The Kona count: aerobars and saddles

Fifteen years ago Profile Design ruled the roost at this race. It rules the roost again.

What a statement of tenacity, when you consider that in 1999 this brand had 340 aerobars in the race, less than half of what Syntace had. This year Profile Design enjoys almost that same level of dominance of second place Visiontech. Syntace is in third, but is existing on fumes. Many of the Syntace bars in the race have been on the same bikes for years, and the "new" Syntace models look curiously like those made 15 years ago.

Oval Concepts, Hed, Easton slowly continue to climb the ladder. They combined to contribute 260 bars to the count, versus 205 last year. Their bars made up 14.5% of the bars in this year's race, compared to 12.1% two years ago. Back in 2003, HED had 30 aerobars in the race and Oval only 15.

Lest you think we're ignoring that second place company, back in 2003 Vistiontech had more bars in the race than Oval, but fewer than Hed. FSA has executed one of the single best post-acquisition turnarounds in the bike business in recent years, taking Visiontech to a place of significant prominence.

Selle Italia has more saddles in the race than any brand, 540 to Fizik's 448. And, it was one of the few companies that gained, but it still lost ground to Fizik. Its lead in Kona over its Italian rival was exactly halved over the last 12 months, and the news is not getting better. In the Slowtwitch reader preference poll, taken last month, Selle Italia was at 17% popularity, to Fizik's 31%. Indeed, out of 530 respondents, Selle Italia's tally of 88 votes barely outpolled Profile Design's 81.

Terry's women's saddle, which enjoys popularity in pockets among women, is losing ground to these other specialty saddles like Profile and Blackwell as well as to Fizik.

The fact that Selle Italia and Fizik have both gained ground since last year is a testament to their abilities to sell their saddles as original equipment on tri bikes. Since the turn of the decade the trend has been to house-brand the saddles on complete bikes. In recent years QR, Felt, Cervelo — many or most of the top tri bike sellers — had their own saddles made, often as a way to get the cost of their bikes down. But saddle companies have gotten the message, and have endeavored to make OE models that offer companies reasonable pricing.

That established, athletes are wising up, and know that saddles are as or more important to their riding experience than are the frames they choose. While popular cycling culture commands attention to frame materials, a lot of riders notice that their new carbon frames are as stiff or stiffer than their old aluminum ones — they're beginning to understand that it's not the on-paper dynamics of the materials that matter, but how you use them.

So they've turned to the saddle as a source of comfort. Our reader profile betrays a preference for many of the boutique saddles now being made with triathletes specifically in mind. In Kona's bike racks Profile Design, ISM Adamo and Blackwell, as a group, trailed longstanding saddle makers Terry, Selle San Marco and Specialized by a count of 449 to 87. But when our readers were asked which saddles they intended to buy next, the newer boutique companies outgunned the old guard 140 to 109.