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Just about to treat myself to a San Marco Rolls for the road bike.
Weight saving of 80g for £20.00 for titanium rails.
I reckon I can save that by picking my nose, trimming my ear hair and cleaning my nails before a ride.
Have had titanium railed saddles before (came with the bike) & they were very comfy - not tried a direct comparison, but I doubt anyone could really tell the difference between steel & titanium based on such a short length of saddle rail.
I don't really think I can justify the extra - could you?
ti rails are more comfortable.....do it!
At 4g/£, that's a reasonable saving.
You sound like you like rust so stick with steel.
last time I had a ti saddle I bent the rails.......upwards........ using my groin 🙁
Depends i don't think the slrs i have are Ti,or at least i don't think they both are, one is 135grams and the other 165, (claimed) the Flites in the past certainly were.
I have Cro-Mo & Ti railed Charge Spoons, & the Ti one is nicer.
Titanium one bike, carbon on another and steel on the last. The titanium railed is the most comfy.
that's a pretty cost-efficient weight saving, it get hard to justify when it gets closer to £1/g
Posh bike probably, cheap bike probably not. £20!? you can get a whole other saddle for that! Decent one too.
I have a weird cromo-railed Charge Knife, not sure where it came from. All my other ones are ti-railed. Can't tell the slightest difference tbh.
Yup, ever since the flite ti came out. I think it adds a bit of give if the saddle shape is one you like. Got a ti rolls on one bike, it's nice and I'd go for it for £20 over the cr-mo.
FWIW, RRP of a standard Brooks B-17 is £73 and it weighs 520g. The Ti version weighs 410g and costs a mere £182!!
So far I've broken 2/2 of my Ti railed saddles...
Druidh, I know, isn't it ridiculous?
My last B17 Narrow was £19.99 in 2001.
I'm still using it.
Bit narrow for the old Rockhopper I use for commuting & touring, so I've also just ordered one of these:
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from Spa in Harrogate for £39.00 posted.
Looks really good. Very similar to a B17 Standard.
They also do a Swift-alike and a Swallow clone.
Quality is supposed to be excellent.
Selle Royale (who now own Brooks) seem to have set the pricing way too high for ordinary folk - I've heard bad things about recent quality issues too.
As above, I've got Charge Spoons in Cr-Mo and Ti. I prefer the Ti one, but that's more to do with the real leather cover than weight or comfort.
I mananaged to seperate the saddle from the Ti rails on a Wtb in an innocuous crash. Glad I was near home. It was replaced under warranty and haven't had a problem since.
Presumably the legendary Ti spring allowed it to seperate.
I have identical SDG Bel Airs, one steel, one Ti. I can't tell the difference but the Ti one creaked irritatingly when it was new. I might pay the extra for a tarty race bike but not otherwise.
Rusty Spanner.
Just a thought. I've got a used Rolls in the Shed. Was on a 2nd hand bike I recently bought. It's a mottled black grey one with gold rails. A bit of thigh rub to the finish but still in reasonable nick. I'll sort some photos out if you're interested.
Email is username at gmail.com.
Depends i don't think the slrs i have are Ti,or at least i don't think they both are, one is 135grams and the other 165, (claimed) the Flites in the past certainly were.
Standard 135g SLRs are ti, the 165g SLR XPs of old weren't. Dunno if that's changed. Not sure if that's remotely relevant to the op either 😕
Unless its a hack bike I'd do it, no reason not to.
BBS, thanks mate, ended up ordering one last night.
Titanium, because I'm worth it.
Have a boxful of saddles - as mrs rocket keeps reminding me - but in terms of comfort I can't discern any difference between ti and steel, even between allegedly identical saddles with different rails.
However...
The weight does make a difference. Of course not in isolation but as the saying goes a light bike is made from light components. A few g here and there and before you know it you've lost 500g
FWIW I have a 165g SLR on one bike and it's a really nice saddle
I have a Ti Flite from around 1996, it has outlasted 3 other saddles, it looks scruffy but keeps going- had some pretty hard hits from bad landings, and the rails are still straight- had a similar hit on a bel air - straight in the bin!
Oh yah, as for durability I've broken 2 steel railed saddles outright and bent a couple more, never put a ti one beyond use yet though despite having them on the dh bike and giving them some decent crashes. Though one of the Knives is fairly bent, I was able to bend both rails to be the same shape...