Last summer Selle Italia debuted their first 3D-printed saddle padding for their top road SLR 3D, but this year two more saddles get the same treatment – the split-nosed Watt triathlon TT saddle and the all-rounder Novus Evo endurance road & gravel saddle. Plus, their eco-friendly, affordable, and 100% made-in-Italy Greentech family gets a new off-road Model Y saddle with more conventional titanium rails.
Selle Italia Watt 3D-printed triathlon & TT saddle
Designed primarily as a triathlon saddle, the new Selle Italia Watt 3D reimagines the Italian saddle maker’s top-tier tri perch with all the tunable comfort and support benefits of 3D-printed padding. Construction-wise, the new Watt 3D uses the same Digital Light Synthesis 3D-printed TPU padding on top of a super lightweight Kit Carbonio carbon shell & rails as you find in the SLR Boost 3D saddle – and Specialized Mirror and Fizik Adaptive saddles.
What’s new of course, is adapting that tech to the unique forward position of triathlete and time trial racing where the longer the rider can stay in a single tucked aero position, the faster they go.
For the flat-topped Watt 3D, that meant a tighter-spaced, stiffer diamond-shaped structure especially under the racer’s sit bones from the rear to middle of the saddle, but also through the narrow split nose of the saddle. And since racing against the clock often means long periods of time spent trying to maintain a forward position on the nose of the saddle, Selle Italia designed the Watt 3D with closed grippy triangle ridges along the inside of the nose to help hold the rider in place.
Selle Italia also sweated the little details, too. Underneath, the Watt 3D saddle gets a soft grippy 3D-printed TPU lattice designed to keep your triathlon bike hung securely in place over the bike rack rails often used in the transition zone, so you can quickly move from swim to bike, but more importantly just toss your bike onto the rack before the run without having to worry about your fancy, slippery carbon saddle sliding off the rack.
The overall narrow U3 idmatch 133mm wide by short 255mm sizing remains unchanged from the standard Watt saddles. We don’t have official pricing on the Watt 3D yet, but expect the top Kit Carbonio version to sell for the same 450€ as the SLR. No word if a cheaper ti-railed version will also be offered.
Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo 3D-printed endurance road saddle
More in the realm of everyday riding, Selle Italia has also given its latest Novus Boost Evo endurance road saddle – introduced just last spring – the 3D treatment as well. The wave-shaped Novus Boost Evo 3D again gets its own completely unique 3D-printed TPU pattern design, reinforcing the flexibility of the DLS additive manufacturing process while achieving the same general result of varied degrees of rider support vs. comfort throughout different zones on the saddle.
The new Novus 3D saddle comes in two different variants, both sharing the same short fit L3 idmatch shape – 145mm wide by 245mm long. The top Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo 3D Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle sells for 430€ with a claimed weight of 181g thanks to a full carbon shell and 7x9mm oval rails. The Novus Boost Evo 3D Ti 316 Superflow saddle is a bit more affordable at 340€ with a reinforced composite shell and tubular titanium rails, at an estimated of 216g.
Selle Italia Model Y eco-friendly Greentech off-road saddle
Last up in the new Selle Italia line-up is another Greentech saddle, again intriguing me with how Selle Italia can leverage more-automated manufacturing to decrease a product’s environmental footprint with less waste & no adhesives, while also drastically reducing the price to consumers, and bring manufacturing 100% back to Italy.
This time the new Model Y is an off-road-specific saddle with a middle-of-the-road shape – not quite curved, but not entirely flat – and just a subtle pressure relief channel down the middle of the padding AND a hidden Superflow pressure cutout underneath in the shell itself. No mud o rear tire spray getting a direct line to your rear end. Again, at its core is an injection-molded reinforced plastic shell, with dense padding molded directly on top of that.
But what’s really new on this Greentech saddle is that it sticks with more conventional hollow titanium saddle rails that are molded directly into the reinforced plastic shell. That makes for a tougher saddle than the alloy & plastic-railed Model X, but does slightly bump up to carbon footprint.
The new L1 142mm wide x 246mm long Model Y is still made 100% in Italy – all within 15km of Selle Italia’s Treviso HQ – and comes out to 2.06kg of equivalent CO2 in its entire production. That’s still a -34% reduction compared to a similar saddle made in Asia, but more than 2x the footprint of the Model X thanks to those tougher titanium rails.
Designed for gravel and mountain bike riding, the new Selle Italia Model Y is still pretty cheap at just under $95 / 80€, and a good bit lighter than the X at a claimed 277g.
Get the new Novus Boost Evo 3D & Model Y saddles now through regular dealers or direct from Selle Italia, while the Watt 3D will be available later this summer.
