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From the Selle Italia website:
A sophisticated rail with technically advanced design features outlines the character of this saddle: high tech and aggressive.
FOKUS TRANSAM: SIZE 275X135 MM (lxw)WEIGHT 285(grams +-8%) RAIL Carbon Composite
Well this is a bit of an understated description of a very interesting saddle. The rails appear to be carbon fiber composite and the seat cover appears to be leather, but surfing the Sellia Italia website failed to divulge any further specifications than what you see above. The saddle is extremely light weight, but the padding of the saddle is very firm and it supports your weight very well while still being forgiving enough to prevent pressure soreness. But this is NOT a SOFT saddle! This is a saddle for a rear end with some saddle time already under its belt. Just as is the case with most aspects of athletic endeavour, the better trained you are, the more you will enjoy the activity, this holds true with saddle sitting as well! This saddle is aggressive which translated to human speak means it is not a broad beam saddle. It is designed to keep your stuff off the top tube and very little else, other than absorbing the road shock, which it does very well. It is not however a mushy energy robbing saddle couch which you can sit in for days on end and never tire!
Ok reactions: At first I was leery of the narrow support base, but after a few spins around the block I realized this saddle was hitting me where I needed to be hit and supported there. Everywhere else it just got out of the way, which is a good thing if you want to pedal hard. None of your pedaling energy will get sucked off compressing parts of the saddle which lie under the top of your thighs, it simply doesn't go there!
I rode this saddle for roughly two hours under some seriously lousy conditions and honestly about twice during the ride I noticed my rear end and shifting around slightly made it disappear again. Now this is not! I repeat NOT an unusual requirement with a high performance saddle! Since they hit you in such a small area, most of us have plenty of room to move the contact points around and still remain in basic position. So expect some wiggle requirements from a really aggressive saddle. I would probably not want this saddle for a multiday charity ride over a few hundred miles, but then I am not a bike competitor either. I will make it a point to re-assess this saddle in a few months as I am leaving it installed on my Cannondale so I can give it a fair review over time.
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