Tested: BikeYoke Sagma Saddle

BIKE Magazine aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

I love reading just about everything Andrew Major writes. That’s why his words grace these pages. I selfishly want an excuse to read and “edit” his pieces before they go out to the general public. But that affection for his writing and perspective aside, I often disagree with him. Not in a fun, loud “CONFLICT” way, or in an important, fundamental way, but I recognize that we have pretty different priorities when it comes to playing with bikes in the woods, and thus our preferences diverge on a lot of things. I like steep seat tubes, electronic shifting, and riding without a pack, after all.

So when Andrew stated that if you try one saddle, it ought to be BikeYoke’s Sagma , I was happy to publish his piece, but I was quietly skeptical. Saddles, and the parts of our body that they touch, are very personal and I’m exceptionally picky when it comes to gooch thrones.

Too much information about my undercarriage

I generally like short, flat, firm saddles, and I point the tip pretty far down. It’s an anatomical thing – I don’t wear chamois, and I don’t like any part of the saddle contacting my softer bits. Thus, options like the Specialized Power Saddle and Bontrager’s Verse work nicely for me. In contrast, I hate the WTB Volt with a burning passion and an irritated taint, which, I know, makes me an outlier since that’s sort of been the saddle du jour for many brands’ stock builds for ages.

In a perfect world, only the fatty, muscley chunks of butt directly below and around my sit bones contact the saddle as I pedal my merry way up the hill. Anyway, that’s enough about my ass. Here’s an ode to a saddle that’s been making it very happy.

Enter the Sagma

Sacki at BikeYoke was kind enough to send over a Sagma saddle along with the Revive 3.0 dropper I’ve got in for long term testing. The Revive has been excellent thus far, but the Sagma has been truly eye opening. It’s just so dang comfy. I feel perfectly cushioned and supported, with my weight gently distributed over the parts of my rear end that are best suited to handle it. It’s the most comfortable saddle for my body that I’ve ever tried.

Longtime riding partners will be quick to point out that I have a somewhat erratic and alarming climbing style. I’m all over the place, and I burn a lot of calories with upper body movements that do nothing to move the bike forward. My body is no wonderland – it’s more of a creaky and creepy Chuck E. Cheese animatronic. As a result, I tend to get a lot of side to side rubbing and chafing on saddles. The Sagma’s floating elastomer construction does a great job of isolating that movement from the bike, and keeps me comfortable for longer. Ideally, I’ll continue to develop my technique and adopt a more quiet body language. But until then, the Sagma goes a long way in alleviating the pain that my flopping tube man upper body subjects my undercarriage to.

Beyond the elastomers

Even without the gentle float those rubber pucks provide, the Sagma is still in the running for the “comfiest saddle for Cy” award. The padding hits a perfect combination of cushion and firm platform that delivers real comfort – not the fleeting squish of a super soft gel saddle, but sustainable, all-day support. It also delivers a really nice sensation of grip, even in the wet, without ever catching or feeling hard to reposition upon.

Now that I’ve become accustomed to the Sagma experience, my finger has been hovering over the “order” button on a Sagma Lite, just to have another option for review bikes so that I don’t have to sacrifice its comfort. It’s that good.

Eating my hat (or my chamois?)

I’m never going to try to convince Andrew to try the latest and greatest in electronically controlled suspension or shifting. And he’s got an uphill battle in front of him if he’s trying to get me into a full face for trail riding on a friction-shifted plus-tired bike. But we can agree that the BikeYoke Sagma is an excellent, versatile saddle that fits a wide range of folks quite nicely. Now excuse me, I’ve got some push-on grips to go experiment with.