3D printing technology allows saddle companies to target padding density in a way that traditional saddles can’t. The Posedla Joyseat takes it a step further by taking a mould of your butt, done at home, and applying that targeted density to your exact dimensions. My version kept me hotspot free for a 20-hour ride and that performance comes with a compelling story. The only question worth asking is how custom you actually need your saddle.
Pros
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Simple at-home custom mould process
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Exceptionally soft nose
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It’s possible to change the upper if needed
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Handmade in the Czech Republic with an eye towards revitalization
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Custom colour options
Cons
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Long lead time
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Expensive
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If you ask most cyclists about high-technology products on their bikes, it's unlikely that the saddle will make the list. If you look at our list of the best road bike saddles, you'll find that idea reinforced again. We have options for short or long and different weights but most of what is there is relatively traditional. Despite that, there's a bit of a revolution happening in saddles.
Tech specs: Posedla Joyseat custom 3D printed saddle
The revolution that is pushing bike saddle technology is 3D printing and it started with Specialized. In 2020 Specialized was the first to use 3D printing technology from a California company named Carbon to create a saddle unlike anything else on the market. Since then, Specialized has moved on to a second generation, Fizik has put out two generations of saddles using the same technology, and both Sella San Marco and Selle Italia now have options as well. What all of those options share is that the technology underpinning them is the same.
Depending on your choice of available brands, the approach is still relatively old school. There are advantages to the products those brands are offering but they are far from the truly custom future of manufacturing that 3D printing promises. Posedla is a small Czech brand that aims to change that. The Joyseat isn't just 3D printed, it's handmade and custom 3D printed to your body.
Promises don't mean much though so I proposed an idea to put the saddle to the test. I flew across the world and spent 20 hours riding from Prague to Vienna on a Joyseat to see how it performed. Keep reading to see my thoughts on one of the most unique saddles available on the market.
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The Posedla "factory" is a simple building in an area that could use the investment(Image credit: Josh Ross)
The area surrounding the factory provided some of the best road cycling I've ever experienced, it's worth revitalisation efforts(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Design and aesthetics
To understand the design of the Posedla Joyseat you have to start with an understanding of the man behind the company, Jiří Dužár. If you dig a bit you can get him to talk about the technology behind his saddle company but that's not where the passion seems to flow. Instead, almost every conversation seems to start and end with a discussion of the land that Posedla Manufacturing calls home.
While the bulk of the, very small, company calls Prague home. The manufacturing is set in a small area of Czech called North Bohemia. Specifically, a brown, nondescript building that sits inside a small town called Varnsdorf. It's an area that was once home to lots of manufacturing but as border closures took their toll, people and the manufacturing disappeared. Jiří wants to change that one saddle at a time but the goal isn't to go back to the old way of doing things.
Instead of the manufacturing of old, and the environmental devastation it brought with it, Jiří is bringing high-tech and sustainable manufacturing. In truth though, it's a mix of high-tech and low-tech. The low-tech side is where the manufacturing of the carbon fibre base and rails falls.
Actually, manufacturing is only a loose description. As you walk into the facility. Everything is newly unpacked and there is lots of empty space. The production floor consists of a table where two women, who someone surely calls babička (grandma), sit with a mould each in front of them. The production supervisor helps get carbon prepreg out of freezers not much bigger than what you'd find in a house and these women lay it into the mould in front of them.
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The production line for Posedla might be working with carbon fibre but it's low tech and hand made(Image credit: Matej Tresnak)
Rails and bottoms can be stockpiled but this is still the production bottleneck(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Each woman is working on a single side of the rail. When they've finished it goes into a vacuum bag at room temperature. When that process finishes, it comes out and a small tube of unidirectional carbon gets placed into one side before the second side of the mould gets placed on top and the two sides are bolted together. From there, the whole thing gets vacuum sealed again before finally going through a baking process. At the end, the finished rails come out of the moulds and go through a sanding and finishing step.
Although the material is carbon fibre, the whole process is as low-tech as you could possibly imagine. This process is also the current opportunity for optimization and it's the reason for the long lead times. The three people working together can only manage 6 sets of carbon rails in an 8-hour shift and timing is always critical. Nothing can get started that isn't able to finish the same day so even a small disruption will adjust the whole schedule. It's possible to stockpile these parts but speeding up the process will be capital-intensive so there's an open question of when to make the jump.
At the same time the low-tech side of the manufacturing is happening in Jiří's hometown, a very different process is taking place not far away. The 3D-printed upper half of the saddle is almost the complete opposite of the carbon fibre base and rails. While one is low-tech and handmade, the other is high-tech and hands-off.
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The lower portion of the Posedla saddle is handmade and low-tech(Image credit: Josh Ross)
The upper is as cutting edge as it gets but it's still produced locally(Image credit: Josh Ross)
At the same time the low tech side of the manufacturing is happening in Jiří's hometown, a very different process is taking place not far away. The 3D printed upper half of the saddle is almost the complete opposite of the carbon fibre base and rails. While one is low tech and handmade, the other is high-tech and hands off.
