West Biking Saddle: is it any good? #cycling #westbiking #brooks #aliexpress #cyclinglife #saddles

5MV-111 – West Biking Saddle: is it any good?
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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fiveminutevelo
In this video I review a knock-off version of the Brookes C17 Cambium Carved saddle. The knock-off version is branded West Biking and I purchased it via Aliexpress. I compare the West Biking saddle directly to the Brooks saddle which I already own. Here are my previous videos where I choose and review the Brookes saddle:

I paid for the saddle and I have no affiliation with Aliexpress, West Biking or the seller.

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About the 5MV channel
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My name is Terry and I love cycling. I have named my channel “Five Minute Velo” (5MV). I have called it 5MV because the videos I upload will (mostly) last no longer than five minutes. Each video will cover just one subject that is described in the title. Although the channel is mainly about cycling on the road, I will also cover some light (gravel) off road riding, cycle touring and ebiking. No matter what, much of the advice will be pertinent to many branches of the sport/pastime.

I welcome constructive comments that will help me improve the videos that I produce and upload.

There may be some dry humour in some of the videos, so dry it may not always be obvious :-).

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My Strava profile can be found here:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/7723982

Cambridge Cycling Club website:
http://www.cambridge-cycling-club.org.uk/

Instagram
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Photos of 2019 Tour of low countries:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ierczDfurM1gTGi7

Photos of 2025 Tour of Spain and France:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sgy8d9b4fxGZ18x49

Random cycling photos (will be updated from time to time):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VZBhCWcQZtynsJF1A

