Selle Italia’s long been known for their very flat, generally very lightweight road bike saddles. For 2015, the line expands quite a bit, introducing some rather trick mountain bike saddles and a rounder profile road bike seat.
Above, the new Butcher gravity saddle has a handle cut out that’s not for comfort or improved blood flow “down there”. Instead, it’s for grabbing when you’re doing tricks off ramps, so it’s aimed squarely at the DH/DJ/BMX crowd.
It’s named after Butcher Ranch Trail in Downieville, CA. The shape is thought out more for when you’re not going to be seated a whole lot…like ripping downhill, jumping, etc. The wider nose makes it easier to steer with your thighs. It’s got a thick “crash pad” at the front for landing hard, and all the edges are soft and rounded for easily sliding on and off when maneuvering, but a grippy TPU ribbed section keeps you from slipping off unintentionally.
But, they know not everyone is pulling superman seat grabs, so there’s another purpose for the hole…
The hole is reinforced to hold the weight of the bike, so you can hang the bike from the hole. Pretty handy for lifts at the bike park. And it has a bottle opener cut into it. Price is $80, claimed weight is around 260g.
The Nepal is a new all-day trail/enduro saddle. It’s round in the rear, making it easy to get off the back on the descents and then back on without catching your baggies. There’s just a bit of ramp at the tail to support your sit bones when climbing.
The nose is a bit wider to give you more of a perch when climbing on the nose of the saddle. The herringbone anti-slip patches are here, too, just further back. Protective side panels shield the rear corners from small scrapes. Claimed weights range from about 220g to 260g. $79 to $129.
Both the Butcher and Nepal have a rubber grip under the nose, giving you a little something to grab or shoulder without it slipping.
The SLR X-Cross is a more mountain bike specific version of the standard SLR. It gets a bit more padding and the anti-slip panels. 150g and $139.
They’re known for making flat saddles, but they wanted something for riders that need help getting their pelvis rotated forward a bit. Enter the Novus, it’s first reappearance in 12 years. It has a slightly downward curved nose and kicked up tail. Two sizes, 138mm and 148mm wide. Weight is 120g to 150g depending on whether you get carbon or metal rails. $139 to about $200.
The new Flight Tekno model gets full carbon rails and a fully padded cover. They say the problem with most super light saddles is that they don’t have enough foam to make them comfortable for hours in the saddle. So, they gave it a normal amount of padding.
The rails have a ceramic layer on the outside to protect them from scratches.
$400 and 125g, just like they claim.
