Arte Selle Dakar Double saddle

Arte Selle's Dakar Double saddle is a high quality bit of kit that I found really comfortable. It packs a couple of surprises too, the first of which is the price: it costs just £30.

Arte Selle is an Italian brand that has only just got UK distribution for the first time. The Dakar Double is one of their racing saddles and it's pretty lightweight. Arte Selle claim it's 186g; that's the weight they print on the nose. The ever-dependable road.cc scales say it's actually a bit lighter than that: 172g. It's always worthy of comment when a product is lighter than its published weight. It really doesn't happen that often. There's the second surprise.

The saddle is 275mm long and 130mm wide, both of which are about average for a race saddle, while the nose tapers from around 60mm wide (depending on where you count the nose as starting) down to 43mm where the rails mount. Rather than arcing from side to side (like a hump-backed bridge. Or an armadillo), the shell is pretty flat on the nose so you get a level platform up front.

The rails are titanium while the carbon-infused base has just a little bit of flex; there's enough give in there to soften the big hits and provide damping over poorly surfaced roads. You get a middling depth of padding here - enough to provide decent cushioning but not so much that it feels spongy - while the covering is Lorica. It's smooth down the centre - the white stuff - while the side panels - the black sections - have a slightly textured matt finish.

In use the Dakar Double feels great. It's a tried and tested shape similar to that of plenty of other race saddles. If you get on with the Selle Italia SLR, for example, the shape of this saddle isn't a million miles off. And I found the comfort provided by the shell and the cushioning to be spot on. I swapped this onto one of my regular bikes in place of an SLR and did a quick one-hour loop to check it wasn't going to saw me in half, then rode 5hrs on it the following day. It felt good. I forgot I wasn't riding with my usual perch, and that's what you want, really. When you start to notice your saddle, it's invariably bad news.

The Dakar Double has carried on performing well over several weeks and I've no reason to suspect that's going to change. The side panels have begun to polish up a bit from repeated pedalling but that just makes the saddle look worn in rather than worn out.

Verdict

Lightweight, titanium-railed race saddle at a fantastic price. Bargain!