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Bike Works NYC
Bicycle Saddle Archive




A selection of bicycle seats to sniff.
More to come, and plenty are missed.

Thanks to contributors...
and WORLD TEAM Celebrity Bicycle Auction
for a few famous sat-upon saddles.

Update Sunday, 11 Fevruary 2007

Leather Hammock Saddles

Leather forming
Leather-forming press at Brooks Saddles
Photo courtesy of Brooks Saddle Archives
a great resource for saddles
from Wallingford Bicycle Parts

brass-rivet nose
Peened brass rivet on the nose
of a Brooks Professional saddle.

Brooks B33
Mammoth Brooks B33 (England), on John's verdant Atlantis masterpiece.


Super-size Brooks B90/3 saddle (England).

Brooks B5N

"There may be a better land where bicycle saddles are made of rainbow, stuffed with cloud;

In this world the simplest thing is to get used to something hard."

--Jerome K. Jerome (1900)



Brooks B5N
Dimpled Brooks B5N (England), on Karl's orange LeMond audax velo.

Brooks Pro
Ball-peened Brooks Professional (England), no-longer on a cherry Bob Jackson Legend.

Pre-Soft
Pre-Softened Brooks Professional saddle.

Brooks Swift
Brass-rivet Brooks Swift (England), on Charles' white Viscount.


Saddlebag-strapped Brooks B17, on John's Rivendell Rambouillet.

Brooks sheep
Brooks B33 with sheepskin cover, on Jeremy's black Raleigh curb-basher.

Lepper Voyager
Lepper Voyager (Germany), with rails made of Reynolds 531, on Ashe's red & gold Pogliaghi.

Pedersen hammock
Suspended Pedersen hammock (Denmark), in mint condition on Rick's mauve Christiana Pedersen.

High-Wheel repro
Reproduced high-wheel saddle, with matching saddlebag.

YK
Spring-loaded YK saddle (CCCP), on a black Ukraina roadster.

No. 769
Number 769 hand-tied hammock, on a black Swiss Army bike.

Ideale 6
Ideale Model 6 (France), Short and wide from a folding bike.

Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield racing saddle (England), on the metalic-gray NYC-made Dick Power track bike.

Italia
Italia
Super-narrow Selle Italia (Italy), from the time of Fausto's celeste Bianchi.


Well-aged saddle of Antonio Maspes
seven-time Pro World Sprint Champ (1955-64).

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Anatomic Saddles

Christy Anatomic
Old bones on the Christy Anatomic (USA).

Bunker
Sausage-shape Bunker saddle (USA), from 19th Century anatomic craze, or was it 20th Century?

Crescent
1890s Crescent saddle (USA).

Jarvis regency
1890s Jarvis saddle (USA), with boneshaker-style spiral nose.

Easy Seat
Sheepskin-covered Easy Seat, features pivoting pelvic pads.

Bummer
Bench-like Bummer Seat, able to swivel fore and aft.

Liberator
Anatomic Terry Liberator saddle, on Phoenix's white Carrera.


Anatomic Look saddle (France)
with see-thru gel chamber.

Fluid gel
Cross-section of Fluid gel saddle.


Bananas & Buckets


Flaming Hot Wheels saddle, from Charlie's mantle.

Gold Star an Red Paisley Banana seat
Gold star on red paisley banana seat, with blood-red Alligator skin sissy bar, from Jesse's multi-pattern Sting Ray.

Schwinn Converse
Schwinn-approved Converse sneaker, found among piles of swag.

Raleigh Chopper
No Passengers
Award-winning Raleigh Chopper saddle, on Dave's purple one, with Consumer Product Safety Commission message: "This bicycle is not constructed to carry passengers."

Hitchhiker
St. Tropez
Chopper saddle with Hitchhiker backrest, on a black St. Tropez mojocycle.


Hipster-proud Western Flyer banana
at a valet bicycle parking lot.

Windcheetah
Padded carbon-fibre bucket seat, on Ken's Seat-of-the-Pants Windcheeetah recumbent trike.

Denfeld
Rubber-covered Denfeld tractor saddle, on a blue Norwegian DBS Classic.



Extra-large exercise seat from Schwinn (USA).

