Specialized brings 3D-printed Mirror saddle tech to £290 Power Pro

After the S-Works Power with Mirror and the S-Works Romin with Mirror, Specialized has now introduced its 3D-printed upper at a slightly more affordable price point. The Power Pro with Mirror features titanium rails along with a reclaimed carbon base and costs £290.

Mirror, if you missed it, is Specialized’s take on using a 3D-printed lattice construction for a saddle’s upper. It is made using ‘struts’ and ‘nodes’, with this Power Pro model getting the same 14,000 struts and 7,799 nodes to create the unique design.

Specialized creates this Mirror upper by 3D-printing a liquid polymer to form what they claim to be “an infinitely tuneable honeycomb structure.”

> Specialized told us all about their Mirror tech here

The benefit, they claim, is that the matrix of strands can be tuned in a way that is impossible with conventional foam, thus allowing Specialized to create a saddle that “cradles and supports the pelvis, creating a hammock effect that lets the saddle support your weight, not the soft tissue around your sit bones.”

Being a saddle from the Power range, the saddle is designed for road bikes with a lower front end. The short shape flares quickly at the rear and rises towards the tail, with the idea being that the saddle is supportive when you’re hunkered down in the drops.

At the base, you’ll find a rather interesting feature, though we’ll forgive you if you’ve never found the base of a saddle to be interesting. Specialized says that “innovations in manufacturing allow us to utilise reclaimed carbon from factory production” and Specialized describes this as a “first step on the road to closed-loop production.”

That closed-loop production is a process where materials are recycled indefinitely without their base properties being sacrificed. It is seen as a sustainable approach to the supply chain so while some bike brands push environmentally harmful NFTs, it’s good to see Specialized is actively looking to clean up its carbon footprint a little.

The saddle base uses 15% reclaimed carbon that is combined with injected nylon to form a composite shell.

Attaching the saddle to your seatpost is a set of titanium alloy rails in a 7mm round size. This is the unofficial industry standard size and Specialized says that it has been chosen as it is more versatile than a 7x9mm carbon rail and will therefore fit more seatposts.

> Review: Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror Saddle

The saddle is available in two widths, the standard 143mm and the wider 155mm. One is on the way to us for testing, so we’ll have a review online soon.

specialized.com