A Cyclingnews special sponsorship feature
Cyclingnews Virtual Visit: Selle Italia
On the rest day at the Giro d'Italia, rather than make the rounds of team hotels, Cyclingnews visited Selle Italia, one of the top cycling saddle makers in the world. We met with genial Steven Merlini, who gave us some interesting insights into Selle Italia as well as a factory tour.
A saddle is born: Selle Italia SLK
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Selle Italia is known for product innovations and design, and the quality and style of the "Made In Italy" designs are synonymous with the Rossano Veneto saddle maker. Steven Merlini explains Selle Italia's innovation strategy: "Even if we have four or five models that are selling well, we always feel that every year we have to bring something new to the market. Not because we want to replace a good-selling product, like our Flite, but because we need to have something new and a product that is one step more evolved than the previous model."
Selle Italia has well positioned itself as a saddle trendsetter and has been market leader in high-end bicycle saddles for several decades now. "When we introduced Selle Italia gel saddles six years ago, this product category became very popular and all our competitors had them. When we did a lightweight saddle… a nice looking comfortable lightweight like the SLR, that we introduced three years ago, it became a benchmark for the market and all of our competitors raced to create a lightweight saddle, too," said Merlini.
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A new saddle from Selle Italia is based on a wide range of market input; input from professional riders is essential. Selle Italia sponsors 65 pro teams worldwide and since pro riders spend more time in the saddle than most, their opinions are invaluable to product development. "They tell us 'this is too soft, this is too hard, about the shape… "it's great," said Merlini. "These riders do five, six, seven hours a day and end up riding 50,000 kilometres per year." Selle Italia collects this information from its team service staff who are out at the beginning of the season and before at December and January training camps making the modifications the pro riders are looking for. This input is then incorporated into the main thrust of Selle Italia's product development.
However, Selle Italia does not just get info from pro riders; another key input stream is from enthusiast riders. Selle Italia breaks the enthusiast market into three parts:
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- Performance (10-15,000km/year and aggressive riding: looking for more comfort than pro riders)
- Everyday user (1-2 times/week or 5,000km/year)
- Cycle-tourist (1-2 times/month or 1-2,000km/year).
"All of these riders have different issues when it comes to saddles, so we listen to these segments to create specific saddles that address each rider's needs," said Merlini. "We seek the best compromise when we develop any saddle to address each rider's needs, since any saddle is personal and we know we can never create a perfect product for everybody. We try to get the right weight, the right padding, the right stiffness. Most riders consider the saddle and shoes as the most important factor for comfort… some racers never change their saddle, like Miguel Indurain. He started his career on a Turbo and finished it on a Turbo. His bike was stolen once and from then on he had the mechanic take the saddle off at night so he could keep the one he liked with him!"
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Merlini showed Cyclingnews Selle Italia's lab where each saddle prototype is developed and tested. "We use computer systems to study the best possible anatomical shape for each saddle; to relieve pressure from the areas where it's not needed; like the sciatic sit bone area. A bone can support a lot of weight, but on the prostate area, there is no bone for support so that is why our Selle Italia Trans Am saddles are made with a slot in the centre section. This system allows us to create a perfect shape for each saddle based on the pressure in kilograms when you sit on the saddle."
Selle Italia's philosophy has led to the development of many innovative products in the saddle category, such as the Turbo, Trimatic, Flite and SLR. "With all this input, we apply our know-how from 105 years of experience at Selle Italia; without the experience of knowing the right shape for the right anatomy, it doesn't matter if the saddle is carbon or titanium or whatever, it won't be comfortable if it doesn't fit. We have six or seven hundred pro riders and testers using our saddles every year, we sell over two million saddles each year so all of this together puts Selle Italia in a position to create the best product based on our experience."
