My Spesh Phenom Gel 143mm width saddle cover has now worn out at the stitching on the side of the nose and a I am looking for a replacement (fed up of hooking up shorts on rear of Spesh having been anywhere off the back of the saddle).
My prevoius saddles were all WTB Pure V (Not Rocket version, found it too narrow and just uncomfortable) It seems that they are very expensive/not in stock in a lot of places and I do not want Ti rails as I bent the last one with Ti rails.
Other option is of course SDG Bel-Air but shape looks very very much different. Has anyone ridden a WTB Pure V and SDG side by side/back to back? What are they like in terms of comfort compared to the WTB?
One other option (but may be too little padding for long days in the saddle) is the Charge Spoon/Madison Flux. I know they rate highly on certain websites but a lot of the reviewers appear to be roadies.

Go for the Bel-Air – or even better, a Fizik Arione or Gobi or Selle Italia Gel-Flo.

I have looked at some of those but they look a bit to minimalist in the padding/comfort stakes- I am riding a H/T, sit bones are 143mm so alot fo the other saddles are also too narrow. Normal MTB rides are 3-4hrs and I do have a habit of abandoning the bike so its got to be crash resistant.

Been riding WTB shadow V on & off road for 2 years and thought it was great until I demoed a bike with an SDG Bel air……. my new bike now has a Ti Bel air and I love it. The true test of a saddle is if you never notice it on a 2 hour ride and the SDG fits the bill for me.

Best saddle ever was a WTB SST 98 but after that bust got a Pure V because they looked similar but I could never get on with it. Got a Bel Air and it was amazing. As MrFannay says the true test is whether you notice it or not and the bel air just disappears.

I started in the late-ish 90’s with a WTB SSX, went through loads of different saddles and around 2005 got a SDG. Lovely. When I moved onto a 456SS I noticed I was sitting differently than on some of my bikes and the SDG was uncomfortable. Back to the WTB then for this bike.

Pure V is comfy but a bit “squishy”, it feels like it gets fatter and squishes into my thighs. Not uncomfortable and I liked it, but odd when compared to the Bel Air which I also have… and which I much prefer (even in I-beam form).

Gobi etc mentioned above are a much firmer saddle and not as comfy… or as strong… all the Fizzik saddles I have owned have snapped or broken in some way.

I think you’ll get on OK with the Bel Air.

The Pure V is my favourite saddle ever for comfort, but I’ve recently got a couple of Bel Airs – and I find them really comfy too.

Just a bit of a question mark over the build quality on the Bel Airs as one tore within a couple of months (warranty refund) and another (secondhand barely used) may be developing a hole as well.

I have 3 Pure V saddles spanning the price range and find them all to be comfy. I have had 2 different Bel-airs in the past and found that both caused numbness and sore spots, even on short rides. All tried using the same shorts and liners, on the same bikes and on the same trails. So I would say that if you fit the Pure V properly then you are unlikely to get on as well with the bel-air.

Both bel-airs looked really tatty very fast too. Pures still look good despite more crashes and use.

Cheers for those reviews, I think the Pure V still has it on the basis of logevity and the fact taht I know them to be a comfortable saddle-as ever STW provides real impartial reviews. 😉

i swapped from the pure v to an sdg bel air, i think the shape suits me better, i now have them on all of my bikes, where are you based as if you are in south wales i’ve a spare one you can borrow to try, as that is how i made the swop, by borrowing a mates, if not see if anyone local will lend you one for a couple of hours

ron jeremy, thanks for the kind offer of the loan to test ride but I am on the eastern edge of the West Midlands. I do have a riding mate that rides an SDG Bel Air so I may try one of his although I have now lined up a hopefully ‘cheap’ Pure V.
For now the spare Pure V is coming off my commuting bike.

I’ve got the three you mention in your original post on different bikes and the one I find most comfy, least obtrusive and most conducive to long days in the saddle is the Charge Spoon. Previously on my full susser and now on my Roadrat. Very well designed piece of kit and pretty cheap, too.

Well after a 4hr plus ride on the Long Mynd on the WTB Pure my arse was getting sore and I just could not get myself in a comfortable position, sitting further back onto the rear was too squishy whilst having done 4100ft of climbing the nose was starting comfortable only for short spells. After years of the Phenom Gel Ti and less padding maybe that is actually what suits me better.
Based on the fact that it is a cheap option (£18 from Merlin) I have just ordered a Madison Flux (charge spoon copy) to try. If that fails then I will give an SDG a go.

The new WTB SST’s are, to my butt, indistinguishable from the classic original. Too soon to say on durability tho’.