Overall, an excellent short nosed effort from Giant that competes well in a crowded market.
Pros
- Weight
- Comfort and fit
Cons
- A lot of competition at this price range
About the Manufacturer
Not so long ago, bike manufacturer supplied touchpoints and parts were strictly for lower end machines, but over the last five years there’s been a heavy investment by the major bike brands into creating high end parts for their own machines. Specialized Roval and Trek’s Bontrager are perhaps the best know examples of these sub brands, but Giant have also been steadily build up their own expertise in this area under their own name, putting out understated but very well regarded components including handlebars, posts, saddles and high end carbon wheelsets.
Review
A few years ago, the thought of having a manufacturer branded saddle on a high end bike was fairly unthinkable, let alone one that sits atop the brand’s flagship machine. But many of the brands have spent the last decade tooling up and carving themselves out a slices of the accessories and parts market with products that can go toe to toe with storied brands like Deda and Enve. That’s how we find Giant with one of their own saddles atop their newest and most expensive TCR – which don’t forget is an $11,000 bike here in Australia. Giant’s latest generation of kit is designed to be ridden at the highest levels.
That saddle is the Fleet SL which is very on trend at the moment, featuring a short nose and big cut out. Of course it wouldn’t be a saddle without some gubbin and the Fleet features a proprietary foam technology called Particle Flow that is designed to help with comfort and pelvic pressure as well as being compatible with Giant’s Uniclip mounting system. Our 145mm model measure 248mm tail to tip and weight is pretty comparable to other short manufacturer saddles in market such as the Bontrager Aeolus or Specialized Power.
While we were testing this on an Emonda SL rather than its usual TCR home, we found the saddle to be a pretty good all-rounder on the road if you like things on the firmer side. There’s a lot of support from the chassis stiffness and we found it great for all day riding, although if you’re hitting rougher patches of road then you’ll notice it more than some other saddles. We found the shape of the saddle great when putting the power down or in the drops and overall we got along very well with it.
At this price point there’s a lot of competition especially with Bontrager’s Aeolus and Specialized’s Power and while the Fleet SL is as good as either of those saddles, we’d say it nudges ahead in terms of looks. In terms of other brands it’s worth noting that you can also pickup other shorties like Fabric’s Line at below this price point too.
Overall, an excellent short nosed effort from Giant that competes well in a crowded market.
Key Specifications
- Width: 145mm
- Weight: 220g
- Material: Carbon fibre, synthetic upper