Buy THIS Before Your Next Tri

Attention all triathletes! Want to improve the cycling portion of your next race? Try Specialized’s only triathlon-specific saddle, the Sitero Expert. Specialized spent two years developing the Sitero, and the time shows. It’s lightweight and well-engineered, with a comfort level that’s appealingly high.

Handlebars, saddles and shoes are more important than you’d think when speaking about cycling. These components are your main contact points with your body, and if your decision isn’t right, you’ll pay later with discomfort and sometimes injury. Of these three points, the saddle is arguably the most important since without a decent one, you’ll have to contend with such nastiness as poor blood flow and soft tissue damage.

Triathlon ups the saddle ante even more. A triathlete’s aggressive, aero position is quite different than what’s found in standard road cycling, and so their seat needs some special forethought to achieve comfort and safety. Specialized saddles undergo extensive research and development prior to entering the market with production saddles. A saddle can’t bear the coveted Specialized Body Geometry label if it doesn’t meet strict testing parameters for blood flow and pressure mapping.

Now we come to the Sitero. On my bike, it looked great; it’s available in black or white, so whatever you’re riding, it’s sure to match. With its hollow titanium rails, the Sitero weighs in at a feathery 270 grams, making it just the thing for a triathlete who wants to make their bike as lightweight as possible. There’s also a Sitero Pro model with carbon fiber rails that weighs a mere 222 grams.

Specialized also considered that typical tri stance, the forward lean that rolls a rider’s weight onto an extension of their sit bones called the Pubic Rami. The tapered shape has been designed to match the angle of those important sit bones. For me, it did just that, while the saddle’s cutouts provided much-needed pressure relief after hours on the bike. An anti-slip covering helps give the saddle an extra bit of grip where it matters. Also, the Sitero arrives in only one width and size, allowing riders to move forward and back to find just the right place to ride.

The Sitero also comes complete with an integrated bottle mount on the back, or if you’re looking to make transitions quick and easy, the interchangeable hook can help with that. All in all, it’s an excellent saddle for triathletes from beginner to elite, since comfort is essential no matter how much of a stud you are. And at $175, the Sitero slides in at under the cost of many of its competitors; the Sitero Pro retails for $225.