The Selle Italia Turbo Special

The Turbo is the original classic race saddle by Selle Italia. Favoured by Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, the Turbo was the last great saddle of the pre-Filte era. That is, the Turbo is not a lightweight saddle, where the rails can be seen from a side profile. The Flite was the first widely available saddle to lose the sides of the saddle, the portion of material obscuring the rails from view in a side profile. The Turbo, then, wieghs in at something like 350 grams, The Flite is more than 100 grams lighter.

But as far as luxury and comfort, it's pretty hard to beat the Turbo. Pictured is the Turbo Special, resplendant with it's gold panneling at front and rear, copper rails and, in this version, white perforated leather:


The newest incarnation of the Turbo (though not all that new since it came out in '90 or '91m about the same time as the Flite) is the Turbomatic, or the currently available Turbomatic 4. This saddle was a favorite of Laurent Jalabert and is still used by Dario Frigo (when he's not in dopers' appeals court), Jan Ullrich and many other top pros. It's a lighter version of the Tutbo. It retains the same top profile of the Turbo, but also adds a vibration-dampening ride by inserting the rails into carbon-fiber sections on the saddle body.

The Turbomatic 4 Genuine Gel: