Saddles

Fabric Scoop Flat Pro

Somerset brand strike balance between look and function with 'world's most advanced saddle'

With a mix of smooth, sleek aesthetics and products that perform on the road as well as they look in the showroom, Fabric – the brains behind this Scoop Flat Pro saddle – are really one of the hottest brands in cycling at the moment.

It’s rare for a company to hit the balance between look and function so well, but the Somerset-based brand have – to continue the striking metaphor – nailed it.

And it all started with saddles. Saddles which, Fabric claim, are the most advanced in the world and, although they would claim that, they might actually have a point. Anyone who has laid eyes on the Cell, with it’s unique airsprung design (and eye catching array of colours) can tell you Fabric have been thinking somewhat differently when it comes to keeping you sitting comfortably.

With a mix of smooth, sleek aesthetics and products that perform on the road as well as they look in the showroom, Fabric are really one of the hottest brands in cycling at the moment

All that brings us to the saddle featured here: The Scoop. To understand the Scoop, you first need to understand how Fabric approach saddles.

Instead of having a huge range with multiple models, they’ve instead opted for offering comparatively few saddle designs. But those have a wide range of options within them, of which the Scoop is the pinnacle.

First up, there are four different options when it comes to construction, and which of those you choose will determine weight and, more importantly, price.

The Flat Pro version of the Scoop we’ve featured here is actually the second tier in the range, but for £39.99 you can grab yourself the Elite version (don’t ask us how they pick the hierarchy in the names, we don’t know), or £59.99 for the Race.

Price: £109.99
Website: Fabric
UK distributor: Cycling Sports Group

Then comes the Pro before you reach the top of the range with the Ultimate which offers a full carbon construction and a claimed weight of 162g, but in the wonderful inversely proportional way that cycling works, the lowest weight will set you back the most money as the Ultimate costs £169.99.

Now once you’ve figured out which construction you want, the next task is saddle profile. Your choices are Radius, Shallow and Flat with the Radius being most suited to bikes where you’ll be sitting in a rather upright position, the Flat being made for racers and the Shallow sitting somewhere in between. Not that you couldn’t mount a Radius on your ten grand super bike, mind you, because you could.

The Flat Pro here is constructed from a nylon fibre base with full carbon rails which combine to weigh in at 176g. Upper is made from a lightweight polyurethane foam and the cover is a waterproof microfibre, guaranteeing that your saddle will last even if you insist on riding in terrible weather. Or, as the rest of us call it, riding in Britain.