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Terry

In this video, I’m going to compare a knockoff version of a Brooks C17 Cambium saddle to the genuine item. How do they compare? And is it worth spending the extra to get the genuine item? Let’s dive in and find out. This is my Brooks C17 Cambium carved saddle. probably the best saddle I’ve ever owned. Certainly the most comfortable when riding long distances. However, it was expensive and it’s quite heavy. I have previously carried out some reviews of this Brook saddle and there’s a link to those in the description. So, I was quite intrigued when I saw this on AliExpress. It’s a knockoff of the Brooks C17 saddle. However, it is much, much cheaper. Okay, it’s cheaper, but is it any good? Let’s dive in and look at the details. I bought both of these saddles via mail order. I ordered the Brooks one through a UK website, and interestingly, it came from Italy, and the West Biking one via AliExpress came from China. Yet, they both took about the same time to be delivered to me. However, there were some differences in the way they were delivered to me. The Brooks came in this quite nice box. However, the West Biking one from AliExpress was delivered in bubble wrap. The saddle came with a little bit of damage just there. I think that was caused during transport, but it shouldn’t affect the way the saddle works. Certainly, there were some differences in the packaging, but to me, that really doesn’t matter too much. It’s what’s inside that’s important. So, let’s go on and have a look at that. Before I go on to do a more qualitative comparison, let’s look at some of the numbers. Currently, you can buy this saddle for between 90 and £100. So, it’s not cheap by any means, but I suppose it’s not really expensive either. However, the West Biking one, which has some visual similarities, cost me £18. Okay, let’s look at the weight of the saddles. Starting with the Brooks, and that comes in at 446 g. The one from AliExpress, the West Biking one, comes in at 344 g. So the one from AliExpress, the West Biking is about 100 g less than the Brooks. So in terms of weight, the advantage goes to the West Biking saddle. As I previously stated, these are visually similar, certainly from the top. And they both have a set of substantial rivets around the rear and one at the front. And they both have these cutouts in them. The shape is also very similar of the west biking saddle is slightly shorter. That means moving around on the saddle in order to find slightly different sitting positions will be a little more difficult and therefore the Brooks has an advantage in that respect. On the underside, both saddles have steel rails on them. However, when you look at the rails side on, you’ll see that the ones on the left, the West Biking ones from AliExpress, the clamping area is much longer and it’s also set further down from the saddle top in terms of adjustability on the seat pin. The advantage is with the West Biking saddle as you could slide this backwards and forwards more than you can on the Brooks on the right. I can’t really tell what the quality of the saddle rails are like. However, both are painted and the quality of the paint on the Brooks looks substantially better than the West Biking saddle. I’ve also found the paint on the Brooks is actually quite tough. I’ve yet to find out what the West Biking one is like. The Brooks upper is made, according to Brooks, of a natural rubber product. In my previous review, I actually showed that this was actually quite flexible and that added to the comfort of the saddle. By contrast, the West Biking one has a rigid plastic upper. However, that rigid plastic upper is covered in a rubber-like material. It’s probably only one or two millimeters thick, but it does give it a little extra softness. The construction of it means this saddle flexes much much less than the Brooks. If I do the thumb press test, you can see that this saddle has somewhat less suspension than the genuine item, which can be seen on the right hand side of the screen. So, in terms of the suspension that you can get from the saddle, I’m expecting that the Brooks will have the advantage. On both saddles, the saddle rails are supported and connected to the uppers by these plastic molded supports. Visually, I can’t tell any difference between them. Obviously, the Brooks is black and this one is a tan color. Both look quite wellm made and I suspect they’re both made of a glass fiber filled polymer material. Only time will tell whether these plastic supports will hold up. The way the plastic supports are connected to the uppers is the same in both cases. They seem to have similar size screws holding them together. In terms of the surface on both saddles, the Brooks has this slightly modeled surface that gives a a small amount of grip. You can slide backwards and forwards on the saddle. However, I’ve never found an issue with the surface of that saddle in terms of it being too slippery or too grippy. In contrast, the West Biking one has a rubberized surface on it, which is a lot more grippy than the Brook saddle. Only time will tell whether that will give me too much grip and stop me moving around. This is the West Biking saddle. And this is the Brooks. What I need to do now is put this West Biking saddle on the bike and give it a good test so I can compare it to the Brooks. I have fitted the West biking saddle onto my Specialized Turbo Vadu. My initial impressions of this saddle are very good. The shape is nice. It’s wellrounded and there are no projecting parts that dig into me or cause chafing. That’s not really surprising as it’s very very similar to the genuine Brooks item which I found to be very good. As for the hole in the saddle, well, like the Brooks one, I can’t really say I notice whether it’s there or not. I would have to do a direct comparison in order to determine whether the saddle hole makes any difference. The difference it probably does make is it makes the saddle that little bit more flexible. Although, as you saw earlier, this West Biking saddle is a lot less flexible and therefore offers less suspension than the genuine Brook saddle. This rough ground is a good test of this saddle and so far it’s holding up just going over this little bridge. Hello. Thank you. Something I have noticed is the surface of saddle is more grabby, less slippery. When I move around, my shorts stay on the saddle and I tend to move around in the shorts. Whereas with the genuine Brook saddle, my shorts tend to slide on the surface of the saddle. Now, I’m not sure that one is necessarily better than the other. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. So, when comparing the two saddles, I think the slipperiness of the saddle is pretty much a wash. However, this West Biking saddle does have that slight rubberized surface, which makes it slightly softer to the feel and slightly softer to the bottom. I’ve now just completed 100 kilometers using this saddle. So, how has it been? It’s been much, much better than I was expecting. I’ve got no saddle saw. I can’t feel any compression or bruising. I can feel the slightest amount of discomfort, but it’s only a very, very small amount. Certainly no worse than I would get on other saddles, including that genuine Brook saddle. I could see myself doing a 200 km ride on this saddle without too many problems. I will carry on using this knockoff West Biking saddle just to see what it’s like over the longer term and to test its durability. There’s my dedication to this channel. And I hope that dedication is at least worth a like. I do have access to both saddles. So, which one would I choose? I would almost certainly every time go for the genuine Brook saddle. That’s because the extra suspension caused by the flexibility of the top surface is quite nice and you don’t get that on this West Biking saddle. However, if I was a new buyer and I was going out to buy a new saddle, would I spend five times extra on the genuine Brook saddle? I think in most cases, no. apart from perhaps two different scenarios. The first of which is very long distance or multi-day rides where comfort is all important. And secondly, if I was looking for a genuine once-ina-lifetime saddle, something worth investing in. In both of those cases, the extra cost of the Brook saddle is well worth it. Anyway, I hope you found this video interesting and useful. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing for more exciting content like this. So, from me until the next video, it’s goodbye.