Selle Italia

From a comfort perspective this saddle cannot be beat in my humble opinion. Top Marks. This said, build quality of the rail attachment areas and the shell are questionable as I have two of these and one of them just cracked in the shell area near the rear rail insertion point rendering it into a piece of fine Italian garage wall art and now my backup version has the dreaded creaking sound that others mention. I've tried what others suggested in filling up the 4 Ti rail/Carbon shell attachment points with Tri-Flow / Tenacious lube and after about 45 minutes of riding the noise returns (sounds like an old Octalink BB interface creeking, quite loud and intolerable). No luck. Don't know what is driving the creaking noise but it will prevent me from buying another one. Now I have to search for a saddle with similar comfort not an easy task.

size: S3 (130mm)

weight as measured: 210g

used with Assos Mille GTO bib shorts

time of use: about 37 hours indoor and outdoor combined

I've used several saddles on several road and mountain bikes. Even though this model is intended for racing it's still the most comfortable I've ever used. I started using the endurance-oriented Assos bibs for about a year before I got this and found an improvement in comfort and then got more improvement with this saddle. The combination of this race saddle with the endurance shorts works well for me. I can clearly feel how the race cut profile minimizes restriction of leg movement. A modern touring model using the same 3D technology like Selle's new Novus Boost Evo 3D might be more comfortable for some. I like this lighter, more compact one for now.

I occasionally get out of the saddle for relief but this is the first one I didn't have to fight with all day.

The surface has a high level of friction. If you demand ease of fore-aft body movement that could be an issue.

The open structure provides great ventilation. Cleaning it might be an issue. You'd have to be careful not to spill your sports drink or your spumoni on it. Otherwise a great saddle.

I am sure this would be a good saddle for some, definitely a bit more cush than the regular Model X.

I personally am struggling to find a comfortable saddle. Not sure what has changed with my body over the past decade that I can't tolerate many saddles anymore (have trialed 9 so far). My current saddles are fine, but not great after about 1.5h. This one is no better, a little worse. So this is not necessarily a bad saddle, just not for me.

I do recommend following BTDs recommendation to use electrical tape on the rails when trialing a saddle. I also put some on my saddle clamp for extra protection.

Only put 20 miles on it so far, but this saddle is an AMAZING value for the price. I've ridden Specialized Power, Specialized Romin, and Pro Stealth. Tried this Selle Italia when it came stock on a bike, and figured i'd be swapping it for the Pro Stealth and saving 100g+ in the process. The problem is that the Selle Italia is SO comfortable. The sides flex, there's a bit of padding and when I rode it back to back with the Pro, this was just cushier. For the price, it's definitely worth trying out. Will update the review when I have some longer rides completed, but this seems to be an amazing price/performance/comfort option.