The highway bike saddle has remained comparatively unchanged through the years, however the rise of 3D-printing strategies has seen them enhance in consolation and turn out to be much more dynamic in look. Prologo is not any stranger to innovation – as a number one producer of biking saddles, the Italian firm launched its radical CPC expertise in 2013 with conical 3D nanostructures on the duvet of the saddle for enhanced grip and vibration absorption. It’s no shock that Prologo has naturally embraced 3D printing to spice up its saddle portfolio even additional with the exquisitely designed, high-performance Nago R4 PAS 3DMSS saddle and, now, the brand new ultra-comfortable Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS.
The Prologo Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS takes every thing we all know concerning the Scratch M5 platform – a saddle utilized by highway professionals comparable to Jonas Vingegaard, Egan Bernal, Sepp Kuss, Wout Poels, John Degenkolb, Romain Bardet and Magnus Cort – and betters it in each method. Learn on to seek out out all about why the Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS may very well be your subsequent saddle, whatever the terrain and bike you journey.
(Picture credit score: Prologo)
A saddle for all events and disciplines
Just like the common Scratch M5 PAS saddle, the brand new Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS can be utilized throughout disciplines – highway, gravel, cyclo-cross and even mountain biking – additionally because of its rounded form, which Prologo says offers additional assist to the lumbar space of the decrease again. We’ve already seen the platform used on the highest degree of mountain biking, most lately by Alan Hatherly, who received the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country World Championships aboard the Scratch M5 PAS saddle.
The brand new Prologo Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS retains the identical ergonomic T-shape and compact dimensions (250×140 mm) of the Scratch M5 PAS, and was developed primarily based on research and stress exams by various kinds of skilled and novice cyclists. This knowledge fashioned the muse of the brand new saddle, which employs a 3D-printed cushion with separate double-layer sectors to additional improve consolation. These sectors adapt completely to completely different stress areas and guarantee most efficiency throughout all phases of pedalling on all surfaces and terrain.
(Picture credit score: Prologo)
All-new 3D Multi-Sector System (3DMSS) expertise
The Prologo Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS is offered in a single measurement: 250 x 140 mm. That’s a great factor, as long-time customers of the saddle can improve to the brand new mannequin with no need to fret about dimensions and match. The cushion of the Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS combines Prologo’s MSS (Multi-Sector System) expertise with a 3D-printing course of that makes use of digital gentle projection, oxygen-permeable optics and engineering-grade supplies to supply polymer components with distinctive mechanical properties, decision and end.
The Multi-Sector System now contains 3D-printed double-layer sections: an higher and decrease layer with completely different geometric shapes and densities unfold over three separate sectors on both sides of the saddle. These sectors can adapt to the person stress areas of your physiology.
To supply assist when positioned on the tip of the saddle, the entrance part of the saddle makes use of medium-density Voronoi shapes on the floor and Kagome patterns close to the bottom.
On the rear, high-density Voronoi shapes on the floor transition to rhomboid shapes in direction of the bottom to assist the ischial bones that type the decrease a part of the pelvis. These shapes additionally help within the pulling part of the pedal stroke. Consolation for the smooth tissue across the sitbones has been achieved by together with a lower-density central part with Voronoi geometric shapes on the floor and tetrahedral shapes close to the bottom.
The M5 PAS 3DMSS saddle additionally employs the unmistakable PAS or Perineal Space System, an open-channel design that reduces stress and numbness in essentially the most delicate areas.
(Picture credit score: Prologo)
Light-weight and comfy platform accessible for all
By way of weight, 3D-printed saddles are historically heavier than common choices, however Prologo checked out methods to trim pointless materials the place utilized pressures on the saddle had been decrease. Because of this, the corresponding areas use particular 3D geometric shapes that minimise the resultant materials with out compromising consolation or limiting saddle efficiency.
Because of this, the Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS is an impressively gentle and supremely comfy saddle – 176g for the Nack possibility and 209g for the Tirox. Along with the weight-cutting measures, the saddle additionally makes use of injected long-fibre carbon within the base to avoid wasting a number of additional grams, whereas additionally enhancing rigidity and compliance. There’s a alternative of two rail {hardware} choices: the Nack (7×9.3mm) manufactured from carbon fibre, Kevlar and aluminium filaments and the Tirox model (7mm), constructed from gentle alloy metal, which gives a superb weight-resistance stability and vibration absorption.
The Prologo Scratch M5 PAS 3DMSS is priced at €390 (Nack carbon rail) and €290 (Tirox rail).
