I do remember seeing them as oldish stock mostly ignored in bike dealer shelves back in the early 80's as the new padded Turbos and Concors were sweeping the bike saddle market and even back then my brother and I winced just thinking on how anyone can ride such seemingly "ass hatchets" with either zero padding or just a layer of leather between the hard plastic and one's butt.....
Do these saddles really have a "riding" following who really loves to ride them? They are still out there in large numbers in NOS form and had been recommended by many veteran restorers here as the thing to put on a 70's project bike....but can they really be seriously consider as saddles that mere mortal riders can get comfortable in.....even if it's just a few....
Are there really still any (Happy) Unicanitor riders out there??

Chombi

I ride an unpadded unicantor because I must suffer!!!!

I have never found any difficulty with a vintage Unicanitor saddle. They are perfectly acceptable as saddles. No better or worse than many others, including Broooks. Their shells are more flexible than many Unicanitor copies (including the recent Unicanitor remakes which I would not recommend as I find that they don't flex terribly well). It is all a matter of trial and error with saddles. Before making up one's mind, one really needs to try the saddle out.

You can't judge a book by the cover, or sadlle by the lack of one. I ride early unpadded Unicanitor's or Unica's on all the old bikes that I actually ride (except for a couple with modified B-17's).

I find them to be perfectly comfortable and have a perfect shape for a racing saddle. I would note that there are a couple of different profiles, and in the 70's they made one with a higher crown and narrower cantle. Those I do not find comfortable, but the earlier ones with the wider cantle are great in my opinion.

The Cinelli "Unicanitor" #3 Buffalo was a joy to ride. It had a bit of padding and a suede-ish cover. In 1980, it took me from Livermore CA to Washington DC with no issues at all. I'd still have it had it not been on a bike that was stolen in 1992.

I like the plastic Unicanitors. Not quite as comfortable as a Brooks Pro or B17N, but better than any padded saddles out there. I don't particularly care for the covered Unicanitors, and I don't care at all for padded saddles.

As CDM pointed out, the early Unicanitors have a bit of flex to them, and they suit me fine. The Freccia d'Oro, in comparison, feels like sitting on a cinder block.

Feel free to send me any that you have lying around!

Wow!, this is enlightening, to finally hear from actual Unicanitor users that like riding them for extended miles in some cases here. My question is, do the plastic bases actually/eventually "break in" or soften at the sit bone areas as leather saddles and the pading on padded plastic sddles (to some extent) do after some miles. I alwyas expected that they will eventually become "hot spots" if the sitbone areas does not receive any sort of permanent give to spread the "point" loads a bit.

Chombi

chombi- I had a padded unicantor on my PUCH when I first got it.
I rode 24kms around the lake and my arse hurt for 2 days after.
maybe if i rode it for 2 more months the nerve endings in my arse would get used to the suffering!

I rode a #3 Buffalo hide one in the late '70's for a few years and really liked it. The plastic shell doesn't really "break in" Chombi. It was just built to a pretty comfortable shape to start with and had what seemed the right amount of flex. Had an un-padded plastic one for a time and it was OK too, though not as comfortable as the leather covered one, IMO.

Way back I rode a bare plastic Cinelli Unicanitor. I succumbed to buying a #3 Buffalo padded unit as my teammates could not bare me riding it. I had no problems and liked it as it was an all weather saddle, no care post rain ride required. I now use the #3 as my saddle of choice.
My favorite saddle is an Ideale 90, but much more of a challenge to find and never cheap to acquire.
I do not like the #2 as the suede finish mats down in no time and until it has fully compressed the saddle appears quite blotchy.
The #3 had a subtle grain and an open dull finish.
If Cinelli had made a #1 with padding I would have used that, I use those on my track bikes.
The early all plastic Unicanitors have a different shape than the later numbered saddles, they kept the same basic shell for the early covered units. Those saddles are hard to find and never go cheap.
I kind of like that earlier shape best, hard to find enough.

Interesting observation - and they do, or at least did in the case of the plastic Unicanitor on the '69 Masi Special I picked up in June. There are actually two shallow indentations from the PO's sit bones - I'll get a photo today or tomorrow. They're shallow, but they're there.

I like the idea of a plastic saddle for the wet-weather issue. I'm seriously thinking of putting the Uni on my Davidson for riding in the rain on Diego Garcia. I normally don't care for wet-weather riding, but now that I've got all sealed bearings on that rig - and the fact that even when raining DG is getting 80-90 degree weather - well, I'll ride it in anything

DD

I like the uncovered Unicanitor's on my track bikes:






(Front bike has an old Rolls saddle)

Light weight, strong and comfortable enough.

They came plain plastic, plastic covered in a few styles of leather or suede, and plastic and padded with a few styles of leather or suede and a few styles of stitching too. They were quite common in the 70s; real racers didn't like the weight of a Brooks.

Honestly, I think the unpadded, smooth leather seemed the most popular. The plain plastic seemed the choice for track bikes, but some roadies used them too.

Are the really plastic? I have a Unicanitor in a rather shocking yellow color and I don't believe it's plastic; or not, at any rate, a common one. It feels more like a hard rubber of some kind. It is not very hard, and amazingly light in comparison to a leather saddle. I have not ridden it; I'm too busy trying out my own creations. But I don't see why it should be bad. Looks pretty comfortable to me.

In contrast, I have a Zeus saddle that is made from a whitish plastic with a suede leather cover. No padding. I had it on my commuter bike for several thousand miles. It is exactly the shape of a Brooks Pro and similar in terms of hardness; but it was never comfortable. It actually cracked, in a star-like pattern, under one of the sit bones. Nasty.

I have a leather covered Unicantor on my 83 Colnago which I have switched on and off with a Turbo. I like both of them and find them equally comfortable.

-G

I usually rode an Avocet with a little bit of padding that was modelled on the Unicantor. I have a leather covered, unpadded Unicantor and a couple of uncovered unicantors. The uncovered Unicantor was the lightest saddle you could get back when I was a weight weenie, rode it for quite a while. Nice thing for racing is that you can crash on them and not mess them up.

Nothing butt great riding on my uncovered 60's 'nitor.

I rode a number 3 black suede one in the 70's (for an hour)
hated it, bought an Avocet instead. Wish I'd saved it since
I'm pretty sure the issue was not the saddle but break in time
for my butt

Here is my well-worn Unicanitor saddle. It came with the Atala Record Professional I bought new in 1973 (it's off the bike now as it goes through a bearings-up restoration). I rode it 25 years and found it very comfortable.

I also put many miles on my 2 Unicanitor saddles, but I'll point out that you are responding to a 13 year old (or "Zombie") thread. For some reason that is frowned upon around here.

Zombie thread but a fun one.

I never tried a Unicanitor but I have the similar Idéale 2000 on my errand bike. It came with another bike I'd purchased, on which I used a leather Idéale saddle instead. The Idéale range was similar to the Unicanitors, with an uncovered plastic saddle (the 2000), a plastic saddle with a leatherr cover (the 2001), and a padded plastic saddle (the 2002). I have been pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the plastic 2000 saddle has been.

If so, the frowners are themselves wrong.

One of my favorite saddle in terms of comfort and look. I have a leather covered one.

The real deal is that they are the real deal.

Not my cuppa to ride but any true C+V Cinelli, Colnago, Bianchi, etc, yada, yada and anything else you want to put it on.

Here's an interesting one which I haven't seen before.