Flite ti padding question

Quoted message said:

Ozark Bicycle said:

IIRC, the original Flite had minimal padding, but a rather soft shell.
Is that what you mean by squishy?

landotter said:

Shell is nice and compliant, but there's a good amount of padding,
which decreases towards the nose of couse.

I'm used to very firm saddles, and had heard the same about the Flites,
but it seems softer than rumour would have it. No biggie, I'm just
sitting here tapping away as conditions outside are nasty.

In the next couple of days I should be able to ride the damn thing and
decide for myself.

It's just that for a decade everybody's been raving about the Flite,
and I finally got one, and tho it looks frightening, it feels like an
80s Vetta touring perch. LOL

The progression from Turbo to Flite, which are roughly the
same conservative shape, is the cut away side and thinner
shell. The saddle base can flex more so less pad is needed.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

-snip Flite-

landotter said:

I'm bidding on a roadster on Ebay, so if the Flite doesn't work on the
road bike, it'll be a humorous addition to a 45 pound black beast. :P

Generally, you'll want a slimmer saddle, such as a Filte,
where the bars are low relative to the saddle and as the
rider is more 'aero'.

Try a much wider saddle where the rider is more upright, as
on a roadster, with more weight proportionally on the saddle.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

A Muzi said:

-snip Flite-

landotter said:

I'm bidding on a roadster on Ebay, so if the Flite doesn't work on the
road bike, it'll be a humorous addition to a 45 pound black beast. :P

Generally, you'll want a slimmer saddle, such as a Filte,
where the bars are low relative to the saddle and as the
rider is more 'aero'.

Try a much wider saddle where the rider is more upright, as
on a roadster, with more weight proportionally on the saddle.

Generally true. I used to keep the bars on my rod-brake Raleigh at or
below seat level and used a vintage race saddle with it. :P Once going,
that sucker's gyroscopic effect was pretty cool, with the heavy huge
tires and all.

The Flite feels like a touring saddle imho, not a bad thing--though I'm
thinking my vintage and harder Selle Royal saddles will be better for
distance. The ice on the roads is preventing this experimentation. 😄

landotter said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Pay $2 for a saddle, get a $2 saddle. No such thing as a free lunch.

your snark does nothing but make you look like an [censored].

WTF do you expect out of a $2 or $.50 saddle??

Try it and see if ya like it. Don't try to get wisdom from a NG that
can't see, feel, use the thing.

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

landotter said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Pay $2 for a saddle, get a $2 saddle. No such thing as a free lunch.

your snark does nothing but make you look like an [censored].

Give Peter a break - after all he is repressing into his subconscious
the desire to sit on a luxuriously comfortable recumbent bicycle SEAT.
😉 <-- [Note Smiley]

I did and yes, funny-funnier than the guy with the $2 saddle.

Quoted message said:

--
Tom Sherman

Bill said:

Quoted message said:

Pay $2 for a saddle, get a $2 saddle. No such thing as a free lunch.

Come on Peter, I know your just trying to be clever. The low price of
something at a thrift store surely doesn't equate to quality or value. Only
that it may be under priced. I've worn through the cover on the old Flite Ti
on my witer bike and would love to get my hands on a replacement cheap.
Bill

I know, why the 'otter' should just put it on and ride it, try it. I
tried a Flite, a new one, and it gave me a saddle sore in one ride. If
the thing works for Otter, groovy, don't care where it came from, but
hard to tell if his 200 pennies was well spent or not-his butt.

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

landotter said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Pay $2 for a saddle, get a $2 saddle. No such thing as a free lunch.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

your snark does nothing but make you look like an [censored].

Quoted message said:

WTF do you expect out of a $2 or $.50 saddle??

Try it and see if ya like it. Don't try to get wisdom from a NG that
can't see, feel, use the thing.

The terravermin is VERY sensitive, Peter. Don't address him (we'll assume)
so harshly.

HTH, BS

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

landotter said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Pay $2 for a saddle, get a $2 saddle. No such thing as a free lunch.

your snark does nothing but make you look like an [censored].

WTF do you expect out of a $2 or $.50 saddle??

Did I say I expected anything?

Quoted message said:

Try it and see if ya like it. Don't try to get wisdom from a NG that
can't see, feel, use the thing.

I simply asked a question and have been rewarded by many interesting
answers that satisfied by curiosity. The Flite *has* been made with
various degrees of flex in the shell and with different amounts of
padding.

I just wanted to know if the softness was normal, freakish, or a sign
of foam breakdown. Big whoop. It's been glare icy here so I thought I
could shoot the [censored] on UN without some folks putting their arrogance
on display. No such luck.

I'm not looking for a magical solution, as I don't have a problem, just
got a nice saddle for a good price that happens to look good. It shaves
a whole 2 ounces off the bike and may or may not be comfy, if not I'll
replace it with one of several that I've got that work fine. The
promise of less thigh friction is compelling.

As far as I know, a $2 Flite purchased from a bric-a-brac bin should
perform as well as the $120 model purchased at the boutique bicycle
shop--if it works it works...right? I might be dangerously wrong
though. OH NOES!

email hidden said:

There is a date code on Flite saddles. Look on the
underside, at the plastic block under the nose that
the rails are fixed to. You should see something like
a "97" (or other year) with little month letters in a clock
around it, stamped onto the block. AFAIK most Selle
Italia saddles have a date code like this somewhere
on the underside.

I haven't ever really noticed any difference in Flite saddles,
but don't have a very recent one. It's the kind of thing you
have to ride to find out if it's going to work.

I've been riding on these things for almost fifteen years and I've
never noticed 1) the date codes, and 2) any difference in softness. I
just did a quick survey of my five Flite equipped bikes and there is
indeed a distinct difference in the softness of the padding. Here are
the results:

91 soft (Fuji Touring Series)
92 soft (Nishiki Linear)
96 firm (MTB)
98 firm (Vitus 992)
02 firm (Trek 1400)

Obviously Selle Italia did change the construction of the Flite. Can
anyone fill in the blanks?

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

John Everett said:

I've been riding on these things for almost fifteen years and I've
never noticed 1) the date codes, and 2) any difference in softness. I
just did a quick survey of my five Flite equipped bikes and there is
indeed a distinct difference in the softness of the padding. Here are
the results:

91 soft (Fuji Touring Series)
92 soft (Nishiki Linear)
96 firm (MTB)
98 firm (Vitus 992)
02 firm (Trek 1400)

Obviously Selle Italia did change the construction of the Flite. Can
anyone fill in the blanks?

They changed from soft-ish to firm-ish some time between '92 and '96.

HTH, BS (slow morning)

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:11:39 GMT, "Sorni" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

John Everett said:

I've been riding on these things for almost fifteen years and I've
never noticed 1) the date codes, and 2) any difference in softness. I
just did a quick survey of my five Flite equipped bikes and there is
indeed a distinct difference in the softness of the padding. Here are
the results:

91 soft (Fuji Touring Series)
92 soft (Nishiki Linear)
96 firm (MTB)
98 firm (Vitus 992)
02 firm (Trek 1400)

Obviously Selle Italia did change the construction of the Flite. Can
anyone fill in the blanks?

They changed from soft-ish to firm-ish some time between '92 and '96.

Clearly a man with a keen sense of the obvious. ;-)

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3