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Selle Italia Turbomatic

Old 01-11-11, 08:37 AM
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Selle Italia Turbomatic

First, I don't have much experience with different saddles. I've spent most of my time on my stock Allez saddle and desperately want to upgrade. I figure I'll do it now and start breaking in a new saddle on the rollers before I get outside. I rode the Fizik Antares and Aliante test saddles last fall. Liked the Antares but would like a little more cushion and don't like the square nose at all. Didn't like the flared back side of the Aliante very much.

Performance bike has the black and white Turbomatic team edition, the standard one and the one with gel and cutout, both for about half off (~$100).

Any C/A own either saddle? I'm on the fence about which I like better in theory. I like the cutout but don't want too much added padding from the gel that might cut off circulation.

My main concern is with the carbon rails being able to hold 250lbs. What do you think?

Any input is appreciated.
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Old 01-11-11, 09:31 AM
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I love the Turbomatic, and I'm hosed that they only resurrected it with carbon rails. There's lots of carbon bits I trust, but saddle rails aren't one of them. At 250 pounds and riding on rough surfaces, I don't take chances with my seatpost or saddle.
I broke my butt last season, I don't need a repeat performance due to a mechanical.
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Old 01-11-11, 10:00 AM
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Geez.... more harping on carbon.

I weigh in at about 260. I own, use, love the Turbomatic (black & white) with carbon rails. Absolutely no problems with it supporting me. In fact, it seems more solid than the old steel-rail Fizik Arione I used to use, and I broke three of those. Did I go out of my way looking for carbon rails? No. But I'm not afraid of them, either. The rails aren't round like traditional steel. They're more of a rectangular shape with rounded corners (lengthwise is up, not laying side-to-side).

As for how the saddle feels: It seems to take a little bit of a "warm-up" period. When I first go out (outside temps in the 40F--50F early morning), it seems especially stiff. But after a couple miles, it's very comfortable. Of course, it could just be me The saddle has a bit of a sag in the middle, probably due to my weight, giving it the appearance of a good "nose-up" position. But, I find it comfortable, so I'm sticking with it. My longest rides on it have been around 70--75 miles or 3-1/2 to 4 hours. Occasionally, it feels loose on the rails, but that--I was told (can't confirm)--was a little bit of movement in the "shock-absorber" system where the rails connect to the saddle body.

I don't think I would describe it as having "a little more cushion", though. There are two logos on it on either side: one white ink on black leather, the other black ink on white leather. The white ink is rubbing off, but the black ink is still fine.
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Old 01-13-11, 02:12 PM
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I ordered the turbomatic team edition gel flow (with cutout) last night from performance. it was a real toss up between the cutout and non-cutout version. I figure if I absolutely don't like the cutout I'll talk to performance about switching. Either way I'm pretty excited to finally get a new saddle. Now I just need to worry about keeping the white half of it clean.

On a side note, my favorite LBS has 50% winter clothes, planning to pick up a mavic jacket after my next paycheck and try to get outside with my new saddle.
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