Lightly padded. I know the little sticker says 3L but not sure it that means #3 or inspector 3L or if it's a date code.

Looks like a #3 to me Jim.
Especially if there is some padding underneath the leather. The "L" is a bit unusual though.
I think mine is just marked "3".

Back in the early 70's I tried out 20+ ass hatchet saddles before I found the one in question. It had about 3/8" thick foam padding vs. 1/4" and 1/2" on some other models. It was better but not good - still caused "sleepy winky syndrome". "eek"

Finally got a nice well broken in Brooks Pro and that fixed the problem for many years afterward.

I have a Unicanitor in gray buffalo with Cinelli logos that has about 1/2" foam padding. Anyone interested, PM me.

verktyg

Chas.

I bought my used #3 buffalo thinking I'd like it on my Le Champion, because I rode one a lot on my Windsor Pro in the late 70's.
But boy….my older butt just did not agree. Back to the Brooks Pro.

I have a #3 on my Guerciotti and don't mind it. Now a Concor...oh man I think they use those for interrogating terrorist. That's not even a hatchet but more like a gas power log splitter. Verktyg is your giving it away I'll take it off your hands. Surprisingly they felt pretty good to me as my booty likes odd saddles. Haha.

So, you minutiae maestros....just what kind of buffalo did they use for these?

American bison?
Water buffalo?

Norton Buffalo?

Those that love them, love them. I find these saddles to be extremely comfortable if you get them dialled in. You need to sit a little further forward on the saddle than you'd expect for it to be comfortable. Nice looking saddle by the way! My understanding is that they were not made of buffalo hide, it was a description of the leather texture.

How can Buffalo's have wings also?

Norton Buffalo (RIP)

I always thought it was something like Asian water buffalo???

verktyg

Chas.

I did too.

Make that three, the water buff hide was supposed to be impervious to degradation from being ridden wet.
Before becoming a permanent convert to the Turbo I rode a #3 for several seasons.
The napped finish wore to a shiny smooth gloss at the nose and retained the original nap behind the sit bones, a #1 would be completely smooth.


-Bandera

[MENTION=61614]verktyg[/MENTION], what is sleepy winky syndrome?

I guess I was wrong - according to Classic rendezvous it is Pakistani Buffalo hide. I don't know what a Pakistani buffalo looks like but I would guess Asian Water Buffalo.

With regard to Bandera's post, I think of the suede, "napped finish" as the #2 .

#3 was in smooth, but slightly textured buffalo hide. With padding underneath the hide.

#1 was smooth calf leather over plastic shell. No or minimal padding.

Who knows, though.

VeloBase.com - Component: Cinelli Unicanitor #2 suede

If you have to ask…you've never had it. Count yourself, and your winky, lucky. :>

Oh, genital numbness. I've heard about it and never had it. I've read that if you have it, make changes immediately. I used to get achy balls, and it took a while to correlate it to my saddle, because the pain came a day later. It turned out to be a saddle with too much padding. It felt fine while riding but not the next day.

Yup, that about sums it up.

I, too, think the OP's is a #3 . But my opinion is worth exactly what you are paying for it.

I rode a Cinelli #3 all the across the USA. FWIW, it had a sticker like the shown by the OP except mine just said "3" - no "L". It did me just fine, although I should point out that was 35 years and a significant number of pounds ago. It pretty much disappeared under me, which to me is the highest praise one can give a saddle.

About 12 years later, it was on my Bob Jackson that was stolen out of my garage. I have since discovered San Marcos Rolls saddles , and they are on all my riders except my Eroica bike (Brooks Pro on that one).

A few weeks ago, a old, somewhat scuffed Cinelli saddle came into my life. It is the right shape to be a #3 and has the right amount of padding, but no sticker at all. it is covered in something between suede and smooth leather, and is an odd shade of tannish brownish muddy something-or-other. I suspect it is a #3 , as the color on them was hardly uniform (my old one was a sort of dark dark grey and I saw others that ranged from black to grey to brown). Not sure what to do with it at this point, but I'll think of something.

Threw in an un covered plain plastic Unicanitor when some one bought my AlAn Cross super .. not much to damage in mud or crashes..

CX races are not about Comfort and they're only 45 minutes long.

???
Italian water buffalo.
Really.

(When they ran out of Nortons)

I saw some water buffalos in Venice once. But the gondolier was a handy fellow with the Purdy double.

Pretty sure there was a run of suede (or "rough out") leather that was not buffalo hide. I recall/had/have: uncovered, smooth leather cover no padding, smooth leather w/ padding, buffalo w/padding (I have two of these now, bought new), black suede and brown suede from my '70's bike shop days.

Italian water buffalos - Wow! For real!

Italian Mediterranean Buffalos are raised for producing the milk that's used in making buffalo mozzarella cheese.

They're related to other buffalo breeds from that region - Hungary, Romania and the Balkan countries. They were thought to have been introduced into Europe by the Romans...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italia...ranean_buffalo

They are completely different animals from the "buffalos" found in North America which are actually bisons (formally in Northern Europe too).




That would be why the Italians used buffalo leather to cover Unicanitor/Cinelli saddles.

verktyg

Chas.

Don't know what number this saddle is but the cover is probably Italian buffalo hide. It's gray with Cinelli logos throughout. The foam padding is about 3/8" thick.




Here's a later Cinelli Supper Leggera saddle from eBay with black buffalo hide and gold logos. The rails are alloy.



verktyg

Chas.

More Unicanitor saddles:

Suede covered # 2 Original Unicanitor Logo and later Cinelli Logo.



Mid 70's gray buffalo covered Unicanitor. I've never seen another one like this.




verktyg

Chas.

Information has come to me that 'L' version saddles were manufactured in response to the wider Ideal 2002 saddle. Production of 'L' saddles was from ~1975-1976. Standard width saddles were designated 'B'.