Got a project that has been taking up too much room in the garage for too long, and trolling eBay for good condition vintage saddle squeezes one solitary little tear out of your wallet?
Selle Royal has got your back.
Since they are owned by the same parent company as Fizik, they don’t need to worry about making the lightest, carbonest, raciest little saddle to top off your $300 seatpost. Focusing mostly on saddles for recreational bikes, like cruisers and hybrids, Selle Royal is getting back to its roots and recreating the 1972 Contour saddle.
Read about their Origins line, plus a mini-review, after the break.
The new Contour is wide and long at 160mm x 273mm, has sexy looking low sides that hide your seatpost guts (but isn’t that hard to install, despite a warning from them that it might be), and at weighs approximately the same as two Aliante saddles (395g).
It’s available in two versions; a real leather, handmade in Italy version for $90 or a Microtex covered version for $60. about $140 or a Mictrotex covered version at about $95 (prices converted to USD from GBP found on their site)
They sent one over for me to test, but it just wasn’t right on my bike, so I passed it along to a friend to test. Gordon just happened to have his original Selle Royal saddle fall apart recently and needed something for his Raleigh Technium (pictured at the beginning of the post, with new saddle).
Here’s what Gordon had to say about it:
Finding the perfect saddle is not an easy task. Because it is one of the few places that the rider comes in contact with, the saddle must cater to a ride range of riders. A person may know nothing about bikes, but understands what it means to find something comfortable. With today’s technology, light weight seats optimized to cater to a wide range of riders is no longer impossible. However, a narrow seat with carbon rails may not matter to us if we do not have a 14lb racing machine. What about something for the daily commute, and possibly the chance of longer rides on the weekend? Enter the Selle Royal ContourRoyal.
I got the chance to use the ContourRoyal for a month, courtesy of Chris Klibowitz,. My bike is a 20 year old Raleigh Technium so lightweight is out of the question. Instead, I thought about the look and the overall performance. Bottom line, this saddle fits perfectly with any vintage road bike. It looks the part and made with modern materials. Although not heavy, it does have a bit of weight, but like I said, that is not the point. Selle Royal wanted to continue the timeless appearance of older saddles with today’s technology. That means a narrower seat to contour to each specific rider. I rode with both jeans and bib shorts and my bottom did not complain. Drawbacks? The black leather added a bit of color to my shorts. However, that is to be expected with real leather. Overall, a great saddle to complete a vintage ride.
