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ontact Bike is a new outfit, but our relationship with them goes back a few years. Nearly a decade ago, 63xc.com reviewed a book about bicycle saddle design by a talented young US sports medic called Josh Cohen. Cohen had spent years researching the effects of cycling on genital bloodflow, and produced some eyewatering statistics. A couple of other cycling-and-impotence studies were doing the rounds at the time, but there were good reasons to listen to Cohen. The first was his impeccable experimental method, based on something called transcutaneous oxygen pressure measurement. The second was the fact that he is a competitive cyclist, and that his modified saddle design clearly belonged on a racing bike. Josh's saddle did the rounds for a few years, but in 2011 he bought back the rights and began production under his own brand name. The racing model, shown below, is the first Kontact saddle to reach the market.
The Kontact racing saddle is the company's first release, and the first to bring all of Josh Cohen's ideas to the market. At less than 200g it's impressively light, but the construction is pretty conventional for a high-end racing saddle: Ti alloy rails; plastic/carbon chassis; natural leather topping with gel foam supports (the dampers isolating rails from chassis are a nice touch, especially at this price point). To fully appreciate the design, you need to compare the Kontact with a conventional saddle. The chassis is subtly but radically different, combining a long, slim nose and a distinctive 'winged' profile at the rear, with a sharp transition between the two. The intention is to provide enhanced support for your ischial tuberosities ('sit bones') and thus to get the weight off your soft tissues. Josh has some pretty impressive statistics about genital bloodflow. Saddles are personal, of course, but if you think long hours in the saddle may be taking the edge off your joie de vivre -- numbness, lack of response, you know the kind of thing -- maybe you should give it a try? We're UK distributors for Kontact. Trade enquiries to sales@hubjub.co.uk. |
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