Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

Morgaw shock absorbing saddle seeks funding

Shock absorbing saddle design is seeking funding to go into production

The Morgaw saddle has integrated shock absorbers and recently won a Bicycle Innovation of the Year 2014 award in the International Bicycle Design Competition. Its inventors are currently seeking crowd funding to put it into production.

 

The saddle aims to offer the rider increased comfort by floating the saddle on top of the rails with integrated shock absorbers. These absorbers will be sold in three stiffness categories based on rider weight, including soft 40kg - 70kg, medium 70kg - 85kg and hard 85kg -100kg. They don’t give any figures for how much movement the shock absorbers provide though, but from this video below it looks to be a reasonable amount, though the shaky video camera and rail and seatpost flex is a little distorting.

The design of the saddle, with just four bolts securing the rails to the undercarriage, also makes it possible to easily interchange the entire saddle for a different one. Morgaw says this means you can easily replace damaged saddles or just swap to a different shape saddle.

The saddle is light too, thanks to the low profile design and use of carbon fibre rails, with a 181g weight. The company, which is two former professional mountain bike racers, have been producing lightweight saddles in the region of 100g since 2010, so it’s clear lightness is high on their list of priorities.

The saddle will be available in a wide range of colours and the saddle is constructed with an embossed non-slip covering.

Smoothing out rough and bumpy roads are the aim of endurance road bikes and products like Canyon’s clever VCLS 2.0 split seat post, and this Morgaw saddle looks to be another interesting way to smooth your ride. If you’re interested, and perhaps want to support them, visit their website to find out more www.indiegogo.com/projects/morgaw-innovative-bicycle-saddles Theyhave 10 days left and are $5,000 short of their $30,000 goal.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

Add new comment

6 comments

Avatar
Yodaguy | 10 years ago
0 likes

This exact technology is allready fully deployed by Koobi Saddles, with multiple elastomers of differing colour for different weight riders. Nothing new here I am afraid.

Avatar
jkretsch replied to Yodaguy | 6 years ago
0 likes

Yodaguy wrote:

This exact technology is allready fully deployed by Koobi Saddles, with multiple elastomers of differing colour for different weight riders. Nothing new here I am afraid.

 

Ok, this statement was made 4 years ago but unfortunately Koobi no longer makes the PRS saddles (of which I own several and have been using for years).  The Morgaw saddles are significantly different; they have elastomers both front & rear whereas Koobi was just in the rear.  Also, the Morgaw saddles are significantly lighter and have a carbon rail option which Koobi did not.

Avatar
cub | 10 years ago
0 likes

Erm... haven't saddles with springs on the back been around for a century now?

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddles/springs.html

Avatar
joemmo | 10 years ago
0 likes

Aren't there already saddles with the rails inserted into elastomer bumpers? Pretty sure this isn't a new idea.

Besides, as with the mysterious phenomenon of 'vertical compliance', would it be too difficult for the amount of maximum deflection to be measured and quoted in mm?

Avatar
kairey1964 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Guess its going to be like all saddles, if its suits your backside then fantastic, if it doesn't then its as useless as the rest of them!  1

I'm still hunting for comfort, sores and rashes are eradicated but after 50-60Km I get arse ache on every saddle I have tried so far. Maybe I can have a test one of these  36

Avatar
antonio | 10 years ago
0 likes

I applaud innovation but if you put an uncomfortable saddle on top of shock absorbers it will still be uncomfortable, the Turbomatic went down this route and was applauded by some, but not everyone, I wish them well.

Latest Comments