[Closed] SDG Bel Air 3?

All my bikes had sdg Bell Air ti saddles. Great saddle and really comfortable but they wore out.

I tried the bell Air 2.0 but it was terrible and such a disappointment.

I've tried all sorts of saddles but I have now settled on fabric saddles.(fabric Line Elite) They are the closest i have found (and I've tried a lot of saddles)

You can pick them up cheap in ebay to test them. I think the ba3 will still be expensive to buy just to try.

That’s what I’m thinking - remembered I got on ok with a Fabric Scoop that came on another bike - just gone on and bought a Scoop Radius Gel Elite for £35. Cheap to try, not that weighty and colour matches the bike. Should arrive in time to try next weekend hopefully!

Madison flux, £17, basically a bel air.

Really interested in this too. Loved the original Bel Air ti. but hated the Bel Air 2.0. Singletrack covered the [url= https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/sdg-bel-air-3-0-launched-25-years-in-the-making/ ]Bel Air 3.0 launch[/url] and apparently Chipps & Andi have them on test; I'd be interested to hear how they got on.

Another option is that I now have 3 worn, ti. railed Bel Airs and I'm wondering if my general incompetence around any sort of DIY/crafting would exclude me from recovering one.

Love the noughties Bel Air RL, it fits me pretty well and never had a grumble from the nethers on rides up to 3 hours. It’s missing some pieces of fetching zebra-print fabric now but still going strong. Managed on landing to prang a Ti one so hard that one rail shat itself, popped out and I could never get it back into the socket. Had to throw an otherwise perfectly good seat 😢

Madison flux, £17, basically a bel air.

Basically a Charge Spoon? Have owned both (Flux and Spoon) but have to disagree on them being too much like a Bel Air, compared to older Bel Airs they’re much firmer (Spoon quite firm, Flux inbetween), shallower profile and the bonch-relief groove on the Flux/Spoon is much shorter than the Bel Air* so (IME) doesn’t give effective relief at the front of the perineum. I swapped my Flux and Spoon for (older/noughties) Bel Airs. ymmv

*The first Bel Airs had no relief channel, I can’t remember riding one of those.

Here’s a slightly interesting page about 25yrs of the SDG Bel Air

And a link might help

I’m wondering if my general incompetence around any sort of DIY/crafting would exclude me from recovering one.

Good Q, I’d be up for doing mine. I’m only slightly attached to the ‘road-rash zebra‘ look. ‘If it ain't broken don’t fix it’ is my hard-learned watchphrase. Now just have to decide if the definition of ‘broken’ is a sliding-scale that slips into aesthetics. Looking at my superbly-holed jumpers and tees it seems not 😎

Here’s a man who can:

I though I remembered and old Singletrack thread about someone recovering a Bel Air; sadly the photos have vanished.

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/new-project-recovering-a-tatty-sdg-bel-air/

I put my Bel Air back on briefly the other week, it wasn't as good as I remembered TBH.

Seems over padded too bulky now.

Seems over padded too bulky now.

Yep. Discovered that I do get along better on long rides with a Phenom or even a Brooks Pro. I keep the SDG on a singlespeed where I don’t sit too much but when I do it’s a comfy break. For much pedalling I find that as long as the sit bones are happy you want the remaining bulk of the seat to disappear until the saddle-nose required for leverage/control

Slight derail (badum-cha!) - Anyone tried one of those ‘no-nose’ saddles like the Spiderflex?

I have a Bel Air 3 on my hardtail. It’s nicely made. Certainly not overly padded or bulky.

All my other bikes have Fabric Scoops (shallow on road bikes and radius on MTB). The Bel Air 3 is more compact than the Fabric (certainly shorter) and I find it to be similarly, if perhaps not quite as comfy as the radius scoop - but there’s not much in it. I like it.

I think the BA 3 will be more hard wearing than the Fabric though.

Not sure I would put one on a road bike.

I have a Bel Air 3 on my hardtail. It’s nicely made. Certainly not overly padded or bulky.

I meant the old one, I've seen the new one IRL and it looks quite different.

Might have given it a whirl, but I'm an Ergon man now.

I managed to sell my Bel Air 2.0 for not much less than I paid for it - good riddance to the rock solid saddle. Decided the 3.0 looks nice but found a couple of comments that suggested it was hard too and it’s quite an expensive gamble so went for a Fabric Scoop Radius Gel Elite for £35 on sale at Triton cycles (I remembered I’d had a Radius on an mtb I bought a few years ago and it was ok until it went a little creaky).

It’s on a road bike and so far I’ve done 3 x 1 ish hour rides on it and a 2 hour ride and it’s blissfully comfy so far. Fingers crossed it stays that way in 3-4 hours rides which is about as long as I ever do.

Hmm. Rode Ti Bel Airs always and was convinced I had a Bel Air shaped arse. Moved on to the mk2 and love it just as much.

Ummm... I loved the original BelAir on a MTB, but never on a road bike.
Different body position means a different saddle for me at least.
Fizik Antares Versus on road and gravel bikes.

I've recovered a couple of saddles, but confession time, I'm an upholsterer...

You can get a much better finish than the one above with a few simple steps, but it's not beyond anyone to recover one without others knowing it's a diy job.

You will have to glue the cover on, but unlike the video, don't glue all over. leave an inch or so free of glue all around the edge, that allows you to stretch it into place, avoiding all those pleats.
Also good to get an extra pair of hands to stretch the leather as you apply it to the saddle, preventing all the little wrinkles & creases, meaning the saddle will last much longer.
Finally, don't cut the leather to size, as in the video, leave plenty of excess, again to allow you to stretch it into place.
Use a contact adhesive just around the edge & trim afterwards.
Job done...

Here's an old Flite I covered a couple of yrs ago, hasn't had much use as it turns out they don't fit me like they did in the '90's!

Tidy job that, no way could I achieve anything close to that.

Just looked at the fuel/ oil slick version at leisure lakes, it's nice but not £100 nice, the nose is a bit like a killer whale's mouth cos theres a weird gap between the cover and the plastic base. Think I'll stick with my Fabric saddles.

<Tidy job that, no way could I achieve anything close to that.>

Thanks Bruneep, without the stitching it's actually a pretty simple project, if you can find a piece of scrap leather, its definitely worth giving it a go.
pull it as tight as you can & roll the edges around with your thumbs to clean out all the little pleats is the key.

How do you get this quote thing to work properly?!

any more feedback on how BA3 users are getting on with theirs?