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Just $499 USD stands between you and the Holy Grail of bicycle saddles. Maybe. Excuse my hyperbole, but given that Fizik’s new One-to-one program will 3D-print you a custom Adaptive saddle using pressure mapping data collected while you pedal, there’s half a chance i’m not wrong.

Fizik has just achieved what every saddle manufacturer ever dreamed of doing: that’s the ability to deliver a truly customized saddle to every cyclist. I don’t think anyone perusing this particular corner of the internet needs an explanation of why that’s rad.

Is this the cycling industry’s pinnacle of data-driven design and engineering? Someone please throw a bucket of ice over my head, i’m getting out of hand.

Quick Hits: Seven Things About Fizik’s One-to-One Adaptive Saddle

• It’s 100% unique to you and your riding position(s) on your bike
• Biometric data is collected at the Fizik dealership with a gebioMized pressure mapping pad with 64 sensors
• Data used to determine saddle shape and support is collected while you are pedaling – not just sitting on – your bike
• The saddle top is a 3D-Printed elastomeric lattice honeycomb structure with seamless transitions between zones of varying support and cushioning
• Over a standard Fizik Adaptive saddle, you’ll pay a $300 premium for a full custom One-to-One version
• A follow-up session at the dealership can show you differences in pressure distribution on your custom saddle versus the standard Fizik Adaptive saddle
• Price: €459 / £459 / $499
• fizik.com

For anyone out of the loop, it’s pertinent to understand Fizik’s Adaptive technology. It forms the basis of the One-to-One program, and wouldn’t be possible without it.

Adaptive refers to Fizik’s line of 3D-Printed saddles, produced in collaboration with Carbon. The Digital Light Synthesis process allows Fizik to fine tune the firmness profile of the entire saddle, with seamless transitions between areas of differing density and support. Such a result isn’t possible with the use of traditional saddle materials like foam. Fizik have successfully rolled out the Adaptive technology over the last couple of years, most recently with the Tempo Aliante Antares and the low-profile Vento Antares.

By it’s very nature, 3D-Printing is perfect for production of custom one-off items. So, why not produce custom one-off saddles? 

Credit where it’s due, Fizik are not the first to produce custom 3D-Printed saddles. Czech manufacturer, Posedla, got there first with the Joyseat, the current 2.0 version of which retails at $490 USD – $10 cheaper than Fizik’s most affordable One-to-One model. 

There is a key difference, though.

Capturing Derrière Data in a Personalized Measurement Session

Posedla send customers the Smiling Butt Kit (yes, seriously) to capture a static mold of their undercarriage. The customer then takes a series of photographs of the resulting impression from various angles. Posedla use those photographs along with some information from the rider about their gender, riding style and how long they ride for, to determine what they believe to be the perfect saddle shape for that individual.

While aspects of that process are subjective, the Fizik process for determining saddle shape relies almost entirely upon data. And, importantly, it uses data from the rider actually pedaling – not just sitting – on a bicycle. And not just any bicycle – critical to the data collection is use of the rider’s own bicycle, such that the data is as relevant as it can be to the real world setting.

How the Fizik One-to-One process works

First up, you take yourself and your bike to your local Fizik dealership. All of the biometric data collection takes place at the store, wherein a trained representative takes you through the entire process, step-by-step, or pedal stroke-by-pedal stroke. The process can be likened to the gait analysis a runner might undertake when buying new trainers, except it’s a lot more personalized than that, as will become clear. 

Fizik recommend that, before you go through the data collection process, you first go and get a proper bike fit. That way, the data collected is relevant to a setup that has already been determined to be right for you. There’s no use dialing in the perfect saddle shape for a bike setup that is all manner of wrong. That said, you’d hope that anyone willing to part with $500 USD of their hard earned cash for a custom 3D-printed saddle has already spent good money on dialing in a good bike fit.

In the store, you’ll pop your bike on a Wahoo KICKR ROLLR trainer. Fizik selected this particular model of trainer as it allows the bike to move in a way that more accurately reproduces how the bike will move out on the road. You can also choose to go through the process with a full roller, where both wheels are able to move side to side. That would be the better setup for data acquisition, but Fizik recognize that a lot of riders aren’t comfortable riding a full roller.

There are actually two distinct data collection steps.

1. The first collects data using the rider’s current saddle – this step ascertains which of Fizik’s base saddle models is best for your riding style and position – this step can be skipped if you already have a preference
2. The second, performed using the saddle determined by the former data collection session, collects the pressure mapping data that is used to map out the bespoke 3D padding structure

Prior to the first data collection session, the retailer inputs a few pieces of information about the rider and their setup into the Fizik App. That includes saddle tilt, fore-aft position, saddle height, and the distance between the saddle and the bar. They also specify what kind of riding the saddle is intended for: Road, Gravel, Tri or MTB.

For road and gravel, data is collected from the three standard riding positions defined by hand position: the tops, the drops, and the hoods. For Tri, it collects data for the two regular hand positions: arms in the extensions or on the base bar. For MTB it is simple: hands on the grips. For each hand position, the rider will pedal for around 30 seconds as the 64 sensors of the gebioMized pressure mapping mat paints many pictures of what’s happening at the derrière-saddle interface as you spin through each pedal stroke.

An algorithm then translates that data to map out the load pattern, using it design a saddle that is able to compensate for asymmetries, reduce hotspots, and address instability. It literally determines the printing parameters for the elastomeric lattice honeycomb structure that forms the custom Adaptive saddle.

That’s kind of it.

Beyond that, all the rider has to do is pick the rail type they want:

• R1 – Carbon Rails – $599 / €499 / £499
• R3 – Fizik’s proprietary Kium Rails – $499 / €459 / £459

Over the respective “standard” Fizik Adaptive model you’ll pay a premium of $300 USD for a full custom version specific to your needs. Below you can see the twelve Fizik saddle models that are included in the One-to-One program. 

Optional Follow-Up Session

After receiving your custom Fizik One-to-One Adaptive saddle, you ride it and decide whether or not you’ve poured good money down the drain.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. 

Most will be satisfied with that method of validation, but the nerds will always want to nerd out. And, Fizik accommodates that by offering a follow-up session at the dealership wherein you can do another data acquisition session to see what the pressure map looks like on your custom saddle. And, you can compare that to the data collected during your initial session to see how load is managed by the stock saddle, and by the custom saddle. Well cool, no?

Is it really worth $500, though?

Impossible to say for sure, given that I haven’t yet experienced a Fizik One-to-One saddle, but the potential is there, of course.

Saddle comfort plays an outsized role in one’s overall experience of cycling. A good, accurate fit depends on many factors:
the rider, their athletic history and history of injury, bike geometry, riding discipline, riding position, ride time, saddle shape, saddle position, and likely heaps more. The Fizik One-to-One program takes every single one of these factors into account, so there’s a good chance the result will be decent. Ultimately, the outcome will be dependent on the Fizik x gebioMized interpretation of the data.

In the context of a person’s cycling career, a $500 investment seems a small price to pay for saddle comfort. After all some riders go a great many years spending eye watering amounts of money in a never-ending trial and error process, without ever finding the perfect saddle fit.

Fizik’s One-to-One program, if it delivers what is promised, stands to save riders time and money in that process.

Fizik provide no absolute guarantee that the One-to-one saddle will be comfortable. In the case of any customer dissatisfaction, Nicola Poletti, the Fizik sales manager, says that the line of communication for such a complaint would be through their stores. “Together with our sales and retail team, we will open a number of options for the stores in case there is any dissatisfaction, with still a product integrity and functionality guarantee for 2 years, just like every other Fizik product”