View Full Version : Has anyone here switched to an Aliante from an Arione?
Raffy
01-17-2017, 11:37 AM
I'm having my yearly breakup with my trusty Arione so I'm monkeying around with trying an Aliante, which I have never tried before.
Just curious as these 2 are at the opposite sides of the Fizik flexibility spectrum. Also worried about not being able to shift forward on the Aliante due to the curvy shape.
Black Dog
01-17-2017, 12:01 PM
The flexibility thing is marketing. Lots of flexible Pros riding the Aliante. I ride them and moving up to the front of the saddle is not an issue at all.
Raffy
01-17-2017, 12:07 PM
Yep, always thought the flexibility thingy was just a rough guide.
Glad to hear it's not as "pocketed" as something like a Selle SMP (which I did not agree with).
Black Dog
01-17-2017, 12:12 PM
Yep, always thought the flexibility thingy was just a rough guide.
Glad to hear it's not as "pocketed" as something like a Selle SMP (which I did not agree with).
Well it has a sweet spot for sure. However moving forward is not an issue, but moving back on the saddle does not work.
Veloo
01-17-2017, 12:18 PM
I was introduced to the Aliante on the 2006 Giant TCR C2. I liked it.
I tried an Arione on a build in 2014 and it didn't work for me so I went back to the Aliante.
I like my Aliante with the back raised just slightly higher than the nose that center cradle section is more horizontal.
Works for me. I don't have any issues if I need to slight back and forth slightly.
rnhood
01-17-2017, 12:21 PM
The aliante feels good initially....but for me is painful sliding towards the nose. I have riding buddies, one even overweight, that absolutely love it. Everybody's anatomy is a little different. Trying it is the only way to really know.
Arione is definitely better for me.
I do recall having an Aliante for a while and being OK with it in my 20s on my fixie, but I tried one last year and it didn't work real well.
I had a "Arione Breakup" late last fall and sold my Arione and now I have a feeling I'm going to be buying another one. The combination of shape + some padding works for me. Really firmly padded saddles don't do great for me. Bot the Arione and Aliante have some real padding.
pdmtong
01-17-2017, 01:19 PM
Arione works all day 100/10,000' for me. It's all about getting the saddle tilt correct to make it disappear. If only more clamps had thomson like tic marks to make replication easier.
I too think the flexibility angle is marketing.
I want to like the alliante but I do not like the single position sitting in a hammock feeling. Prefer the flat slide where you want to sit feeling of the arione
Tickdoc
01-17-2017, 01:32 PM
no, but I switched from arione to antares with no issues.
Arione is still my fav.
I use both. I have Aliantes on my two road bikes. I have Ariones on my CX bike and on my trail bike. I find that I move around more on the CX and trail bikes and the Arione makes that easy. For reasons I cannot recall, I switched from old-school Flites to Aliantes for the road and haven't looked back. I routinely ride for 5+ hours on either road or CX (dirt road) and haven't had problems going back and forth between those saddles.
The Fizik flexibility selection method would not seem to apply in my case. I'm tall and not very flexible (also getting old).
Jan G.
polyhistoric
01-17-2017, 01:55 PM
I made the switch for my CX bike.
Marketing be damned, I am inflexible, but have loved the arione for the road. I had been running an arione on all my bikes for 6 years. Previous experience with the older version of the Aliante were not enough t make me switch.
On a whim I tried the new version of the Aliante and my low back enjoyed the little bit more support to "push" from while racing. I haven't put enough flat road miles on the new saddle to say if it will work as well as the arione for road duty.
I was surprised to like the Aliante as much as I have. I think proper set up is key to comfort (there's videos on this).
johnmdesigner
01-17-2017, 01:58 PM
I have both on my bikes. Aliante's on my custom and Arione on my factory frames mostly to achieve the same position as my custom for the sit bones. I can ride on both just fine but my pedaling style climbing favors the Aliante with the flared back.
You probably will favor the Arione if you spend any time sliding forward to achieve power.
The newer Aliante's are different than the older ones - the back is not as flared out.
Like caviar you'll probably just have to try it to know if you like it.
(My body is broken down and inflexible so the marketing is a bit of crap.)
Raffy
01-18-2017, 01:30 PM
So I got my first Aliante today. Of course, of all models I got the VSX from the bay. So far it's been decently comfortable after playing around with the angle. This is definitely more angle-sensitive than an Arione or Antares.
I only did 50 mins. on the trainer so the real test will be a metric sometime this weekend.
Black Dog
01-18-2017, 02:01 PM
Very angle sensitive indeed.
Heh.. yah pdmtong mentioned a 100 mile/10,000 foot day with the Arione.
I should have really been thinking about that when I was thinking about switching things up this fall, last year I did 135mi/8,000ft on the Arione with the last 60 miles in the rain and was mostly fine. Had a little skin irritation on my trouble side. That was my hardest day ever and I should have that beaten into my head before putting the Arione on the shelf.
I'm just always looking for "better". I should probably get myself another Arione and play with the angle more. Playing with the Angle is a PITA with the seat posts I have as they are side clampers that demand use of a torque wrench.
BdaGhisallo
01-18-2017, 03:32 PM
Arione works all day 100/10,000' for me. It's all about getting the saddle tilt correct to make it disappear. If only more clamps had thomson like tic marks to make replication easier.
I too think the flexibility angle is marketing.
I want to like the alliante but I do not like the single position sitting in a hammock feeling. Prefer the flat slide where you want to sit feeling of the arione
Put a level with an electronic angle finder on it and a more accurate measure of the tilt. The bonus is that it'll be more repeatable for setup purposes no matter what post you use.
Black Dog
01-18-2017, 05:11 PM
Put a level with an electronic angle finder on it and a more accurate measure of the tilt. The bonus is that it'll be more repeatable for setup purposes no matter what post you use.
Good advice. Make sure that you have the bike placed on the same surface in the same orientation every time you do this.
booglebug
01-18-2017, 06:42 PM
Ride Aliante on 3 bikes and Romin on 2 others, love both saddles. For me I have found the drop from the saddle to bars determined what saddle works. The more the drop the better the flatter Romin works, seems I can't get that front hump on the Aliante to work with a lot of drop.
GonaSovereign
01-18-2017, 07:48 PM
The bull-snake stuff is irrelevant, IMHO. I can generally touch my toes, knuckles, place my palms on the floor and my bikes have a fair bit of drop. The Aliante feels good to me.
beeatnik
01-18-2017, 08:11 PM
I've got about 5 Arione variants (old ti, cx, cx carbon, kurve, vs). The least comfortable is the VS. The most comfortable seems to be the stiffest least padded CX Carbon. In any case when I hop on a bike with a different saddle (last few have been Selle Italia, Cambium, Tune Needlething) the saddle always feels instantly more comfortable. For that reason decided to try an Aliante. After two months, realized it was impossible to find the correct angle for natural riding (when in the "hammock" it was decently comfortable).
unterhausen
01-18-2017, 08:41 PM
I rode an aliante successfully for a number of years, but I was having trouble with the man-parts that I speculated was because of the rise in the nose of the saddle. So I got some ariones. I really liked them, but I'm pretty sure it isn't wide enough for my sitbones. The two saddles are for different width sitbones. And actually, I think the nose on an Arione is too wide for me. So I'm back to Aliantes on most of my bikes. The only Arione I have left is on my trainer. I think for rides of 100 miles or less, the Arione is fine.
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