Has anyone ridden the Koobi PRS?
Has anyone ridden the Selle SMP with the drop front beak?
Opinions appreciated.
Does any store carry the Selle SMP in Northern California? I would like to take a closer look at the real thing. The only phone number on this product is in Italy via the website. No American phone number for a local distributer.

Since no one is responding, I'll post to say that I have been very happy with the overall shape and quality of Koobi saddles, even though I don't ride the PRS version (which has the tunable suspension spheres). I have a Silver and the AU Chrono and they suit me, but as always with saddles, YMMV.

Joe

Has anyone ridden the Koobi PRS?

Just took a short ride today (some smooth and some very rough pavement). On the same bike and mainly the same route, I was getting some very mild discomfort and incipient numbness from the Flite Ti currently on the bike. Please note that the position has not been fully tweaked with the Flite, so the saddle should not take all the blame.

With the Koobi at nearly the exact same angle and fore/aft position, it seemed more comfortable. No numbness or even thought of it. I did not feel the presence of the slot in the seat and this is my first slotted seat. The seat is very firm and I did not feel any active feature being engaged.

In short, it just felt quite good. The narrowness of the saddle at the nose was just right. I was able to slide back for some different positions. It did not feel too wide at all until I was way back on the seat.

The seat did not feel soft or cushy in any way. It is a firm seat. The major difference is that the top of the Flite is very rounded. The Koobi has a much flatter top and thus protrudes less into areas that I would rather minimize protuding.

As you can see from the pictures at http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?postid=281625#poststop, there are some seams on the Koobi (none on the Flite). I did not feel their presence, but again this was a very short ride.

One problem that can be seen is that the rail angle is VERY different from the Flite. This, combined with the pain Colnago seat post means that rapid A/B swaps are difficult without two seatposts.

Specs: I'm 145 5' 8" and was setup using the Yellow bumpers (next to softest). Koobi stresses that you need 3/4" between the top of the seat post and the bottom of the saddle. I have 3/4" at the back and only 3/8" at the front due to the seat post design. Koobi (they are helpful on the phone and called me back on my cell phone) said that at my weight they were not concerned. They also stated that some folks with Thompson posts (similar design?) cut off the threaded rod to gain extra clearance once they are totally dialed in.