JP (NoLifeLikeThisLife.com) takes on the Essor USA Levitate Carbon Saddle

My name is JP. I'm a photographer and cyclist in New York City. I work for my own website NoLifeLikeThisLife.com and a bunch of rad clients that help me pay my rent, such as Bicycling Magazine. When I was first asked to review a full carbon saddle I was pumped, but had no idea what I would be getting into since I'd never ridden one before.

When the package showed up, I literally thought there was nothing in this thick padded envelope. I tore it open and out slid this thin, slick, shiny little saddle. This thing was as light as a paper airplane in my hand. I was so nervous to throw on a full carbon saddle!

My first ride on it I was kitted up in some basic bibs without gel padding, super basic. I think everything else I had was actually dirty. I took along my multi-tool as all saddles require a bit finagling to find the perfect position for booty. The total height of the saddle was lower than my last saddle, and I actually had to raise my post a bit to get it back to where I needed it. But hot damn does that low profile look super hot on a carbon aero post! I put about 10 miles on it before I had to pull it forward a bit and drop the nose a bit to fit my personal comfort. I know saddle's are super personal and getting the right angle and position is a hard thing to translate since we've all experienced the 'dialing it in' part.

I put about 40 miles on it once I found the right saddle position for me and to my suprise, has a good amount of flex to it. Normally, on all padded saddles, right around mile 60 or so is when I start to experience what I refer to as 'sleepy peepee' and would usually ride out of the saddle off and on for a bit. Sleepy peepee didn't happen on this saddle! Everything felt great!

With normal bibs, this saddle is just as comfortable as anything else I've ridden and favorited. I usually ride saddles with minimal padding anyway, and I couldn't even notice a difference once I was out on it for a while. The gloss carbon not only looks slick, but it nice to slide off of when you're picking your tired body up off the saddle to climb. I've been cruising around on my road bike lately in cut off dickies, and I'm already used to this saddle. Granted it's a bit less forgiving without bibs, but I really can't tell the difference. The weight difference between this saddle and my last saddle though is so ridiculous, I'm thinking about getting a bar mount cup holder for iced coffee just to take up that weight difference!

Be sure to check out JP's fantastic blog over at nolifelikethislife.com
Follow him on Instagram @NoLifeLikeThisLife while you're at it!