China Crabon Flite
 

So: I have decided to court death via some sweet sweet china crabon. Found some 25.4 ultra-wide risers that I'll hope to use while maintaining the same number of teeth as I currently have, but there's something missing, and it is one of these:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/dow...e.php?id=49340

That costs somewhere closer to 50 bucks than 200+ on ebay. I've been drowning in listings of Specialized Toupe and Selle SMP knockoffs without any luck in finding what I truly desire, so I'm hoping someone on here might be able to help.

They appear to be just a simple carbon shell.
Selle Italia Flite Evolution Carbon Saddle Vintage Titanium Made in Italy | eBay

If all else fails, why not pick up a standard Flite with a ripped up leather cover for cheap, strip the cover/smooth it out, and apply some type of carbon fiber film/tape over the shell? You can get it in a glossy version like this...
http://www.amazon.com/Gloss-3M-DI-NO...on+fiber+vinyl


Better than nothing.

This past weekend i took a plunge, got a china carbon seat, bars, and seat post. According to the internet, my funeral ( closed casket ) will be held thurs after my wens night social ride.

For $50 each, I have managed to pick up 3 different Specialized Phenom 143's from local forums, 2 old style, 1 new style. I consider myself extremely lucky since 1 is fairly hard to find, and one of the others was absolutely mint.

This seems like a fairly solid idea. I'd prefer to get something actually made of carbon for #swag points, but I've been meaning to buy some carbon wrap stuff for a DIY disc wheel at some point, so maybe I'll give this a shot when I get around to doing that.

I am both unfortunate and fortunate, in that I have found out that the Specialized saddles do not fit my butt at all, but managed to discover that via a saddle on a used bike rather than by purchasing one new.

Did you try the right size? If you drop into a Specialized dealer, they can measure you and get you on the right one. I have tried a few of them, and some work, and some definitely did not even though they were the right width. For instance, the Avatar is an ass hatchet for me compared to the Phenom. Both 143 width, but entirely different saddles.

Well uh this is the awkward part where I say that I've never been properly fitted for a saddle and don't really have any intention of ever paying full price for one. Which sort of feels justified to me as I've never paid more than about $45 for any of the used ones I've bought, so I could likely buy 3 different saddles for the same price as 1 new one, and make out okay even if one of them is an ass hatchet.

This is actually fairly common

after looking up a lil tutorial on saddle recovering, it seems pretty dang easy. Might have to give this a shot.

When I started riding more, I went through this. I played the whole lets try to find a good saddle. I tried a bunch from WTB, then all of the big box manufacturers like Giant and Bontrager, etc. I didn't want to spend much, biking is already too expensive you know? Nothing was comfortable. Every ride I did, the saddle was my complaint. Then I went and got measured at a Specialized dealer with their patented Ass O Meter. Measures your sit bones and gets you more focused in on the proper width saddle. That was my problem, everything I was trying was either way too narrow or so wide that I felt like riding a comfort bike. I bought one saddle from the dealer in my size and it went on my mountain bike, which eventually I sold. It was a good saddle, nothing too expensive, under $60 IIRC. I at least got the proper size now, and that is where I have been able to score the good saddles. That old style Phenom is so dang comfortable for me, doing a century on it is not an issue. I won't pay what they want for a new one, but when a good used one comes up in my size, boom I am all over it.

Fair enough. I feel like I've gotten a few that fit pretty good just from buying them at random/based on whatever I thought looked cool, so I haven't really been feeling a desperate need for a fitting. For reference I've got an smp, some variety of fizik, and a flite that are all pretty cozy (aside from the flite being a pretty stiff tt version), and I've had decent luck with a couple others. I think my butt fits a variety of stuff pretty good and the Toupes just aren't included in that range.