Back in 1994, you weren’t a proper mountain biker unless you had a Flite saddle. It was very minimalist, didn’t weigh much at all (even compared to modern saddles) and, well, it looked bitchin’. Then there came the carbon Flite, which had a (very shiny and slippery) pure carbon weave top and titanium rails to blow everybody’s minds.
Nothing has quite had that same effect until recently when Fabric (and Charge) Cycles teamed up with Airbus to design and 3D print some minimalist titanium rails for its minimalist carbon saddle. In the end, despite the ti rails being a success, it turned out to be cheaper and lighter to just make the whole thing from carbon.
The Fabric ALM Ltd saddle is now available for that museum-grade build you’re doing, coming in at a svelte 130g for a £249 price. There’s a superlight, laser-etched buffalo hide top – and that’s about it. However, given that the saddle rails stretch from nose to tail, they claim to offer a good amount of comfort.
There’s a 10g heavier version, called the ALM Ultimate, that features a hint of padding under a vacuum-formed leather top for a slightly smaller £229. It still features those swoopy rails.
The saddle will be available from Cannondale Sports Group dealers or direct from Fabric.cc
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That’s silly money which is kinda ok because its aimed at the silly money target market, from my perspective quite why any logical person would want to spend that much on a seat remains a mystery.
beautiful and, if like the original Flite, will last years and years and be comfy too.
Is the final production product still 3D printed? If so then whilst the price is currently a bit bonkers you can well imagine it coming down in the future for this or subsequent products. additive manufacture has so much promise, it’s almost worth having one of these as a momento of a nascent industry