Son of Azoto, this is. Italian saddle maker Selle San Marco had its triathlon design—the Azoto Triathgel—languishing in retail purgatory for three years. Like an Oscar-worthy movie that just can't get a distributor, the Azoto sat there unnoticed, except for a few pro triathletes who knew about it and wouldn't ride anything else.

Then, all of a sudden, the Azoto caught fire. Now Selle San Marco had a hit, and like any movie studio, figured, "Why not a sequel?" Now showing at a bike shop near you is the Aspide (ass-pee-day—also see Sella San Marco's U.S. distributor's pages).

The Aspide is the Azoto on a diet. Much in the same way that Selle Italia brought out the Flite and revolutionized the cycling world with its minimalist approach, the Aspide is an attempt to see how much you can build down an Azoto and still have it perform its functions.

And what functions are these? A properly-made triathlon saddle must comfortably support a triathlete while he or she rides in the aero position. The more aggressive—steep and low in front—the rider's position, the harder the saddle has to work. It takes a special saddle to cradle and support a triathlete when one's pelvis is rotated forward, and the rider's weight is no longer sitting on one's sitzmark. That is the special "talent" the Azoto (pictured above) has. The Azoto supplies a lot of "fat" artifically. This is needed because the rider has his fat in places other than where he rests himself on the saddle while in the triathlon position.

Some riders, however, complain that the Azoto is overkill. It's too wide for some. Too heavy for others. Is there not a middle ground? If the Azoto is built around Selle San Marco's Rolls shell, is there a way to build up a smaller shell out of the minimalist tradition? This is the idea behind the Aspide.

I rode the Aspide over several days, climbing, descending, on the flats. I didn't ride long-distance rides. Each session was about two hours in duration. In every case I rode it with a neoprene seat pad over-top, because that's how I ride my Azoto and I wanted an apples-to-apples comparison. The Aspide with the seat cover on it is pictured adjacent.

As any avid reader of Slowtwitch knows, I'm extremely picky about where I contact the bike. Everything from handlebar tape to cycling shoes to pedals, armrests, up to and including shorts, seat pad, and of couse saddle, these are all important to me. I was frankly skeptical about the Aspide, because if anything I'm a fan of MORE padding, not less. But I had a lot of new things I wanted to try—Orb pedals, Hed aerobars, and I had some new Carnac Quartz shoes to break in—so what the hey, let's slap an Aspide on the bike for good measure.

This saddle felt exactly how it ought, in the sense that it's somewhere inbetween the Azoto and a "normal" road saddle. This solves certain problems for those who consider the Azoto just too much saddle, both in height and width. For about ninety minutes this saddle and the Azoto were a toss-up. Only after that did the lack of Azoto's padding start to make itself evident to me.

Whether this is the right saddle for you depends on just how much a standard saddle underserves you, or an Azoto overserves you. One word of advice: consider whether you'll ever ride this with only a women's one-piece or bikini cut suit, or with a men's brief. If so, the embroidery on the side of the nose and/or the stitching that attaches the gel to the saddle upper might chafe. In this case, a neoprene saddle cover is not just a luxury, but would be mandatory.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Since this review was published last week we have been advised the embroidery has been removed from the Aspide's nose. This should reduce or eliminate the need for a saddle cover over-top for those who'll race on the saddle in bare legs.