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Nov 06, 2024

Alpitude Navene Ultralight Carbon Short-Fit Saddle for XC & Gravel Weighs Just 72g! - Bikerumor

From deep in the Dolomites, Alpitude lays up a new ultralight full-carbon Navene saddle with a short-fit, extra reinforcement, and new engineered flex for gravel and XC weight weenies. With weights as

From deep in the Dolomites, Alpitude lays up a new ultralight full-carbon Navene saddle with a short-fit, extra reinforcement, and new engineered flex for gravel and XC weight weenies. With weights as low as 72g, Alpitude developed the Navene to withstand the toughest off-road conditions whether you’re a full-tilt racer or just looking to lighten up your ride.

Alpitude calls the short-fit Navene the latest in their ultralight ‘naked’ carbon saddle line-up. As a follow-up to their ultralight split Gardena road saddle, the new Alpitude Navene shares a similar short fit, but now, reoptimized for more demanding off-road riding and racing conditions.

It’s a project that Alpitude has developed over the past 3 years with a couple of pro Italian racers – Lorena Zocca & Mirko Tabacchi – who between the two have won more than a dozen national championship titles between them in XCO, XCE, XCM, CX, Gravel & eMTB. The idea was always about creating one of the lightest possible and stiffest race-ready saddles, but also making it flex at the back where it needs to for comfort and durability.

They even teased us with the Navene last autumn. But now, it’s officially ready for consumers.

The most obvious difference compared to the Gardena is the connected tail of the new off-road saddle, said more to prevent snagging your shorts when hanging off the back on steep descents, rather than increasing strength. But those biggest durability & robustness improvements are harder to spot. Like wider reinforced edges all around the Navene to make the saddle stronger overall, but especially more impact-resistant.

More precision attachment of rails to shell and tougher reinforced carbon rails to handle bigger G-out forces while in the saddle. In the end, there’s about 10% more weight in the Navene vs. the Gardena. But at the ultralight levels of an unpadded, full carbon saddle, that only amounts to just a 7g difference to make this off-road-ready.

Alpitude’s all-new ultralight carbon Navene gravel and cross-country mountain bike saddle is available now directly from Alpitude for 320€. For that price you get to pick your ideal finish – 3K, 1K, or UD – and 130mm or 142mm widths.

Alpitude keeps some size & finish combos in stock, while others are made-to-order, with an approximate 2-week leadtime. And global shipping adds 12€.

Alpitude.cc