base at the rear is a Fizik logo plate. This can be pushed out to mount one of Fizik’s clip-on saddle packs, which is a neat idea and saves having to use straps to fix a pack over your precious carbon rails, potentially scuffing them.

Watch: Buyer's guide to road saddles

The upward curve at the rear and the saddle’s curved profile make it a comfortable perch for longer rides and the lightweight construction appeals to my inner weight weenie. Unlike its other saddles, Fizik puts a lateral band of shiny covering across the back of the Aliante. The rest of the cover is matt black and holds you in place well, but I did find that I slipped around a bit on the shiny area in some shorts, making for a slightly less planted seating position that I would have liked.

But overall, the Aliante R1 is a nicely finished saddle and a comfortable place to sit for extended periods.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.