Market: Where you feel good and you can be yourself, you like to spend your time and are also more efficient. The ergonomics experts at SQlab transferred what applies to visiting friends or choosing a job to the bicycle. The result was the new ERGOWAVE saddle shape, an evolution of the company's well-known stepped saddle.
It is no longer unusual for a manufacturer of bicycle parts to work with scientists these days, and most of the time it is about testing their own products for their resilience on test benches. When developing the ERGOWAVE, SQlab not only left the testing of prototypes to the scientists, but also involved the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and the local university clinic in the product development process in addition to an in-house urologist. This is how a state-funded research project came about, which resulted in a saddle shape that differed from others in many details.
The aim of this project was to obtain well-founded data on the stress limit of nerves. On this basis, the development of the Ergowave saddle shape. This represents a logical further development of one of the trademarks of SQlab, the stepped saddle. With this, the main load is on the driver's sit bones, which relieves sensitive areas such as the perineum or the pubic bone. The so-called "dip", a rounded slight indentation in the area of the middle of the saddle, ensures that the Ergowave Saddles for added comfort for male and female cyclists alike.
In order to ensure the most natural possible movement, you have the proven activeprinciple also in the Ergowave series integrated. In concrete terms, this means that the rear part of the saddle is flexible and adapts to the movement of the pelvis that occurs when pedaling. The flexibility can be adjusted to the weight or to the personal preferences of the driver using elastomers in three different degrees of hardness. The following picture shows the recordings in which the elastomers are used.
Finally, the question remains as to what extent a saddle can have a performance-enhancing effect. SQlab answers this as follows: A saddle whose ergonomics are ideally tailored to the human anatomy and biomechanics offers a high level of comfort. This allows the driver to always adopt the seating position that ensures the most efficient power transmission. "Protective postures" that disturb the movement and thus negatively influence performance, but which may be necessary due to pain, are no longer necessary. Consequently, all of the energy can be used for propulsion.
Those should be particularly interesting Ergowave Saddles are therefore for racing cyclists, triathletes and marathonists, i.e. for riders who have to perform at their best over long periods of time. However, those who want to take part in UCI events with such a saddle must be careful: their regulations state that the saddle nose may be a maximum of 1 cm below the highest elevation of the saddle. If in doubt, the saddle should be mounted so that the nose points slightly upwards.
The new saddle shape has been in the 612 since the end of April Ergowave active Version can be ordered which, with a weight of 272 g, represents the entry into the ERGOWAVE series. Over the course of the season, SQlab will reduce the weight to as little as 147 g with carbon and non-active models, making the saddle very attractive even for lightweight builders who still don't want to forego comfort. SQlab offers the Ergowave Saddles with a width of 12 to 15 cm to match the distance between the sit bones. You can either determine this distance yourself using a measuring tool or have it measured by the SQlab specialist dealer on site.
More information about Ergowave Saddle family and all other products from SQlab can be found at:
https://www.sq-lab.com/de/.
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