psycholist wrote:
I just had the saddle rails on a Koobi PRS saddle fail. The saddle
is just shy of 2 years old. Mileage is probably in the 8,000 range.

I divide my mileage between this bike and another I have. I've had
various saddles. Before the Koobi I used Selle Italia Flite saddles.
I'd ride them for 20,000 or more miles before I'd trade them out just
'cuz all the covering on the nose would be gone.

I was unpleasantly surprised by the saddle rail failure on the Koobi.
I contacted the company by e-mail. They told me the lifespan of the
saddle was "roughly 400 hours." Were I to use one saddle on one
bike, that would be only about 7 months of riding for me. That seems
ridiculous!

Sheldon ... Jobst ... anyone have any knowledge of saddle life
expectancy and whether or not this 400 hour thing is at all
reasonable? I sure wasn't aware of that life expectancy when I
bought the thing. It's been the most comfortable saddle I've ever
owned, but dang ... I can't afford to change it out every 400 hours
(though they'll send out new saddle rails for $20)!

Thanks for any thoughts/feedback.

My thought is you should give THEM some feedback! 400 hours is totally
absurd. Period.

I broke a rail on my Flite Genuine Gel saddle, but that was a) on a mountain
bike and b) possibly due to my having it set WAY back on the post. (I also
tend to over-tighten bolts as a matter of course.)

I think their "fix offer" was similar to yours $-wise (although I think it
included THEM replacing the rail), but I ended up giving the saddle to a
friend, who managed to wrestle another Flite rail in it. Creaks a bit, bit
otherwise works fine. (I used some weather-stripping glue around the loose
bit, so maybe the creak will be gone if I ever use the saddle again. It's
in the vast "seat pile" currently.)

My guess is it's an anomoly, and if you DO get a new rail for it it should
last indefinitely. (They're hard to install, though, without a bit of
slop?)

Shutting up now, Bill