Found: Kontact Rethinks The Holy Grail, Your Saddle

I’d love to know how this compares to a Selle An-atomica. I love my Selle but it would be nice to drop a half pound from the saddle alone. With that refund policy it’s probably worth giving it a try.

For the weight and claimed comfort, the price seems ridiculously good. So far the closest thing I’ve found to a holy grail saddle are Fizik’s Kurve line of saddles. Not perfect but pretty damn close. But their about twice as much as the Kontact.

I believe these are essentially the same (or very similar) the older E3 saddle. I bought an E3 used several months ago and I really like it. The E3 used to sell for around $30 or something ridiculously cheap like that and I don’t think people took it seriously at the time. I’m glad it’s still available in some form, even if at 4x the cost.

Flatter saddles are out there for so many years now
Comfort has to do with proper saddle seting and how the rides seats on it , it is not a natural position and may take some time to adoped .

I agree with sam, this is an E3 !

I remember the guy behind E3 did some research in ergonomics for his studies and then launched is brand.

I own one also, but never liked it too much. I might give it another go one day.

Wow, only a minute nine percent difference in peoples sit bones. I’m gonna take a tiny 9 percent longer lunch break and tell Supervisor Steve that I need an insignificant 9 percent raise

I tried the E-3 when Performance had them at a sale price and really didn’t like it. My go-to saddle for the past 20+ years has been the Avocet Air O2 40. With Ti rails it weighs about 230 gms and the price is reasonable at under $100. It is reasonably wide and flat and the seating area looks a lot like the Kontact pictured above

Avocet seems to have committed commercial suicide and pretty much disappeared from the bike shop and internet marketplace but I have three new ones of these on the shelf so I’m good for another 100,000+ miles.

Hello, I’m the owner of Kontact Bicycle Components.

Just to clarify, the 9% mentioned is the difference in sit bone width between men and women. Cyclists don’t sit on the sit bones, but on the narrow bones just ahead of the sit bones, which are narrower and have even less measured variation. All a saddle has to do to accommodate a range of riders is to have a flat section that is slightly wider than the maximum and doesn’t interfere with riders at the minimum. Realistically, that might only be about 6mm of range per side. That isn’t hard to offer if the saddle nose is narrow enough not to interfere.

The Kontact saddle’s carbon reinforced base is a bit more resilient than the old E3. It is long lasting and generally more comfortable.

I own two of these that I bought as “E3” seats when they were priced to move at Performance Bikes. The design is genius. This is exactly what I want. The seat is not only comfortable but it is suited to efficient power transfer as one isn’t a) rubbing legs on the side of the seat b) losing power to useless rubbery-ness (either is flex or squishy padding) in the seat. Many seats that look lean and mean can not compare to these seats. These keep pressure off the perineal area, and are the most comfortable seat I have ever had. Be assured that neither squishiness, nor width, nor funny slots cut in a racing seat equal comfort. The key is revealed in the diagrams above: it is the shape and sturdiness of the rear platform of the seat. I have ridden only E3s for ~10 years.

Just now need a new seat, after I recover from my Fizik debacle and swollen ischeal tuberosity. Big leg cutout problem on R side. If any new opinions please comment.