If you spend any time on a bicycle you know saddle choice is critical.  The wrong one can be excruciating and the right one can cradle your undercarriage just right.  Most people I know have their favorites.  I am no exception.  The Selle Italia Flite saddle is my saddle of choice.  I know I am not alone in this.

A few years ago I was devastated when they stopped producing them.  I tried the SLR and the “new” elite.  Meah…. not my cup of tea.  So I stocked up on a few that I could find and even Ebayed on once to get the white perforated one I always wanted that would match my bike so well.

Earlier I said I wasn’t alone in preferring the Flite.  I know this because a year or two ago they re-released it.  That is cool except for two thing’s.

1. I have a stockpile of Flite’s
2. They only bring Black into the US.

#2 isn’t such an issue because black goes with everything for the most part, and it doesn’t get dirty easily.  Problem being black can be boring. Gimme some color!  #1 is a bigger issue because I have good loved saddles.

I had heard about people recovering saddles.  I knew off the bat that I wasn’t going to do it myself.  There isn’t enough time in the day and I wasn’t into learning a skill half-assed that I wouldn’t likely use again.  So off to Google I went.  I quickly discovered RecoveredSaddle.com.  Taking a look around his site I was intrigued.  The work looked good and it looked like he had done quite a few Flites.

I fired an email off and asked a few questions, finished my beer and went to bed.  Upon waking up there were answer’s from Jason the Saddle Recoverer.  He answered all of my questions and requested some pictures of my saddles.  His going rate was $35 a saddle.  Way cheaper than a new Flite, and WAY more colorful.

I wanted to get my white perforated saddle recovered and a chunk fixed on the back where I had laid myself and my bike on the pavement at a good clip.  It also was wearing on the side from my thighs and the seat post.

He told me that it would be an additional $5 to fix the tear at the back.

The other saddle was yellow and was looking tired and sad.  As an “admitted’ and not trying to recover Metrosexual the biggest issue with this one was it didn’t match any of my bicycles, and I don’t see going back to that shade of yellow anytime soon.

Some seat post wear from riding it slammed back on the rails

Chub Rub

Pretty good condition

Jason told me that the saddles would take about three weeks to get done.  After a few weeks of procrastination I finally sent the saddles off.  Jason told me that work had gotten a little heavier so It may take a little longer.  I was ok with that since I didn’t send them when I should have.

I decided to get one saddle done in white to match my mountain bike and one done in red to match my fixed gear.  Jason’s material of choice is a marine grade leather synthetic.  He assured me that it looks like leather but wears better and deals with the elements better.  This made sense since it is used to make boat seats.  He told me that he could use other materials but preferred this.  I had no reason to tell him how to do his job and didn’t want any Cipollini inspired animal prints so I took his recommendation.

Three weeks later he sent me an email.  “They are all stripped and getting glued up tonight”  That was music to my eyes.  (since I was reading it not hearing it).  The next day he started to tease me and sent me this.  Now I was excited.

Looking good

In under a month I had my saddles back.   When the box arrived I anxiously tore into it.   He packaged the saddles up nicely.

Then I started inspecting them.  The saddles looked as good in person as they did in his picture.  There was no photoshop trickery going on.  I happily texted the LRHG to let her know I got my saddles and gloat a little.  She stoked my ego a little and said “YAY!”.  It truly is the little things sometimes.

My version of the pictures.

No, I didn’t cut it with the knife.  It is just pointing to these tiny marks.

Just a touch bigger on the white saddle.