Selle Italia Turbomatic Team Edition

Slightly larger and more deeply padded than the most minimalist of race designs, the Selle Italia Turbomatic has been a hugely popular saddle for years, this version coming with well-proven shock absorbing technology and a neat look.

I swapped the Turbomatic on to my usual training bike in place of a Selle Italia SLR - my most favouritist saddle in the whole wide world ever. Despite being stablemates, there's a lot of difference between them.

Whereas an SLR is a pretty flat saddle, especially across the nose, the Turbomatic is more rounded. The shell arches from one side to the other - like a hump-backed bridge. But smaller. And made out of different stuff. Not at all like a hump-backed bridge at all, really, but the point is that there's no real flat section to the profile if you look at it head on.

The first ride, I couldn't stand the shape. The second ride, it started to grow on me. By ride three, it had won me over.

There's quite deep padding in there for a racy saddle; not so much that it feels squishy but it moulds easily to the shape of your sit bones. Plus the nose is fairly broad - between 4.4 and 5.2cm if you want to compare it to your existing saddle - which reduces the pressure.

The back end of the saddle is quite wide too, as race-style saddles go. The maximum width back there is 153mm, compared to 131mm on an SLR - so if you want a larger area to sit on, the Turbomatic is worth a look. They're the same length, by the way, at 275mm, and that's plenty.

The other key feature of the Turbomatic is what Selle Italia call the suspension system. That's a bit of a grand way of putting it, but we guess it's accurate. Little elastomers between the ends of the carbon rails and the shell absorb shock and, along with a little bit of flex in the shell itself, keep the ride smooth. You get very little teeth-chatter when you hit the bumpy, frost-damaged sections.

The Lorica (fake leather) upper is reasonably tough. Like any other cover, it'll get scratched up if you ever drop your bike or scrape it against a wall, but it handles normal day-to-day use fine. The slightly larger size and that cushioning means the Turbomatic isn't the lightest saddle out there, though. That said, at 253g it's hardly a heavyweight either.

A previous road.cc reviewer found that the breadth of the Gel Flow Team version of this saddle caused chafing. I didn't. Horses for courses and all that. We all know that saddles are a matter of individual taste. So will I be swapping permanently to the Turbomatic from my beloved SLR? No, actually, I still prefer the SLR's shape. But if you feel you could do with a bit more space and cushioning than you get on a really lightweight design, this is a high-quality option that's definitely worth checking out.

Verdict

High-quality saddle offering a little more space and cushioning than you get on a really lightweight design