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Most recently, Selle Italia introduced the SLK, new for 2003. "The challenge for this new SLK product was after the SLR was such a success. The SLR was an extreme, low profile lightweight saddle and immediately it was a big success for us, because it was very comfortable!" said Merlini. "At the beginning, people were not even considering trying the SLR… with the padding, at 135 grams, potential consumers were saying 'this is a rock; I'm not even going to try it!' but everybody who did really liked the SLR." With the SLR, Selle Italia feels it created the best compromise between low profile, light weight and comfort.
With the ongoing success of the SLR, Selle Italia now sought to create a saddle that further improved while keeping the low profile and light weight. "We took the best-selling features we had on the market right now - cut-out center channel and gel inserts - and put it together in a light weight platform and that became the SLK," said Merlini.
The split cut on the SLK is derived from an existing patent Selle Italia obtained from the Mythos saddle from 1991. The Mythos concept, where the right and left parts move separately was then adapted to a low profile saddle and re-engineered to address advances in biomechanical engineering that have enhanced comfort. "We then added a gel insert, and then added a small shock absorber in the front and rear and that became our new SLK, available in standard or gel-flow version." Selle Italia's SLK has only been on the market for a few months, but a pleased Merlini calls the initial reaction "phenomenal".
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Selle Italia has many new product initiatives in the pipeline for 2004; production of the Storika is ramping up now. A unique, retro modern design, the Storika is "an old-fashioned looking design with rivets and hard leather, like saddles from the '60s and '70s with a completely new design," said Merlini. "We developed Storika as kind of a high-end collector's item; old fashioned styling with new, lightweight carbon technology. There are people who won't put Storika on their bike, but will put it on their desk like a sculpture."
Merlini was proud to say that the pre-orders for Storika had already exceeded Selle Italia's expectations for sales on this model. The category of old-fashioned style, no-padding leather saddles has inspired Selle Italia to create a "new family of saddles like this that will be introduced at the bike trade shows this September. Plus we are developing another saddle with this retro modern concept but with a different shape." Selle Italia is confident that it has a wide range of products that address comfort and performance and with this new family of 'retro-modern' saddles, "Selle Italia sometimes chooses to go completely away from what we have been doing previously; we can then create a demand for a new product."
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Another new product to be introduced by Selle Italia this fall "will be a patented new saddle with a suspension system that is not really a suspension system," said Merlini cryptically. "But it is a system that will allows the saddle from the rails to the top of the saddle to tilt slightly. The concept is to have independent movement as on the SLR, but this new product will not have a spilt channel that is in two parts, but will be all one piece." Like a gimbal-mounted compass on a ship, the unique new Selle Italia saddle will have a device where the rail attaches to the shell that allows the upper part to tilt left and right slightly. "This saddle will follow the movement of your body, providing increased support and better comfort," said Merlini.
Merlini had some simple final words on choosing a saddle. "Remember, the comfort of a saddle does not come from the quantity or the softness of its padding; comfort comes from how well the saddle is designed anatomically and the support it provides." Selle Italia is confident that over a century of experience in creating saddles for all types of cyclists, from Tour de France winners to weekend warriors will continue to make its saddles the best choice - and the best ride.
Photos
Images by Tim Maloney/Cyclingnews
- Here are the essential elements that make up Selle Italia's new SLK saddle; the Vanox frame and shock absorbers, SLK shell with gel injected on top and leather gel flow cover.
- Selle Italia's new SLK saddle; the finished SLK top and the shell with gel injected on top
- Selle Merlini told Cyclingnews "this machine makes sure that the thickness of the leather that goes on each saddle is uniform each saddle. These are SLR saddle covers"
- "We test saddles all the time in this special machine", said Merlini. "It runs 200,000 cycles at 100kg in one place, and then we change where we apply this pressure."
- "We use computer systems to study the best possible anatomical shape for each saddle"
- "After we do all of the research on the saddle shape, we still make the final form by hand," said Merlini. "That's the only way you get the shape exactly right."
- The plaster model is made up by hand, and once the final saddle shape is decided, we use 3-D touch scanning to create the final shape and then make the mould."
- In the Selle Italia "modelleria", hand prototyping is essential to make certain that the artisan tradition is maintained when creating saddles
