Five short years ago, it started with a Kickstarter campaign. The founders of 3 West Design had an idea for a high-performance bicycle saddle that they felt would fill a need in the cycling community—both locally to North Texas and country-wide.
This grass-roots start-up was passionate about their idea, and that idea took hold. They describe their supporters and funders as “saints, sticking with us (a long time) until we finished the saddle.” The 3 West team raised $34,448 for their first saddle.
And it didn’t stop there. The company’s multiple saddles today are sold directly through their website, 3westdesign.com, and through local bike shops where they have a close partnership with the cycling community.
The team at 3 West has continued to innovate and support—quite literally—the cycling community, recently with another product launch, this time of their new wide-design Trinity Saddle. The design extends past their standard saddles to a 155mm-width, providing greater surface area for maximum comfort.
The Trinity Saddle is the third model from 3 West Design and incorporates their carefully-engineered redistribution strategy. This saddle build provides a dropped midsection and a V-shaped notch for the perineum (The space between your anus and vulva/scrotum. Delightful!).
Most notably, the Trinity also provides a wider solution with a total width of 155mm to support the innovative “Comfort Surface” technology. This includes a soft, padded insert that runs the entire length of the nose.
How was the Trinity Saddle designed?
3 West Design owner Jon Marceleno is especially animated when talking about the design, explaining in detail the science behind it. “Our increased saddle comfort is based on simple physics. A 180-pound rider averages 90 pounds of pressure on a very small area. Normal saddles put half of that weight on soft tissue.”
The team at WheelBrothers, when discussing the Trinity with Marceleno, exchanged knowing looks over the discomfort the pressure on soft tissue can bring. Let’s face it, nobody likes what the GodFather likes to call “numb nuts”!
Marceleno continued, “Our structure simply distributes pressure on the sit bones, less on soft tissue, for a more comfortable ride. Our dropped mid-saddle relieves the direct pressure you feel in other performance saddles. Your soft tissue then rests on a softer foam insert, which is the Comfort Surface.”
The design of the Trinity Saddle resonates loud and clear for many riders in the local community. Especially with Texas summer heat rolling in, any step in the direction of comfort is one the community is eager to consider.
What else is there to know about the Trinity Saddle?
In addition to the Comfort Surface, the Trinity Saddle weighs only 257 grams, making it a lightweight saddle in spite of its greater width.
The Trinity, retailing at $155, also comes with 3 West Design’s standard 30-day money-back guarantee. All of 3 West’s saddles are designed and partially manufactured in the U.S. and are produced through the company’s ongoing relationship with Velo.
What inspired the Trinity? And what’s next?
Marceleno shared with WheelBrothers, “We’re proud to provide the Trinity, which joins the Halcyon as a lightweight performance saddle with the Comfort Service. We’re excited to expand our engineering attributes to two women’s saddles soon, too.”
Indeed, 3 West Design has been fast at work on multiple saddle designs since its founding in 2014. Currently, they’re testing one women’s saddle with their patented Air Chamber, and another with their Foam Insert.
“Each will feature a 90-degree sit area to meet women’s sit bone structure and provide a full relief area for their soft tissue needs,” Marceleno explained.
These two women’s saddles are on-target to hit the market in early summer 2019. For more information, go to their website at https://www.3westdesign.com/.