Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

February 2025
Writing | March 2025 | January 2025

New saddle day

28/02/25 00:29 Filed in: Gear
Ever since Fizik "updated" the Arione, I've been trying to find a saddle that works for me as well as the old one. The new one actually isn't too bad, but it has a long break-in period and then it seems to become uncomfortable with only a few thousand km. Coupled with the higher price of the revised model, I'm not sold.
A word on the old one. One of its features was also its flaws. The wingflex feature meant that Fizik had cut some slots in the flare portion of the saddle (where the nose transitions to the wider rear) which permitted that part to flex when you pedalled. It made them supremely comfortable. It also led to their failure as eventually a crack would propagate out of one slot and run across the saddle. When I worked at a bike shop, we had a 30-day return policy on saddles and almost no Arione came back. They suited many people.
And they continue to make the gen 1 version under the name Arione Classic, but they can be hard to find in stock.
I've been running through a lot of saddles on the commuter bike trying to find one that doesn't cause issues. And then I thought of Ergon. I love their grips and the whole purpose of this German company is to address the contact points on the bike and make them ergonomic. On their website the carbon road saddle is around 200 Euro. I found it for sale in Australia for a bit over $200 - seems a good price given the exchange rate. So that went on my Checkpoint recently.
From ride one it was comfortable. The foam seems soft enough to be instantly comfortable, but firm enough to still be comfortable an hour later. The shape is quite flat (what I prefer) with a channel down the middle (I'm indifferent to the channel designs) and a silly little hole at the back of the channel (visual identification?). Given that many saddles require a break-in period, I'm hoping that nothing changes on this one over the next 30 hours of use. Were it to soften up, it would likely be too soft. Given all the carbon in this thing and Ergon's reputation for good stuff, I don't anticipate that. My only prior experience with Ergon saddles is the DH saddle on my Sender. It obviously doesn't get a lot of sitting, but in 4 seasons of use it hasn't changed at all (or bent or otherwise brought attention on itself).
 
New saddle days are usually full of discomfort trying to guess if this seat will be "the" seat.

Comparing the Enduro and the DH bikes

11/02/25 21:05 Filed in: Gear
I had a DH bike. It was old-school with 26" wheels. It liked steep and rugged terrain but was terrible on anything remotely flat or smooth. Then I got my first Trek Slash. It was a revelation and I found it roughly as capable as the DH bike - the 29" wheels and 160mm of travel on the Slash more than compensating for the extra travel on the DH bike with its much smaller wheels.
I sold that DH bike and had none for a few years.
The new Canyon Sender CFR came out in 2021. I bought one straight away. It was like a playful trail bike with loads of travel. Its limits were well in excess of what the Slash could do. It was also a full size bigger in terms of reach. Which made it better for me just on that point. I sold the first Slash and bought a second one which has a similar reach to the Sender. Both bikes compete on similar grounds; 29" wheels and the Slash now sporting 170mm of travel to the Sender's 200mm.
I have favoured the Sender at Thredbo most of the times I have been up there since I had both bikes.
Just before Christmas I spent a week up there and took the Slash. After riding the Slash on most of the trails and feeling how it impacted my hands in particular, I can safely conclude that the Sender is just plusher than the Slash. My hands were sore after several days back-to-back of riding the Slash. That just doesn't happen with the Sender.
There aren't that many other differences between them. I would expect that Sender to handle really rough terrain better than the Slash, and high speeds better. But I've not raced either bike and I'm old enough now to know slowing down a tad is essential for longevity. I feel fine taking the Slash anywhere I take the Sender, but it just does so with more feedback into my hands.
Oh, except for the obvious exception of climbing. The Sender is neither geared nor possessing of a geometry that lends itself to successfully climbing any sort of hill. The Slash does so fine.
 
A corollary to this is that my friend accidentally booked a DH bike at Thredbo when we rode together. In the past he has booked one of their Enduro bikes. Both Norco brand. Similar sorts of bikes really. But he found the DH bike considerably more plush than the Enduro bike.

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