At our swap last Sunday, I chatted with a fellow about two Ideal 90s I had.

He mentioned the ridiculous ebay pricing as of late.

I ended up trading one of mine for a nicely weathered Swift Ozette bag and two Nitto racks.

He was happy and so am I. :)

I wish my Black Mountain frameset would get here.......

This whole Ideale thing is hilarious. Scarcity must be alluring.

The bike shop I worked at in HS had a big cardboard box full of Ideale saddles. This was early 80s. They were permanently on sale for $2 each -- maybe it was $3. I don't recall selling any, and eventually they were all tossed out. People then were not interested in leather saddles, except for a couple freaks that ran Brooks Pros. Every one wanted a padded plastic Avocet/Selle Italia, or one of the knock offs.

Part of the reason is the Singer effect, which is then multiplied by the Weigle effect. Since these Wonderful constructeurs featured the Ideale saddle on their bikes, they have set the bar for the French style Randonneur bike. It is all the fashion to feature an Ideale saddle on your rando bike as well. the modern option is of course Gilles Berthoud. You don't lose too many cool points with a Berthoud.

No cool points lost with a Berthoud, but my rear votes no.

I have the old Ideale 90 on my Bilenky and it feels great.

In addition, I'm keeping my new Ideale 90 for my super secret project bike.

You are right about leather saddles in that time frame. They were toss aways!

But then again, I remember shop mechanics tossing old Campy NR drive trains and putting on Shimano DA 7400 for that matter.

Super secret project bike? that sounds fun. can't wait to see. Just finished a 99 serotta atlanta and its everything they say it is, and a great fit too! stoked on that build.

I have them on my French bikes and will take them off and use them on the other bikes. Very comfortable and are still in excellent condition for 35 year old saddles. So, I would say they are worth it if your going to do a lot of ridding. They keep shape are very low maintenance. Actually riding the bike seems to condition the saddles. All the other saddles wear down and need to be recovered or tossed.

One of the best saddles ever made...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...ith%20(15).JPG

I've reached out to a builder.

We'll see if he can build a frameset before he retires.

If not, I'll likely place an order this summer with another I have in mind.

My retirement present. :)

If you can't treat yourself, who can.;) When's the planned retirement?

i have an ideal 60 (I think) on my main IM ride. very comfortable and WELL broken in. I think i got it for $10 off CL but its so worn you can barely see the crest

Four years!

I've worked my rear off since I was twelve.

It will be time to try a few new ideas before I get much older.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

Very handsome saddle. I'm an Ideale fan as well. What model is that? I can't make out the lettering at the bottom.

Congrats on yours! :)

More time for riding all of your nice bikes.

I'm really looking forward to this spring. Last year was cut short by my hip but now I've got a titanium hip for my steel bikes!:)

Model 92 Diagonale.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...ith%20(14).JPG

Yes, I have two Mod. 92 "Diagonale" saddles. They're a bit wider than my Brooks Pros, but just as comfortable.

another saddle to look out for is Lycett. Good quality but lacks the Brooks name brand recognition - and its not french so also.. less fanatics

http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceout.gifhttp://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceout.gifhttp://farm2.static.flickr.com/1343/...cf701f74b6.jpg

Gorgeous saddle!

Lycett was one of Brooks' lower line brands. I'm not sure exactly what that means, whether they were made in the same factory or what, but Lycett used the same frame and hardware as Brooks, with minor differences (Brooks saddles had eyelets in the bag loops; Brooks saddles used a chromed nose piece, the Lycett version was painted black; &c). The Lycett Swallow in your photo is almost exactly the same as a Wrights Swallow. The only difference, beside the name, was that the Lycett has a badge on the back, which the Wrights lacked. I recently recovered one, which is dated 1959:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...2012.23.15.jpg

Another favourite...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/2012reg4.JPG

yes, i am sure wikipedia can illuminate for those curious, but i have read that lycett was bought out by brooks at some point. So older ones might be direct lycett, and then later ones became consolidated with brooks. I have a lycett on my holdsworth.

My Model 88 Daniel Rebour pre-treated saddle that I bought new in the '80s, and have very little usage on it, is about the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden, including some of the padded bump types from the '80s and '90s. It's on my '71 Motobecane Grand Record ... just makes a great bike better!

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=503733http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=503734http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=503735This one came off of my Team Champion.
I replaced with a '70s Brooks Pro. The Ideale is getting a rehab. A really comfortable seat.