To complete the upper, Posedla gathers data and it's transmitted electronically to a German 3D printing partner in the Czech-German border area who has a fleet of HP printers and vast experience in automotive & sporting goods. The specific name of that partner is a trade secret but what is important is the high-tech nature of the process. The company uses the mould data and combines that with a patent pending 3d printed lattice structure developed by Posedla to create the upper part of the saddle without the need for virtually any human touch. When finished, the pieces head from Germany back to Posedla in the Czech Republic. It's fast, efficient, and hands off.
Despite that difference though, it's not drastically different to the consumer. Both systems end up with a lattice structure that allows for precise tuning of the feel. Visually it's more rounded. While Carbon saddles use nodes and lines that look like triangles when finished, the Posedla saddle is a collection of rounded holes. The edges of the saddle mirror that look with a very rounded aesthetic to both the centre cutout and to the nose as well as the rear. There's maybe a little throwback to 90's design energy here but it doesn't impact the performance one way or the other. When everything is combined you end up with a 180-gram carbon saddle with a carbon base and 3D-printed upper. It’s on the shorter side, similar to Fizik and Sella San Marco, at 262mm and the final width will be between 136 and 162mm depending on your needs.
The advantage of using BASF is more about the goals close to Jiří's heart. Instead of incurring the carbon footprint of extensive shipping, BASF is a local company. Also falling in line with company goals is the fact that it's possible to return the finished piece to powder form for reuse. Remember, sustainability and locality are both goals for Jiří.
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Part of the magic that makes the Joyseat what it is, is the at home moulding process(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Fidelity is 5mm and the whole process is incredibly simple(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Once you've got the mould done, a series of images showing these QR codes help create your saddle(Image credit: Josh Ross)
The custom moulding process
As with the discussion of the design, it's necessary to take a step back when starting the discussion of the performance. This isn't a saddle you'll simply pick out from a web page then attach to your bike and go. What makes the Posedla Joyseat unique, and special, is that it's made for you. There will be others in the world like it but none of them will be exactly the same.
My journey with the Joyseat started, like everyone, with a simple question on the Posedla website. Was I choosing a road gravel, or mountain bike saddle? With that answered, the add to cart button added not just a saddle but also the Smiling Butt Kit. Then, with payment provided, it isn't a saddle that gets added to the shipping queue but rather the Smiling Butt Kit.
The Smiling Butt Kit is as much the magic of the Joyseat as any other part of the system. The heart of it is a foam that you sit on to create an impression. You don't send the foam back to Posedla though, instead, there's a series of QR codes around the edges of the box that holds the foam. Once you've made an impression you just take a series of images, covering all angles and the QR codes, and the Posedla software depth maps the impression. The fidelity is 5mm and the process is similar in principle to landscape mapping.
The pictures aren't the only part of the custom process though. The next step is a series of questions about your riding. Things like age and gender, there's a different profile for women, and things like flexibility and typical ride distances all play into the final design of your saddle. There are also purely cosmetic custom options such as a colour detail and engraving. When you've answered everything, the images will go through a check and when that's done, the foam isn't needed anymore. The process is complete and it's just a matter of waiting. If there was ever an issue, the two parts of the saddle are mechanically joined so it's possible to separate them and replace the upper.
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It's a small thing but you can add colour here and you should because the colours are beautiful and rich(Image credit: Josh Ross)
As custom as this saddle is, it will always be a saddle with a fairly large cutout(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Like all 3D printed saddles, it's possible to get very specific in how the padding responds by varying the underlying structure(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Performance
My own experience with the Posedla Joyseat was a little different from the norm. Although I went through the same at-home moulding process, I didn't get the saddle shipped to my house. Instead, I got on a plane and headed for Prague to test the saddle the way I like to test things, with a stupid long ride. In this case, the ride was 370 km / 230 miles with 4267 metres / 14,000 ft from Prague to Vienna.
I didn't immediately set out on that ride though. Instead, my first opportunity to take a look at the Joyseat was at a world-class bike shop just outside of Prague called SBCR. It's an excellent place to launch a big ride in Czech and for me, it was an opportunity to start things on a new bike, and a new saddle, with a bike fit. It also meant that I got to see not only my specific saddle but also a collection of other Joyseats. Right away, I regretted not adding colour to my saddle.
It's a small thing that's not specifically related to the performance of this saddle but I have to mention it. The padding of the Joyseat is essentially a "U" shape. Starting at each rear corner, it comes to the front and follows the shape of the centre cutout before ending at the opposite rear corner. In the rear behind the cutout is a depression with a bit of plastic replacing the padding. That bit of plastic has a Posedla logo and during the order process, there's an option to pick a colour. As I said, it's a small thing but the colours are rich and really quite beautiful. The nature of my job is that I am constantly changing bikes and kit so I went with black for purposes of matching but when you order, pick a colour.
The other thing I did when the saddle first got mounted to the Festka I was riding was push on it. I think everyone naturally does this with saddles but 3D-printed saddles are inherently different from traditional saddles. The reason saddle companies turn to 3D printing is that the technology allows for infinite variability, and pinpoint accuracy, in how the padding responds. Instead of general areas where the padding is stiffer, 3D printing allows for a huge range. The best 3D printed saddles make use of this by being softer in most places but still having the density you need under your sit bones.
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The two parts of the saddle are mechanically joined and it's possible to separate them if you ever have the need(Image credit: Josh Ross)
The base of the Joyseat is a thing of beauty and keeping production in-house has allowed Posedla to optimise it for strength and weight(Image credit: Josh Ross)
It's odd that the rails quote a 6 nm max torque as they are likely incredibly strong given the construction process(Image credit: Josh Ross)
Posedla and the Joyseat exhibit the best of what you can expect in a 3D saddle. The nose is easily compressed under your thumb while the area under the sit bones is almost completely unyielding with a thumb press. The outer edges of the wings of the saddle are somewhere in between.
Of course, all of this is unique to my Joyseat saddle. I ride around 16,000 km / 10,000 miles a year in an aggressive road bike position. I also don't rotate my hips forward all that much and though I'm flexible, I tend to do the bending higher up my back. That detail about my flexibility means my saddle has a slight wave to it.
When I actually rode the Joyseat, it felt like an old friend. You know that saddle you've used forever and know you can depend on? That's what you get right from the first ride with the Joyseat. I found it easy to transition between standing and sitting and on shorter rides, where I move around a lot, I always seemed to be in the right spot.
After 16 hours of pedalling, and 20 hours elapsed time, with the Joyseat those initial impressions didn't change much. On long rides, I spend more time locked in something approaching my TT position and this time, I never experienced any numbness. I loved how the slight wave allowed me to stay stable in my position even as the hours dragged on. I did notice though, as I was on a bike that was slightly too big, that the padding was so exact that I sometimes moved off the ideal spot for my sit bones as I subtly tried to correct the oversized bike. I wouldn't consider that a mark against the saddle but you'll want to make sure your bike is right for you. Given most people won't be on a borrowed bike a world away from home, I suspect you won't have an issue but it's worth consideration.
The slight wave in my version of the Joyseat is perfect for me and that's the point (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Verdict
What sums up my experience with the Posedla Joyseat is that I spent 20 hours sitting on it and at the end, I still liked it. Yes, I was on a great bike with a great pair of bib shorts but those kinds of hours exaggerate any issues you might have. I didn't give myself an opportunity to back out of using this saddle, I just jumped in and put it to the test. Now that I'm back home, I'll be picking a different bike to put it on. That is high praise in terms of the actual performance.
If we stick to a purely product-focused discussion about the Joyseat, my only real question is how necessary it is. It's an expensive saddle and, at least right now, it takes a long time to get it in your hands. I happen to find myself right at the top of the bell curve for most cycling products. That means if a company, like Fizik, is averaging the data collected from a range of customers, it's probably perfect for me. If that's you, it might not be necessary to go for a custom saddle. If you fall outside of that perfect placement, the Joyseat makes a lot of sense.
The Joyseat also makes a lot of sense if you just aren't sure. If you've struggled to find what works and you've got a growing collection of saddles, maybe it's time to try something different. The Posedla system automates the whole process of finding the perfect saddle for you.
There's another layer to the discussion though. The Joyseat is a great saddle but Posedla has an incredibly compelling backstory. It's a group of cyclists who started a company to bring sustainable manufacturing back to a region of the world that could use it. It's not just top-down either. When I spoke to a young road racer/customer service agent for Posedla, she told me she was also from the same area in Northern Czech. She also told me that the goal of sustainable revitalization mattered to her as much as it did to Jiří. If you like putting your money behind a great story, Posedla has a great story. I'd bet you could even follow in my footsteps and pick up your saddle in person, the area is worth a visit.
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Testing scorecard and notes
Design and aesthetics
The optional colours are rich and beautiful and the carbon base is a handmade piece of art. Visually, I like the 3D printing of the Sella San Marco a little more but it’s a small thing.
8/10
Weight
On the light side of 3D printed saddles but 180 grams isn’t groundbreaking.
8/10
Comfort
It’s custom made for me. I can’t fault anything in this category.
10/10
Performance
I love how locked into my position the Joyseat lets me feel. I can stand when I want but I rarely felt the need to shift my weight while riding.
10/10
Value
The other saddles that compete on features are the Reform saddles and they are cheaper but also more like a traditional saddle. The pricing for this is understandable but also high and definitely not a bargain.
Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much if those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes.
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140 lb.
Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx