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Hard to Find Saddles


Limited-edition Ayatollah Khomeni saddle
from the "Kiss My Ass" (USA) collection

Oppenhaim's Untitled
Untitled (Bee swarm) photograph, by Meret Oppenheim, 1977.

Picasso's Bull's Head
Bull's Head (Tete de Toro), bronze sculpture by Pablo Picasso, 1943.

9-11
Soot-covered saddle
World Trade Center, September 2001, on Mark's mountain bike.

Britany's seat
Spanking-new gel saddle
on Britany Spear's red Trek bike, signed with a heart.

Bauer
Super-set-back Bauer saddle, made for acrobatic cycling.

Trials
Pint-sized Trials saddle, designed to jump real high.


Decorative Plastic Saddles

Unicanitor
Classic Unicatinor saddle (Italy), from Michael's Holdsworth Pro.


Super-Classic Unicanitor saddle,
Louis Vuitton edition
from Tomity Keirin (Japan).

Rolls hide
Leather-grain Selle San Marco Rolls perch, from some poor animal's hide.

Rolls
A Rolls in white and gold, on Taliah's pink road bike.

Rolls
Another Rolls in white and nickel, on John's green & white J.P. Weigle road bike.

Turbo WC
Selle Italia Turbo World Champion, on Dave's Guerciotti road bike.

Cinelli Unicanitor
Broken-in Cinelli Unicanitor suede, on Dave's blue & mink Raleigh Professional.

Cinelli
VIP
Natural suede Cinelli saddle, with matching VIP handlebars, on Dave's Bob Jackson Legend.

Patent-leather cover
Patent-leather cover
Slick patent-leather cover, from Nat's handmade collection.

Turbo Hinault
Turquoise suede Sella Italia Turbo, with Bernard Hinault signature.

Pink Polka Dots
Pink Polka Dot Concor saddle.

Rush 99
99 Rush saddle (China).


Eye-popping JarJar saddle.

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Springy Mattress Saddles

Anquetil
Plaid-pattern French saddle
on a Jacques Anquetil folding bike.


Thread-bare Phoenix saddle (Shanghai).



Wicker-webbed 1890s Messinger saddle (USA).

Flying Pigeon
Celeste-colored Chinese saddle, on Tom Brokaw's black Flying Pigeon, used in secretive TV-report, of 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising.

Vasad platform
Skirt-friendly ROK Vasad saddle (Netherlands), on a black ladies Batavus Flying Dutchman.

Legnano springer
Stylish hide-top Legnano saddle (Italy), on Mark's burgundy roadster.

Overman hammock
Vintage leather & spring saddle, on Rob's midnight blue Overman safety.

Out for a ride today I stopped for a pit stop leaning my bike against a gate into a field. I noticed something in the hedgerow and being the nosy type I went to have a look. After a minute or so I heard a noise, but took no notice. When I stood up, I noticed a horse leaning over the gate and licking my saddle. I went up to the gate and shood the horse away, used my sleeve to wipe away the saliva and noticed the bloody thing had taken a bite out of my saddle.



Mold-growing Lepper saddle, on an Amsterdamer rijwiel.


Tire-tread topped cycle-rickshaw drivers seat on a taxi in India.


Fast Saddles

Eagle saddle
Monstertrack winning Eagle saddle, on Squid's flame blue Merckx pista.

Flite
Brilliant Selle Italia Flite Gel, on Mike's titanium Serotta roadster.

Flite Carbon
Polished top Sella Italia Flite Carbon, on Ben's minimalist road rig.

SLR
Lightweight Selle Italia SLR (135 g), on Jared's titanium hot rod.

Rolls
Heavyweight champ Rolls (Italy), on Kirk's red Corima Cougar sprinter.

San Marco Concor Supercorsa
San Marco Concor Supercorsa
Awesome Selle San Marco Concor Supercorsa, with a touch of lumbar support.

Hi-Back
Performance enhancing Hi-Back Selle, banned in the early 1980s.

Selle Italia
Super-hi back Selle Italia launch pad, seen in 1991 TdF prologue and subsequently banned by UCI.


Hi-back Selle Italia ridden by Luc "Stuart" Leblanc, champion of France and the World.


Slender Giro Niscene saddle (USA), named for Forest of Niscene Marks, otherwise known as Forest of Obscene Remarks.

Ullrich TT
Wind-breaking saddle, on Jan's pink-black Pinarello.

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