It’s really hard to think about a better value saddle than the Scoop Sport – sure there’s cheaper, but there’s nothing matching this price tag that looks as good or performs as well.
Pros
- Value
- Quality
- Comfort
Cons
- On the heavier side
- Consider the shallow or flat for more aggressive purposes
About the Manufacturer
British brand Fabric spun off from the electric bike brand Charge early in the 10s with a focus purely on touchpoints and accessories across bike disciplines. These have included bottles, lights and grips, but what’s really made the brand is their saddles with their excellent manufacturing, performance and value making them highly popular with road and mountain bikers as well as critically acclaimed with the cycling press.
Review
The Scoop is Fabric’s most popular model and while it may seem available in a bewildering array of options there’s really only two options to get your head around – fit and finish. From a fit perspective the range goes Flat to Sport indicating a more aggressive to more relaxed position on the bike. From a finish perspective, the Scoop goes from Ultimate to Sport meaning a carbon base and rails and the top end and steel rails at plastic based at the lower end.
That means that this Radius Sport iteration is its most comfort and value orientated with basic steel rails and the radius fit providing a plusher, comfort orientated ride on this 142mm sized saddle. Make no mistake though this is no cheapskate saddle, the Radius Sport has won multiple awards from across the cycling spectrum and an out of the box inspection instantly screams quality with a understated, but very well finished upper and based.
Before we get on to the review you might well be thinking – “isn’t the radius more for mountain bikers?”. You would be right – and we did actually buy this for our fat tired corona busting bike build, but as that is still a couple of weeks away from completion we thought it well worth popping on the road bike. This decision was supported that working from home has given the group the posture of a wet pretzel and anything that might support our sagging frames while we get back on the wagon is more than welcome.
On the road it really is a comfortable delight, taking hours and many hundreds of kilometres in the saddle in its stride and the upper staying pristine through downpour and dirt . With that in mind the shape really is suited more to cracked roads and dirt pursuits where the significant kick and shape of the saddle would help with far rougher surfaces. Certainly the Radius isn’t designed for flat out riding or racing in the drops where its shape would be a hinderance. The Radius Sport also isn’t one for weight weenies with the scales tipping at around 300g.
Despite that, it’s really hard to think about a better value saddle than the Scoop Sport – sure there’s cheaper, but there’s nothing matching this price tag that looks as good or performs as well. Considering the fact that there a range of fits and finishes, the Scoop should be on anyone’s shopping list.
Key Specifications
- Width: 142mm
- Weight: 301g
- Material: Alloy rails, Composite chassis, Microfibre upper
Retailers
- Chain Reaction (Intl)
- Pro Bike Kit (Intl)
- Pushy’s (Australia)
