Jahanzaib The Arione is 1 of fi’zi:k’s 3 Spine Concept™ Men’s Road Saddle shapes. Purpose built with lightness and flexibility in mind, this saddle is flat from nose to tail and now features a narrower tail so you can shift to find your ‘sweetspot’.
Lightweight And Flexible
The Arione R3 features a Composite Glass co-injected Nylon shell to provide the best support with optimal stiffness-to-weight construction. As expected from Fizik, the Wing Flex technology enables flexibility where the rider’s thighs meet the saddle. An alloy K:ium rail has been included to shave off some weight.
Weighing in at 200g and delivering flexibility and agility, you will sit atop a performance oriented saddle.
The Snake
If you are very spinally flexible (far less than 90 degrees between your straight legs and your back when bending over as far as you can, keeping your legs straight at shoulders’ width apart), you are a Snake. You achieve the performance position using your spinal flexibility rather than rotating your pelvis.
Don’t know if you’re a Bull, Chameleon, or Snake? No problem! You can download Fizik’s handy spine concept evo app which tests your flexibility. Simply search for “spine concept evo” in the iTunes App Store or Google Playstore and download it to your device.
Features:
- Shell: Composite glass co-injected Nylon WingFlex
- Rail: K:ium
- Cover: Thermowelded Microtex
- Thigh Glides: Thermowelded Black Microtex
- Dimensions: 300x130mm
- Integrated Clip System compatible
- Weight: 200g
Fizik Arione R3 Review:
My first two rides with the saddle were very different.
The first involved a 25 mile/40km loop at around 5:30am in the dark. This is a big old loop that hits some steep and technical stuff. It has an average gradient of 6% to 7%. I took the saddle out for this loop to give it a good outing before reviewing it. Zero issues with the saddle, perfect balance with my Garmin and Edge 1000. Very stiff and supportive in the tail area, which I looove. I have ridden many carbon and alloy saddles that didn’t work out, but this one was very well balanced from the offset.
My second ride was a 10 mile/16km, mainly flat ride, taken at a much more leisurely pace. This was about 4pm on a Saturday afternoon, the sun was beating down and people were out and about. I must say the saddle performed perfectly, just as the first ride I took it on. It was fast and responsive where it needed to be, and relaxed when it should have been.
I used the saddle for a 6 hour route recently and again, super impressed with the saddle. I found it very supportive and a fast saddle, without being harsh on the legs.
The one thing I would say is that the saddle is very light; 195g to be precise, but not as robust feeling as my Specialized Ruby that says on the side of the box, “for punishing owners only”.
My Fizik saddle is slightly saying, “for punishing ANYONE”. I mean, it’s Fizik so it’s not going to be a rock hard hardtail, but it’s not the most comfortable after a 90 minute ride.
I’ve pushed it, as much as I could in the last week and my back and inner thighs (beneath the butt crack) are feeling it. It’s funny because I use it on my commuter bike for work during the week and I feel fine. I have to hold off writing something negative about the saddle, because I think it’s a good saddle, but just not an ideal saddle for me.
Who The Arione R3 Is Good For:
- Shorties: Yes
- Longies: From the looks of things, Yes
- Stiffy: Yes
The Arione R3 has been designed for the serious cyclist. This is no basic saddle offering. Fizik has utilized their extensive knowledge base and riding experience to design a high performance saddle, capable of riding up to and beyond 100mi/161km.
Some may argue that a saddle of this standard for a Titanium, so let’s not waste my time or yours and say that it can’t be done.
The real part of this review, is that what a rider like me with my arched back and my 7.75 / 36.2cm inside leg length would be comfortable on. I’m sure, if you have a similar spine/leg length point to me, you may find this saddle awkward to get used to. That’s not to say it’s the saddle’s fault; I mean how many times do you buy a pair of pants that don’t suit your legs, you still buy them.
The Arione R3 K:ium is a bloody good quality saddle and it’s definitely a keeper to me for my commuter bike. It does what I expect and does it really well. I might have to try the Flexon version (alloy rails) to see if it’s better suited to me as I build up some mileage with it.
I also noticed that it comes in a Nylon version that is supposedly a bit softer on the bum. So, Fizik, if you’re reading this, please send me a link to the Nylon version!
Well done to Fizik on a high performance saddle for serious cyclists who want the best technology and performance available to them.
Fizik Arione R3 Review:
The Arione R3 is a performance level saddle, Fizik designed it for their gentleman cyclists, commuters, and athletes alike. The Arione R3 rewards you with light weight and high performance. It’s a saddle that delivers the power you put into the pedals immediately.
