Anka Martin x SDG Allure women’s saddle is in the webstore now

We just got our first shipment of the fabulous SDG Allure X Anka Martin collab saddles and they are in the webstore now just waiting to be on your bike (if you’re a girl) or on your wife’s/girlfriend’s/daughter’s bike (if you’re a dude).

You can buy the saddle right here... (free shipping within New Zealand)

Seb dropped the full story on the saddle in issue 49, and in case that’s not too handy here it is again…

FANTAILS AND SIT BONES

ANKA MARTIN GIVES THE SDG ALLURE A BIT OF NEW ZEALAND FLAIR.

If, like Anka Martin, you spend your whole life travelling the globe in search of blissful, rousing and life-affirming adventures on your bicycle, then you’ve probably developed a close bond with certain parts of your bike. A bicycle without a good saddle is a sad thing. Fortunately Anka found her perfect anatomical match many years ago.

Anka has used an SDG Allure saddle on her bike for several years. She’s put thousands of kilometres onto them while racing events like the Cape Epic, Trans-Provence, Megavalanche and Mountain of Hell, and innumerable epic adventures over four continents. It’s fair to say that if Anka’s derriere gave its tick of approval then this saddle is a match made in heaven.

“The Allure women’s seat is of course a women’s specific saddle. What I love about it is that it’s just right. Not too wide for the sit bones, not too long in the front, the cutout is not too big, it is lightweight but still has enough padding for an all-day adventure in the saddle. It’s just a very comfortable saddle, not too racy, not too soft, just a perfect fit for a day out in the saddle.”

Boom tisk.

After years of hard yards in the saddle, SDG recently approached Anka for ideas on how to make the saddle look as good as it feels. Anka has a background in textile design which means she has her head screwed on, and wasn’t about to go and scribble some gaudy, hyper-colour print. Instead Anka knew she had to keep it simple and minimalistic to appeal to the majority of the bike market, so she incorporated “a very subtle, linear type paisley print to be the main subject of the saddle and then to add something fun, something that would pop out to bring out the character of the saddle and also something that had meaning to me.”

That something of meaning was the fantail, or piwakawaka. Anka and spouse Sven Martin relocated to New Zealand last year, a place of which they’ve both being hugely fond for many years and are very, very happy to call home now. The fantail is a bird that intrigues and fascinates Anka so she integrated it into the saddle’s design. “Whether it is enjoying my morning cuppa with a fantail fluttering around me, or sharing my bike ride with the ever curious bird, they seem to be there, by my side, and I just love their company. I guess it is a symbol of a new chapter in my life, and that is very special to me.”

So after years of travelling and exploring, Anka has found her perfect seat, her ideal partner to share her life, and a place to call home, and the fantail is the representation of all that. Seb Kemp