Dash Cycles is known for their wicked light carbon fiber saddles, but seems they’ve really outdone themselves this time.
Our current test model, the recently introduced Strike 9, comes in at just 111g with padding. Which is incredibly light. Well, their new saddle and seatpost combination does away with the rails and clamps to come in at a combined weight of as little as 112 grams! That weight is for the S.4 polished carbon saddle shown above, but they’ll soon be offering their full selection of saddle shapes with the new cradle system.
Some really light saddle/post combos achieve their cloud-like weights by molding the two parts into one. The beauty of Dash’s (patent pending) system is that it still offers both fore/aft and tilt adjustments. See how it all works, along with their new 11-speed compatible, full carbon disc aero wheel, after the break…
Two versions of the cradle system will be offered. The first is the top-mounted style shown on the S.4 at the top of the post. That’s the lightest version. The other is shown here on the Slate.7, a padded saddle that uses a side-mounting design.
For the side-mount saddles, a countersunk bolt comes through the saddle’s shell…
…and a conical set screw meets up with those bolts to pull it down into the “brick”, or cradle, and locks the saddle into place. Fore/aft adjustments are made before the set screws are fully tightened.
On the top-adjust saddles, there are fixed nuts inside the cradle and the bolts on the top of the saddle screw directly into the cradle. The top adjust version is only available on their full carbon (non-padded) saddles. All others will get the side adjust.
The top of the post has a curved surface, and the cradle has a matching curve. The tilt adjustment is made by loosening the center set screw and positioning the seat; then tighten it down to lock it in place.
The polished carbon saddle with post or the TT9 is $1,100. All padded saddles with the integrated post system are $1,000. Right now, they’re only available in 27.2 diameter posts for standard frames, plus Cervelo S5, P2, P3, P4, P5, and the Specialized Shiv non-UCI. They are working on a 31.6, Trek Speed Concept, and Scott Plasma and are taking requests for any other posts. Prices for the frame-specific models will be the same as for standard round posts. Sample claimed weights are:
- 27.2/300mm post with S.4 saddle = 112g
- 27.2/300mm post with Slate.7 in triple layer padding = 170g
- Cervelo S5 post with a fully padded triple layer Stage.9 saddle ? 190g (the stock S5 post is a little over 250g)
In addition to the two mount varieties, two weight limit models will be offered. The weights listed here are for the “under 85kg” rider weight limit. Slightly heavier ones will be offered for riders from 85kg to 100kg (187lb – 220lb).
DASH CYCLES GRETCHEN 770g FLAT DISC REAR WHEEL
Hot on the heels of their Gizelle lenticular rear disc wheel comes the Gretchen, a perfectly flat 770-gram cargon fiber tubular disc wheel. It, too, will have two versions with the same rider weight limits, and the lighter 770g one is for the lower limit.
The wheel is 21mm wide at the brake track and uses the same unidirectional layup and 17mm axle with 4×6803 bearings as the Gizelle. The main difference is the narrower (flat) disc to better accommodate aero frames with tight clearance at the stays. The flat profile has the added benefit of making room for their new Shimano 11-speed compatible freehub body. That means it’s also Campagnolo compatible.
Retail is $2,800 with a slight lead time. Here’s a very short video of the wheel in action:
