Nikosi saddle from New Tribe - Reviews? Opinions?

Anyone had a chance to try the new New Tribe saddle Nikosi?

I made the plunge and bought one. I’ll post a review when I receive and test it.

I received my Nikosi yesterday. I was only able to make 2 short climbs last night.

Good
1. Workmanship and materials
2. Gear gaps, loops, and the rear alum. ring are all placed in comfortable positions.
3. Adjustable in many different places
4. The side Ds can be flipped back out of the way



Bad
1. Would be better without the snap hooks which add weight
2. Lots of metal.....rings, side ds, legstrap d, bridge o ring, snaps
3. Expensive
4. Takes a while to get the saddle adjusted right
5. Very little comfort improvement over my old saddle
6. Bridge area seemed cluttered, sloppy and heavy
7. The saddle seems to ride much higher than my old saddle
8. Because of the long bridge length, it seems that I make less progress for each time I advance the friction hitch. (if that makes sense)
9. The bridge can not be replace by the owner and has to be sent back to New Tribe to be replaced.



So far I am less than impressed. I am going to reserve final judgement until I can spend more hours in the saddle. My biggest disappointment is the comfort level of the harness. I really expected a vast improvement over my old split suspension harness w/ a butt strap. These expectations may have been elevated do to all the positive reviews concerning the comfort level of New Tribe saddles. I spent over an hour adjusting and fine tuning the saddle for proper fit by following their detailed instructions with no noticeable improvement in comfort level.

The movements caused by using a VT or XT type hitch with a foot ascender seems to cause the legs straps to ride up and bind in the crotch area. I am going to further experiment with the hitch attached to the leg bridge D ring and the standing part attached to the top O ring. (as Moss has demonstrated using the New Tribe Tengu saddle in his video). It should be noted that this technique is not listed in the Nikosi instructions as proper use nor is it listed as improper use. I believe New Tribe should include this method of attaching to the saddle in their instructions if it is “acceptable”.

I hope by breaking in the saddle more and doing additional adjustments in technique and fitment this saddle will be more impressive over time.

The bottom line based on limited testing-

Save your money and buy a different saddle. The features are not worth the cost. I know lots of folks love New Tribe but I am not impressed by their latest product. My opinion may change after further testing, but I would be surprised.

Had a chance to hang in the saddle and experiment with a few limb walks tonight for a little over an hour.

My experience with attaching the friction hitch to the leg bridge d ring was a positive one. It seemed to improve the mechanics of ascent. It also stopped the the biner on biner clash that comes with using one d or o ring for multiple hardware items. The saddle also seem a little more balanced.

The double bridge feature is a plus and aids movement through the canopy and on long reaching limb walks. It should be noted that the "response" of the bridges is not always the same. Meaning that the bridges act independently of each other as needed. The single bridge saddle (Cougar) I've tried seemed to allow quicker movement and response along the bridge length.

New Tribe may have hit their target audience a little better featuring this saddle with some type of tighter fitting lower bulk leg straps (from the standpoint of movement freedom not comfort). With any gained movement or access from the two bridge design you are quickly reminded and somewhat held back by the well padded but somewhat large bulky and loose fitting leg straps. Now I know well padded leg straps and new tribe go hand in hand but these two features (large leg pads and the two floating bridges) seem to be conflicting.

Greenluck had you climbed on an NT harness before the Nikosi? Someone pointed out on another forum that if a climber doesn't like to climb in NT harnesses in general then the Nikosi is not going to change anything for them.
-Andrew

I gave the NT Nekosi a test run at the recent 2010 Kentucky Tree Climber Rendezvous. I was prepared to be disappointed due to what looked like an overcomplicated design to allow a bridge to be implemented on the NT style harness. I was pleasantly surprised. The bridge was quite responsive and I liked the interplay between the legstrap bridge and the anchor bridge. It did everything my NT Tengu does but added tremendous positional mobility, particularly side-to-side horizontal and inverted positions. Note: I climbed on an eye-2-eye split tail attached to the leg strap D and anchored the static leg of my DRT system on the bridge D. Since the leg strap D is metal with the expected large attachment opening there was a little carabiner slop happening (expected). However I was able to climb efficiently with no loss of performance compared to the the Tengu. I'm looking forward to a version of the Nikosi with a soft D (like the Tengu) to improve that aspect. Agree with Greenluck, too much metal overall but I think New Tribe is on the right track addressing the needs of climbers who require an extremely robust yet nimble harness for work, research or intensive rec climbing activities.

