Selle Italia Butcher Saddle

Classic Italian saddle brand Selle Italia is best known for their low profile, weight saving road saddles. But the company has shown it doesn't only care about the cyclists in spandex with its mountain saddle offerings, and never more so than with the recent redesign of the Butcher saddle. Not content with simply adding a new graphic to last year's design, Selle Italia's engineers thought long and hard about what would make this saddle truly functional. They named it after California's Butcher Ranch Trail, site of thrilling downhill descents during the annual Downieville Classic. Arguably the most notable feature of the Butcher is the large hole in the center of it. Cutouts are common in saddles to relieve pressure, but the Butcher's void was added for a different kind of practicality: transporting your bike. Use it as a handle to push your bike, hang it from a lift, or stay balanced during trick riding. The wide nose of the saddle allows you to keep control of the bike, and the sleek rounded edges don't catch on baggies when you're sessioning in your PJs. In the construction of the saddle itself, Selle Italia includes aluminum alloy rails and its Duro Tek covering, which has a herringbone panel to provide extra grip for more control when you're on the nose. Though you won't be spending much time in the saddle, when you do, Selle Italia's designers wanted to make sure you're landings are comfortable, so they included extra padding in the front of the saddle. The fallout from unhappy landings can be assuaged with the bottle opener on the underside of the saddle.