Brompton T Line 3D Saddle Swap: AliExpress Find vs. the Original

Gear · Published 4/2/2024 ·

This is the original saddle that came with the T Line. It’s super light and rock-solid. The nose is a bit long, but I actually like that — you can use it as a handle when you need to.

I’ve got a Garmin Varia radar mounted on the back. The rails are carbon, so it has to be installed to spec torque. And yes, I finally got myself a torque wrench. ^^

Here’s the 3D saddle that set off from AliExpress and took ages to finally arrive. It’s light, and more than anything, it looks like it’ll breathe really well.

And it really is a “3D” saddle — those little perforated sections all interlock and hold onto each other. So I’m expecting excellent airflow. It’s wonderfully light, too.

My old saddle has carbon rails too and honestly there’s nothing to complain about, but I’m swapping it out hoping for a little more comfort on the ride. The price was somewhere in the mid-to-high 40,000 won range. The Specialized saddle that originally pioneered this design runs about 500,000 won, as far as I know. So this is roughly one-tenth the price — easy enough to shrug off if it doesn’t work out — but when I set it on the floor and sat on it, I went, “Huh? Why does this feel so good?” That’s the level we’re talking about.