Not for me. I really like the Arione Classic saddle, but I wanted to try a cut away design. This saddle is flat side to side vs the Classic version that is more rounded. Even after some adjustments I could not get the saddle to feel right. Also, this design has a cliff like fall off from the wider section. As you slide forward you slide down suddenly, whereas the classic offers a gradual slope down at the front of the wings. Had to send back. Will try another saddle.
There is nothing I don't like about the Fizik Arione R3 Open Saddle. I had contemplated buying a new saddle for well over a year but continued to delay the decision. After my first thirty-mile ride I was calculating the lost joy I suffered for waiting so long. The saddle feels so natural and there is no pernial discomfort. This is my first open saddle after forty years of riding and I had no idea I could enjoy such comfort. My son hand been cajoling me for several years to upgrade my saddle and now I wish I had listened to at the outset. It's a sleek, beautifully crafted saddle that enhances the appearance of my bike. Kudos to the people at Fizik for their excellent design and execution.
So far so good. Basically just needed a seat to replace my original 'creeky' seat and didn't quite realize all the options.
I did the at home test to measure my sit bones. Fizik also offers a pretty neat way to narrow down what you need with their online calculator. Seems better than my factory seat and I did notice I am not going dumb like I previously did. Pretty stoked considering i did the research myself and didn't go through a seat fitting at a dealer. Also Bike Tires Direct had an awesome deal on the seat.
I actually bought this saddle for a friend who's a heavier cyclist (about 250 lbs) but happens to be very flexible. He stated that that he while he liked the seat overall, he wishes the relief channel was a bit wider. It replaced an Aliante Open saddle that came with his bike.
This is my fourth model Fizik Arione saddle. The original and Versus worked great but the Versus X for me had too wide a center channel with too little contact surface area upon which to comfortably sit. The result of prolonged sitting on the Versus X caused irritation (hot spots) in the reduced contact areas. The R3 Open eliminated this issue by having a smaller pressure relief center channel, and I opted for the Large size (142 mm compared to 130 for the standard Arione). These two changes solved the comfort issues and eliminated the hot spots.