I've spent a lot of hours climbing in bridge harnesses (Komet Butterfly II and Petzl Sequoia SRT) and the Nikosi is right up there with positional mobility. It's going to be a different feel since it is a completely different design paradigm. Comfort wise no comparison, Butterfly II and Sequioa can't get anywhere near NT comfort.
-Andrew

moss wrote:

Greenluck had you climbed on an NT harness before the Nikosi? Someone pointed out on another forum that if a climber doesn't like to climb in NT harnesses in general then the Nikosi is not going to change anything for them.
-Andrew

Moss- No I have never tried a New Tribe Harness before. It holds and supports you in a much different fashion than my other saddle. It did cross my mind that I might be comparing apples to oranges. (Leg straps to butt strap saddle design)I realize that saddle selection is a very personal thing and many climbers have different opinions and body types that may make one type of saddle more appealing than others. I'm one to keep an open mind about everything, but I'm also not afraid to rock the boat and say what I feel should be disclosed to potential buyers of this saddle.

Does anyone know why New Tribe does not list attaching the friction hitch to the leg bridge d ring in their instructions as an approved connection method? Do they not approve of this type of usage? The fact that this works so well makes me wonder why they don't put the suggestion in their instructions. Maybe I should ask New Tribe directly as a customer......Moss did you ever ask New Tribe about this?

One thing I should mention about New Tribe, their customer service is second to none.

I'll try to post some pictures if I can of my new saddle....

greenluck wrote:

Moss- No I have never tried a New Tribe Harness before. It holds and supports you in a much different fashion than my other saddle. It did cross my mind that I might be comparing apples to oranges.

Ok, that makes sense based on your response to it.

greenluck wrote:

Does anyone know why New Tribe does not list attaching the friction hitch to the leg bridge d ring in their instructions as an approved connection method? Do they not approve of this type of usage? The fact that this works so well makes me wonder why they don't put the suggestion in their instructions. Maybe I should ask New Tribe directly as a customer......Moss did you ever ask New Tribe about this?

It's generally a safe use, New Tribe has already responded on that point in regard to the NT Tengu harness. However the NT Tengu has a soft legstrap with a tight eye, the carabiner holding the e2e hitch will not rotate across the gate. There is potential for the carabiner to load the gate on the Nikosi leg strap D. That's why they likely don't recommend attaching there. The D is most certainly life support rated.
-Andrew

Here is a link to an another tree climber forum (Gypoclimber) that has some reviews posted of the New Tribe Nikosi. http://gypoclimber.com/showthread.php?13695-The-New-Tribe-Nikosi/page4

and another review from another tree climbing forum....

http://www.treeclimbercoalition.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1813&sid=a7b7ab9fbce71f0eda217092cdd261bf

greenluck wrote:

and another review from another tree climbing forum....

http://www.treeclimbercoalition.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1813&sid=a7b7ab9fbce71f0eda217092cdd261bf

Good to read EMR's report on TCC, he's a seasoned work climber with plenty of experience on trad arb harnesses and NT harnesses. Many of the comments on the Gypo climber forum are from pro's who have never climbed NT or the Nikosi and are just looking at the photo. I was amused by one poster's speculation on how he'd modify it (with no experience climbing on it).
-Andrew

Here is another thread from Gypoclimber about the Nikosi. This one includes a photo of someone hanging in the saddle....thought some may want to take a look.......

http://gypoclimber.com/showthread.php?13735-You-can-ride-the-New-Tribe-Nikosi-for-free!!!

Heres the vid I made on it, if y'all wanna check it out...

Great video review, well worth the time to view.

Nice vid Nick. Thanks. I just bought a new Tengu a few months ago. So I'm not in the market for a new saddle. LOVE the Tengu. But I do like the idea of the angled gear "loops" on the front of the waist belt. I've never given it a thought before, but it does make a lot of sense. This is a feature that New Tribe may want to consider as standard on all their saddles.

Ron

Canopy Chatter Link

More info on the Nikosi saddle......