The Ladle from Charge is wider and shorter than most other saddles on the market with a small pressure relief channel. It's the female version of the popular Charge Spoon. The Ladle is really a no fuss, no drama option for a MTB saddle with its standard chromoly rails, hardwearing synthetic covering and three colour options.
After some research we found the Ladle, at 290g, to weigh little more than some considerably spendier options. Charge says the padding used in the Ladle is lightweight, something that must help it keep its weight down here.
After fitting the Ladle to my long-term test bike, I found myself sinking into the padding on the top of the saddle. There was a noticeable amount of ‘give’ along the nose, due in part to the padding and in part to the oval cutout in the plastic on the base of the saddle. These features equalled comfort on shorter rides but caused increasing pressure on the sit bones over longer distances.
As mentioned above, there's not much of a pressure relief channel on the Ladle, which left me in a little discomfort after long rides – a deeper groove down the centre of the saddle would be welcome to improve this. In my opinion at least the wider rear portion of the is less aesthetically pleasing than some other brands, and the stubby nose doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvre on climbs.
- Price: £25 / US$40 / $TBC
- Rail: Chromoly steel
- Weight: 290g
- Size: 280mm x 155mm
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