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The image above shows a small patch where the Lorica cover has peeled on my Selle Italia Flite XC ti saddle. This is after 6 months of what I would say is moderate use, by moderate I mean not every day, maybe 2-3 times a week and some weeks not at all so to me this is a bit disappointing for a top line saddle.
I'm a big fan of Selle Italia saddles especially Flites having had an original with 10 years use out of it so I had high expectations for it and it being an XC model and designed for the rigours of off road expected it be pretty hard wearing.
The peeling started along the stitching with the central rubber channel that's designed to provide some grip as the white Lorica side panel's are very slippy, not very good for off road. As the peeling started at the stitched edge I deemed this to be faulty and as the saddle is still within the warranty I contacted On One who I purchased it from. On Ones response was predictable stating that they considered it to be down to wear & tear and thus not covered by warranty. I replied arguing that it wasn't fair wear&tear as the saddle was little over 6 month's old and that the peeling had started from the stitching so it could be argued that there is a fault with the saddle but they didn't even bother to reply to that email. The last two bikes I've built have been On Ones so that's disappointing too.
I asked the good folk on the Singletrack forum for opinions which were pretty mixed but with one or two being a bit insulting with one even telling me to MTFU which is the kind a response that you can get sometimes on the ST forum as it seems to have more than it's fair share of know it all gobshites.
I know the saddle still performs as a saddle and that it's a small patch of peeling but to me a saddle that retails for £100 is not meant to have the cover start to peel within 6 months as some folk on the ST forum seem to think that it is. It's a very trivial matter but part of me thinks I ought to contact Selle Italia because I'm a fan and maybe they might just be interested in my feedback as I'm sure they don't expect the Flite XC to peel like that and that it's possible that it's a poor design with the stitching in a high wear area, but the other part of me thinks that don't be so pathetic and just get on it and ride it which is most likely what I will end up doing....
Hi David. Hard one to judge this. I can see where on-one are coming from being wear and tear. It is right near on an area that can be effected by rubbing and it would have only taken one small nick from the seam to cause what you have here. However, you do have a point where quality is concerned and I'd have expected this sort of wear much later on but that could be more the fault with material used and the stitching area so its worth going direct to the saddle company and bring it up with them. I've found the saddle that have stitching bear the back and sides are more prone to this problem my previous flite and WTB saddle ended up looking like this near the back.
ReplyDeleteNever had this issue with my fizik gobi but we are all different when it comes to bums on seats!
Hi Jez, the thing that bothers me really is that i don't think that it's solely down to wear as it's only this small patch and not elsewhere, because if it is then Selle Italia are in trouble as i haven't done a lot of miles on the saddle, that's why i think the saddle is faulty, all be it in a cosmetic sense. I don't think a saddle that's designed for XC racing should be peeling like this because a couple of wet XC race's would destroy the Lorica cover which i'm sure Selle Italia doesn't expect.
ReplyDeleteSaddle's don't last forever but my original flite lasted ten years !
Thanks for your input Jez