WTB Silverado v2 Saddle: Getting Rolling

WTB Silverado v2 Saddle: Getting Rolling – by Guitar Ted

NOTE: WTB sent over a Silverado titanium railed saddle at no charge for test and review. I was not paid, nor bribed for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views throughout. 

Recently I found out that WTB had redesigned its evergreen model, the Silverado. This model is, I am pretty sure, the longest running current model saddle that WTB still offers. It also happens to be one of my very favorite saddles. Especially so since WTB has offered the 143mm wide version. 

So, when I heard the news I was a bit dismayed. “There they go again! Taking away a dead simple choice for me and now I guess its back to trying new saddles again!“, which is always a fun adventure. Hours and hours of riding might have to be done just to figure out if a saddle will work or not. So, when you find “that” saddle, it is time to get a hold of several, because when you least expect it, that saddle will go out of production. 

Great! Just great…..

But my contact at WTB also loves his Silverado saddles and told me he was very critical during the design process and wanted to make sure “his” saddle wasn’t ruined by the redesign. He claimed that WTB had succeeded in that effort. 

We’ll let my behind be the judge of THAT! (HA!)

The New Silverado:

The new Siverado is one of the new-school saddles which are shorter in the nose, but not so much in terms of the typical wide rear end that most newer shorter nosed saddles have. Kind of a hybrid here. WTB also used the same technology they used on the Gravelier called “Fusion Form”. It is WTB’s balancing of stiffness and flexibility which is achieved by using varying amounts of reinforcing fiber in the nylon composite base. This allows WTB to tune each model of their saddle range to their intended purposes.

The Silverado is tuned for an aggressive, forward leaning rider much like the Gravelier. Fusion Form also allows the padding to be recessed into the base more creating a thinner profile saddle without sacrificing comfort. 

Pressure mapping revealed to WTB’s designers that a flatter profile and shorter nose length were optimal for the new range of Silverado saddles. So, these are 265mm in length now, but you do have the choice between narrow (133mm) and medium (143mm) widths in four rail configurations (CroMo steel, Stainless Steel, Titanium, and Carbon Fiber) The Titanium railed, medium width Silverado tested retails for $142.00 USD. For more details see the website. https://www.wtb.com/products/silverado?variant=40106918346829

Impressions: 

Okay, so looking at this thing, the new Silverado, and then looking at the old Silverado, well, it is almost comical. That silly looking thin, long nose on the old one seems out of place now. Kind of like when I see a 1990’s 135mm stem on an old 26″er. I guess this new-school short-nosed saddle thing is becoming more and more “normal” looking to my eyes.

The padding on this new saddle seems a bit more plush than it does on the old Silverado, although WTB claims the padding is the same thickness. Must be a Fusion Form thing, I guess. There is the “Comfort Zone” cut-out underneath, a feature used for quite some time on WTB saddles now, and the Microfiber synthetic cover is always a nice touch. 

I have a Gravelier, and to my old eyes, the Gravelier seems a bit wider through the mid-section than the Silverado does, but both are the same short length. I could see that the new Silverado was flatter in profile, but it isn’t completely flat. There still is a slight “kick-up” to the tail, but nothing like the older WTB saddles which were really dramatically kicked-up at the tail-end. 

I was replacing a fairly current Volt titanium railed saddle and when I compared weights, I was a bit taken aback. In fact, I noted straight away that the new Silverado had more heft than the Volt I was removing had. The scales proved this out to be true.

The Volt weighed in at 216 grams and the new Silverado? 246 grams. That’s a significant difference, but hey! Who cares how much the saddle weighs if it is a pain in the butt? So, on the bike it went and I torqued it on per spec for the seat post, then it was off for a very brief test ride. 

More Impressions:

Okay, so like I said up there in the beginning, it may take hours and hours of riding to figure out whether or not the new Silverado is an improvement or just a painful experiment. Initially all I can say is that it has no glaring faults. I think I could ride this for a bit, at any rate. More will be said later on the subject of long ride comfort. 

Overall the Silverado seems similar to the old Silverado in the back half, but that short nose is evident. The padding seems nicer on the new one. That should bode well. But where is that extra 30 grams coming from? Seems odd. If the dimensions are smaller then “less” should equal “less”, not more. 

I have a query in to WTB concerning my questionable math. We’ll see what they say. Until then, it is time to ride this thing. I’ll be back with more soon…