Fizik Vesta Manganese

The Vesta Manganese saddle is one of three distinct styles for women from Fizik. It's relatively narrow, not too heavy and in the mid-range of firmness. It's a good saddle at a decent price for a premium brand.

Testing a saddle is always an incredibly subjective exercise. The most important first step in the quest for a comfortable seat is to get fitted and have your sit bones measured. Beyond getting the width and position right, it's mostly luck of the draw and about your style of riding and whether your personal preference is for softer or firmer.

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Unlike Fizik's higher end saddles, which come with rails made from Kium material, the Vesta's rails are heavier manganese, enabling a bit to be shaved off the price for those not quite so fussed with a few extra grams of saddle weight. The main body is carbon reinforced nylon and uses Wingflex technology, which allows the saddle to flex where it meets the thighs for added comfort.

Despite the very slight weight trade-off over Fizik's other saddles, it's not exactly a heavyweight, and still plenty light and sleek enough for racing. The design features a central channel, which runs between the flexible 'wings' to the very slightly downward curving nose to alleviate pressure where you don't want it.

Out on the road, the width of the rear of the saddle (150mm – in the mid range of most women's saddles, but wider than many race-orientated ones) was neither too narrow nor too wide, suiting my sit bones very well (I was measured at 143mm). The channel at the centre did a great job of preventing a saddle-related undercarriage hot spot and the nose was nicely shaped and cushioned to not be intrusive even when riding on the drops.

Those flexible wings did a good job when I was working hard, yet not so much that I felt a load of my energy was disappearing into the seat.

The only niggle I had was with the firmness of the padding supporting the sit bones. My sit bones felt nicely cradled by the saddle, but the padding in that area was quite firm. When coupled with slightly heavier duty padding in my shorts it was more comfortable, but with lower profile padding, I started to feel my sit bones quite quickly. Racers would probably love the firmness coupled with the pressure-relief channel, but for longer rides it really was a little hardcore without super-plush shorts.

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Being synthetic, the body of the saddle is super-easy to take care of and keep it looking at its best, and the surface is great for subtle shifts of position without any risk of randomly sliding forwards or backwards when riding along.

The Vesta Manganese isn't a cheap saddle but nor is it especially expensive when put up against other high quality Italian models. If the width, shape and firmness suit, it's a good purchase.

Verdict

Well-shaped, flexible, supportive and cost-effective women's saddle, but a touch on the firm side for really long rides