I’m going to be completely honest here, whenever I look for saddles I tend to pick one that looks nice. The way I see it, all you’re doing is sitting on it when you pedal. There’s no moving parts, no hidden perks to surprise you. It is just a saddle. So when I bent the rails on my last saddle, in a crash that I still wince in pain from, I was surprised to see the price on some of the seats out there!
Just a quick browse on the internet and you’ll find seats for well over £100. What the hell right? Anyway as I was browsing through I noticed the Crank Brothers Iodine 3 saddle was in the Chain Reaction Cycles sale, down from £80 to a much more reasonable £26. So I got it, mainly to find out exactly what can warrant such a hefty price tag!
First Impressions of the Crank Brothers Iodine 3
Again, going with honesty. I could not tell a shred of difference between this saddle and the one that came standard on my Specialized. In all the marketing Jargon that surrounds it they claim that the saddle features “nose flex technology” – basically the tip of it bends to make it more comfortable when climbing, however I can’t say I’ve really noticed it doing this.
It’s comfortable enough to sit on, but you get the same aches after long distances than you would with any old saddle, so there is clearly no benefit to the extra cash being splashed there! It looks pretty damn cool which is a major plus, with the white and black contrast looking really nice. The fabric part is a bit of a pain when you get mud in it, but that’s really to be expected.
Overall
There really are two things this saddle has going for it:
#1 It definitely has the style and looks you want from a saddle.
#2 At sale price it’s good value for money.
Unless you can pick up this saddle for under £30, I really can’t see the point in splashing all the extra cash. It isn’t all that lightweight, it doesn’t appear to be completely bombproof and it doesn’t make climbing magically easier. One big benefit is that the rails are replaceable, so that you can simply change them out if you ever bend them – overall I’d only give the Iodine a pretty generous 3/5.
Frankly, if you’re in the market for a new seat then go for the saddle that most bikers actually recommend, the Charge Spoon which comes in at just £22 and is highly recommended – just look at the response we got off Twitter:
MTBers of Twitter, what are your recommendations for an all-mountain saddle?
— Grinding Gears (@GrindingGearsUK) January 19, 2014
@GrindingGearsUK I find the charge spoon allows me to walk unlike John Wayne stylie. — Iain Shelley (@IainShelley) January 19, 2014
@GrindingGearsUK you can’t go wrong with the spoon. Budget wise and comfort… — Matt Goodfellow (@Mr_Goodfellow) January 19, 2014
@GrindingGearsUK charge spoons all round for me
— Darren Neal (@SupernovaDarren) January 19, 2014
@GrindingGearsUK All Mountain, DH, XC, 24 Hour Racing, road…. Charge Spoon. Forget the expensive saddles, only one for me 
— Huw Thomas (@MTBHuw) January 19, 2014
Think you get the point!
