Mark Adams The Seta saddle from Selle Royal is a handmade high-performance saddle with a flat surface designed to be highly responsive & flexible for almost every riding position. Lightweight Manganese rails & Flex Foam support provide you with full support even on the most challenging rides.
Features:
- Flat surface
- Width: 143mm
- Length: 278mm
- Weight: 302g
Selle Royal Seta Saddle Review:
I have owned several different saddles over the years when I started cycling regularly. Some times, too often, I would buy a new saddle because I had grown bored of my last one. I thought I might be a bit more thoughtful this time before making that purchase. Selle Royal themselves say that, “The study of human ergonomics has shown us that the so-called “average” pelvis can effectively fit only into a saddle with a surface measuring 150 millimeters wide, in which the rider sits at a height of 300 millimeters from the ground and by the 10:30 position on the clock. Thinking about these dimensions, Selle Royal designed the Seta saddle with a surface of only 140 millimeters plus an effective length of 280 millimeters. Due to its anatomical shape, the saddle has a smaller contact surface when compared to swept-back saddles, making it a great choice for people looking for a more sporty position*. The perfectly adapted seat makes it easy to adjust the saddle to your particular morphology, providing a fantastic riding experience that is all in all, both healthy and comfortable. A highly responsive saddle, the Seta features high-end materials, an anatomic shape and a flexible saddle base with a patented comfort cell structure that allows for an increased degree of flex. These features mean that the Seta will be perfect for almost any type of training.” I figured that since my last saddle was a generation 1 Prologo, the second-highest saddle at the time…why not wait and see what the company came out with? Although my Prologo has been great, being a higher-end saddle, the fact of the matter is, my Prologo has accumulated a good amount of wear, and it doesn’t look quite as fresh as it use to! Something I noticed once I had the saddle out of the box and on my bike is that the Seta saddle is pretty plush for a saddle that is so lightweight! Being a bicyclist that has been around longer than I care to admit, I like comfort in a saddle, and I definitely appreciate good saddle design. My last Prologo saddle is a rock compared to the Seta when you put them next to each other! The Seta saddle looks so good that I almost didn’t want to put it on my bike, it has a very attractive classic shape and design that I thought the Seta would look very good on my dress blue vintage frame. The saddle has a classic royal blue patterned top surface with a matte black/dark blue bottoms surface. The quality of the saddle is evident in the stitching and the attention to detail. The Seta saddle is intended for performance riding on aluminum or carbon tubular or rigid forks. The rear of the saddle has 3 slots to slide the precut saddle rails in to. The screws are fastened from the top. The folks at Selle Royal are concerned about the number of injuries that occur each year with cycling saddles. They tell us that, “In response to this problem, Selle Royal is constantly improving its product and paying serious attention to the ergonomics of health. In fact, the Seta saddle boasts an excellent seated comfort at high speed, no matter how long you ride. Selle Royal designed the Seta saddle to be ridden for long periods of time, for example in a training program. This saddle’s ergonomic design, made of high-end materials and a Flex Foam support, provides superb sitting comfort.” I took the saddle for a short test ride before I mounted it on my bike and it felt great, the seat is a nice width and the flex foam was very comfortable. After I mounted the saddle on my bike, I have rode with it several times. I have quickly come to the conclusion that this saddle is great, and it has been a blast to ride with on my bike. I will use this saddle on the weekends and during training as I ramp up for the Houston World Championships in September! The Seta saddle is a wonderful saddle that sits lower than my last saddle and is a more dramatic drop but that is not a criticism. The saddle has a very classic look and design, that in my opinion, goes well with most bicycles and all types of riders…but the functionality of this saddle is something else. The Seta saddle is very comfortable out of the box but it has also been accommodating. When I first started doing this review I had a “quasi-adjustment period” with the saddle. The saddle has a very small nose to begin with, and with my big old body weight behind it, I could feel the nose of the saddle digging in. I took the saddle off, and switched the nose to the other side of the saddle and now I have had no problems at all, all is good! Sometimes the saddle can start to look weird after several uses, and the nose of the saddle really can get pretty worn down. Now I don’t have to worry about that because I have a spare nose for the Seta saddle in my bag. I’m not a racer and I am not tight with my equipment…I’ll plug anything that I like for what it is, and I like this saddle. The Seta saddle is a great saddle that I think will do well for most types of riders that are looking for a high-end performance saddle. I would recommend this saddle without hesitation.
I have been using the new Selle Royal Seta saddle for approximately three weeks now. I have used it on several group rides, two race rides and one long training ride. During the shorter rides and training rides, I have used a very soft gel insert under the saddle. However I have been using the saddle without the gel insert on the longer race rides. With the insert, I still had a lot of saddle issues, including saddle sores on longer rides, so I went without the gel for my race within a few days of the Houston World Championships. I planned to use the gel during the ride but decided to try it without. I’m glad I did, because I never felt a sore or had any discomfort at all! I guess the saddle took my body weight and plain long ride seriously. I’ve been very impressed with this saddle so far. I found out very quickly that this saddle sits lower than my last saddle, and it has a very dramatic drop, but it’s not a criticism. The padded white strip is what is known in bicycle industry as the “nose” of the saddle. It is supposed to sit in the right spot if you put your fingers at the top of your thigh. Since this saddle sits lower, and the nose is narrower, it required me to move my fingers several centimeters further. I’ve been doing this for a week now in preparation of the Houston World Cycling Championships. I have noticed that my jersey has gotten a bit looser, and this is good because I’m supposed to loose weight due to my new training schedule. I haven’t used my gel insert for several days now, and yet I still had no problems. I don’t know if it is related to my riding position or the saddle. I haven’t had saddle trouble in several weeks! I have ridden significant distance several times in the past three weeks, and never had any saddle issues or saddle soreness. I have really appreciated this saddle and how it has been helping me train through the hot summer months, and it has been a consistent companion on my endurance rides.
I used the Selle Royal Seta saddle for more than three months. I used the saddle mainly on flat recreational rides. I did do one significant hard training ride of 40 miles at a moderate pace and the saddle performed well. I used this saddle without my power ride on two separate occasions. I adjusted the saddle to the stock setting and both times it felt great. I especially like riding this saddle fast, as it makes the bike feel very light and fast. I was very impressed with the quality of this saddle and how intricate it is with the stitching and detail. It is obvious that the couple of hours that were spent in the saddle manufacturers shop was well worth it. The saddle performed very well during my long training rides, and through my very long and hard training rides. I have also used this saddle on both my mountain and road bikes and I have enjoyed every ride. I would highly recommend this saddle to any type of cyclist without a doubt. The Seta comes in four different widths and four colors. It is a great saddle and I did enjoy riding it.
The Seta saddle has been on my bike for several months and I have no plans to remove it. I actually like the look of it just as much as I like the way it rides. I have used it in races, purely recreational rides and in warm-up rides with the Richardson Cycling Team. I have never had any soreness from this saddle and I have used it for rides of approximately 100 miles. I really enjoy the laid back but sporty look of it, and I also enjoy the comfort of it. I’m not sure if it has been the quality of the saddle or the lack of time I have put into saddle time as of late, but I have suffered no saddle soreness with this saddle. The Seta is a high performance saddle that will not disappoint in any way. I am very satisfied with this saddle and I have had a lot of fun riding the Seta over the last several months.
