Eurobike marked the celebration for Selle San Marco’s 80th birthday. To celebrate, the brand was showing off their fully revitalized mountain bike saddles. If the Dirty line sounds familiar, you probably remember their previous saddles which weren’t exactly subtle.
Fortunately, the new Dirty saddles are much more subdued in the graphics department, but more importantly they boast an entirely new technology for Selle San Marco, and supposedly the saddle industry as a whole. Taking a look at the inside of the saddle as well as outside, Dirty should make riding more comfortable with the help of D3O…
At first, viscoelastic materials like D30 started showing up in body armor thanks to their abilities to remain flexible until impact, where the rate sensitive nature would provide protection. Now, the materials are starting to show up in places where vibration deadening is more important than impact protection. Supposedly the first company to use D30 specifically in a saddle, the material not only offers better padding and shock absorption, but should stand the test of time better than your traditional foam. We’re told that the padding for the saddle is made completely from a specific blend of D30.
The Dirty line up will be split into the ED and TR models which both see silicone imprinted Protek ribs on the Silkfeel Plus cover for abrasion resistance, while the ED sees additional bumpers at the sides. Overall the ED is shorter at 260x134mm to play better with big wheel, long travel suspension bikes. The TR measures 278x140mm.
In total, the saddles will be available in six models including the Dirty ED Carbon FX which features longer rails for increased adjustment range, and a weight of 179g. Continuing their sponsorship of Cedric Gracia, there were also be a CG edition at the top of the price range which will be between $90 – $180.
A saddle should probably not be named E-D.
Well done kaliyuga. Well done.
*golfclap*
Why would you want to use a dilatant material like d3o in a saddle? A material that gets stiffer as you vibrate and impact it is about the exact opposite of how shock absorption works. Smells like marketing. 🙁
you got everything wrong !!!
What Jon said. D30 has exactly the opposite properties of what you want in a saddle
@Jon @luddite
‘We’re told that the padding for the saddle is made completely from a specific blend of D30.”
To Luddite
You do not understand. D3o does not transmit to your body the shocks generated by riding in all terrains.
D3O® technology is a rate-sensitive material which absorbs and dissipates shock from impacts.
With other paddings, the force hits your bike and is dissipated only from the point of contact between the saddle’s foam and your body. Considering that the sitting area is relatively small, the bigger the shock on the bike, the bigger the impact on your body.
D3O® technology provides a different reaction to this impact; the greater the force the larger the area exposed to the force’s transmission. In this way the rider takes advantage of the whole saddle’s surface and the hit on the body is decreased.