I could have called this post ‘be careful what you ask for’. A couple of days ago I worked up the courage to email my master bike builder in Tuscany to see where I might be in his queue, given that I sent him his deposit 15 months ago. What I got was a long and detailed response that ended with him telling me that we were going to enter the ‘design phase’ in the next couple of weeks.

Apart from wondering where I’ll get the money for this, I’m also now forced to finally make some important decisions about what I want this bike to be. If you’ve ever built a bike part by part you’ll know what I’m talking about, but we are also in the midst of a transformative time in vélo tech, with more legitimate choices than ever before…but I’ll start with something simple: what I put my butt on.

I’m seeing more and more of these beauties: 3D printed saddles. I find myself pressing my thumb into them whenever I pass one by. They are pleasantly squishy but stiff at the same time. I just got on Selle Italia‘s site to see what they are doing these days and sure enough, they have my saddle in 3D:

The top end is €450 for the version with carbon rails and ‘only’ €350 for the Ti version. The kicker here, though, is that neither of these versions come close to the weight of my traditional saddle – 129 grams. Even the one with carbon rails is 171 grams.

I’m assuming there’s a reason you pay for that weight. Anyone out there ride these things?

While you think about that, I’m going back to my Force vs Ultegra vs Dura Ace vs Red reading (Campy, sadly, it not going to make it into this build)