steve-0h
Active Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2020
- Messages
- 136
I want to start by saying that I’m a relative novice to the saddle game. I’m an engineer by trade, and I’ve naturally been drawn into a community of similar types of people. People like Greg, Ernie, and Karl from Tethrd, Matthew from TX5, Heath? from H2, DanO the ManO, and Chadrick Rice from Cruzr, among many others, impress the **** out of me. I’m all for someone who has a love for the game, and not only uses their talents and ingenuity for their own benefit, but who completely upend their lives to bring products to market for the rest of us goons to use in our recreation/passion. Takes balls and selflessness, and a heaping dose of humility to put up with the impatience of the marketplace and it’s inhabitants (that’s you... and me).
That being said, my Cruzr XC came in yesterday and I got to spend a couple of hours in it. This is only my 2nd traditional saddle to sit in. I’ve got a JX3 that I adore, and a TX5 Xpand in mesh that is awesome as well. Upon opening the box, you can tell that the Cruzr is very well made. The materials are really high quality and the stitching and attention to detail are impressive. There are other threads and videos that will go into these details, but I want to talk about the hunt. I was worried that because it’s so big, even when not expanded, that it wouldn’t be great in the leaning position, but that it would probably be really good seated. I was wrong. I was really wrong. I’m 6’1” and 235lb, size 40 waist. I got a size 3. I loaded it up with my 2 DanO dump pouches and my Doyle’s gear Hoist and walked to the tree... It never once thought about sagging down. The adjustable amsteel bridge allowed me to tighten it up and walk in with all my crap on the molles with no issue. The climb was not obstructed at all, it hugged tight to my trunk the entire time. As I set my tether and leaned back, it just felt perfect. I was completely cupped with zero hip pinch. After maneuvering and taking all different angles of shots, walking around the tree, sitting, expanding the pleat, sitting some more, and standing some more, I really could not find an uncomfortable position. I couldn’t be more impressed with this piece of equipment. Honestly, it was that good.
I think I know his secret sauce after looking, feeling, and comparing. He builds the saddle into a “cup”... I feel like other saddles are laid out flat and stitched together flat, as well. They will obviously wrap around you when you strap them on, but those straighter lines create more pressure points. This thing is less linear in its design, and has a curvature to it in all 3 axes. When you lay the saddle down on a flat surface it “cups” up toward you. It’s gotta be some method of folding the mesh as he stitches the support webbing that allows him to pull off this cupping design, but that is my ignorant guess and assumption. All I really know is that it is worth all of the hype that people are giving it.
I really want to try a Phantom, a Kestrel Flex, a H2, a Kanati, and I even wanna pay Matthew Thompkins my left leg and a kidney to make me one of those insanely gorgeous EV2 saddles that he’s made for others.... BUT... I don’t see myself ever getting rid of this XC. It’s a killer saddle and Chadrick was beyond cool to deal with.
Just some thoughts.
That being said, my Cruzr XC came in yesterday and I got to spend a couple of hours in it. This is only my 2nd traditional saddle to sit in. I’ve got a JX3 that I adore, and a TX5 Xpand in mesh that is awesome as well. Upon opening the box, you can tell that the Cruzr is very well made. The materials are really high quality and the stitching and attention to detail are impressive. There are other threads and videos that will go into these details, but I want to talk about the hunt. I was worried that because it’s so big, even when not expanded, that it wouldn’t be great in the leaning position, but that it would probably be really good seated. I was wrong. I was really wrong. I’m 6’1” and 235lb, size 40 waist. I got a size 3. I loaded it up with my 2 DanO dump pouches and my Doyle’s gear Hoist and walked to the tree... It never once thought about sagging down. The adjustable amsteel bridge allowed me to tighten it up and walk in with all my crap on the molles with no issue. The climb was not obstructed at all, it hugged tight to my trunk the entire time. As I set my tether and leaned back, it just felt perfect. I was completely cupped with zero hip pinch. After maneuvering and taking all different angles of shots, walking around the tree, sitting, expanding the pleat, sitting some more, and standing some more, I really could not find an uncomfortable position. I couldn’t be more impressed with this piece of equipment. Honestly, it was that good.
I think I know his secret sauce after looking, feeling, and comparing. He builds the saddle into a “cup”... I feel like other saddles are laid out flat and stitched together flat, as well. They will obviously wrap around you when you strap them on, but those straighter lines create more pressure points. This thing is less linear in its design, and has a curvature to it in all 3 axes. When you lay the saddle down on a flat surface it “cups” up toward you. It’s gotta be some method of folding the mesh as he stitches the support webbing that allows him to pull off this cupping design, but that is my ignorant guess and assumption. All I really know is that it is worth all of the hype that people are giving it.
I really want to try a Phantom, a Kestrel Flex, a H2, a Kanati, and I even wanna pay Matthew Thompkins my left leg and a kidney to make me one of those insanely gorgeous EV2 saddles that he’s made for others.... BUT... I don’t see myself ever getting rid of this XC. It’s a killer saddle and Chadrick was beyond cool to deal with.
Just some thoughts.