Saddle manufacturers rent out saddles as trial samples
called "test saddles,"
and Fizik was the first to start this system.
Choosing a saddle is basically a gamble, and even a saddle you spent tens of thousands of yen on
might be completely unusable after just three days if it doesn't suit you.
If you can approach it with the mindset of "this is the only saddle in the world and I have no choice but to use it,"
most things become bearable, though not everything,
but in my case, Selle Italia's Flite and Selle San Marco's Regal just didn't work for me,
so it seems flat-backed saddles are no good for me.
My cyclocross bike has an Arione on it,
but that's only because it has the Arcancel pattern,
to match the Arcancel stripes scattered all over the Ridley frame,
not because I particularly like how it feels (though it's not unusable).
Speaking of which, that Kooima Flight saddle seems to have sold out even in the home country stock.
It's also disappeared from the distributors' order sheets. Hell yeah.
Anyway, back to the test saddle story—
for manufacturers, this isn't really a profitable or "beneficial" system.
The probability that someone will use a test saddle and think "oh, this is great, I'll buy one"
is lower than the probability they'll think "it didn't work out, glad I didn't have to buy it—that was close,"
and manufacturers would honestly prefer customers to take a gamble and just buy saddles.
But once Fizik alone adopts this "customer-friendly system" of test saddles,
the other manufacturers that don't offer them get labeled as "cheap jerks who won't even lend samples,"
so as a result, Selle Italia, Selle San Marco, Selle SMP, and so on...
the test saddle system has become completely standardized.
It doesn't apply to all test saddles, but
as a general trend seen across the board, to make them less likely to be stolen,
they're made in loud or garish colors
and often have "TEST SADDLE" printed in large letters.
But I found someone today with a frame in almost exactly the same color as a test saddle,
so I'm calling them out here.
The person claims they bought it from some sketchy shop, therefore it's not a test saddle,
but I really can't believe that.
Then, quite unexpectedly,
they handed me a Nanoblock Emperor Penguin from their pocket.
...Yeah, that's right, surplus inventory does get distributed too
Suspecting someone of theft just because they've had the same test saddle on their bike for ages
isn't a good look
3T Mercurio demo wheels (→here) that were unused
weren't supplied as trial wheels
but were sold by a lot of shops back then, I think,
and that's probably how this one entered the market.
called "test saddles,"
and Fizik was the first to start this system.
Choosing a saddle is basically a gamble, and even a saddle you spent tens of thousands of yen on
might be completely unusable after just three days if it doesn't suit you.
If you can approach it with the mindset of "this is the only saddle in the world and I have no choice but to use it,"
most things become bearable, though not everything,
but in my case, Selle Italia's Flite and Selle San Marco's Regal just didn't work for me,
so it seems flat-backed saddles are no good for me.
My cyclocross bike has an Arione on it,
but that's only because it has the Arcancel pattern,
to match the Arcancel stripes scattered all over the Ridley frame,
not because I particularly like how it feels (though it's not unusable).
Speaking of which, that Kooima Flight saddle seems to have sold out even in the home country stock.
It's also disappeared from the distributors' order sheets. Hell yeah.
Anyway, back to the test saddle story—
for manufacturers, this isn't really a profitable or "beneficial" system.
The probability that someone will use a test saddle and think "oh, this is great, I'll buy one"
is lower than the probability they'll think "it didn't work out, glad I didn't have to buy it—that was close,"
and manufacturers would honestly prefer customers to take a gamble and just buy saddles.
But once Fizik alone adopts this "customer-friendly system" of test saddles,
the other manufacturers that don't offer them get labeled as "cheap jerks who won't even lend samples,"
so as a result, Selle Italia, Selle San Marco, Selle SMP, and so on...
the test saddle system has become completely standardized.
It doesn't apply to all test saddles, but
as a general trend seen across the board, to make them less likely to be stolen,
they're made in loud or garish colors
and often have "TEST SADDLE" printed in large letters.
But I found someone today with a frame in almost exactly the same color as a test saddle,
so I'm calling them out here.
The person claims they bought it from some sketchy shop, therefore it's not a test saddle,
but I really can't believe that.
Then, quite unexpectedly,
they handed me a Nanoblock Emperor Penguin from their pocket.
...Yeah, that's right, surplus inventory does get distributed too
Suspecting someone of theft just because they've had the same test saddle on their bike for ages
isn't a good look
3T Mercurio demo wheels (→here) that were unused
weren't supplied as trial wheels
but were sold by a lot of shops back then, I think,
and that's probably how this one entered the market.