Somewhere along the way, I learned that under the tattered, old leather covering of a tired Unicanitor saddle was the ghost of the original plastic racing saddle, complete with oval stamping and three center holes. Having gotten my greasy mits on a beat up road saddle, I took it upon myself to peel off the leather cover and reveal what looks to me to be a pretty clean plastic Unicanitor. My question is, did Cinelli simply develop coverings for their classic plastic saddle and continue to use the same plastic form as the base upon which later Unicanitors with various coverings were offered (padded, quilted, suede, smooth leather, etc)? Is there a difference between, say, a 60's track saddle and a 70's leather-covered saddle with the leather removed? What makes a Unicanitor track or road specific? Lastly, what is one to make of the different rail designs used by Cinelli over the years? Do these do anything to demarcate the various models available concurrently? Or are these just variations from different eras of production? I took a quick pic of the two common styles of rail design and posted them at the link below. The right saddle has a "wishbone" style of rail, while the left has two parallel rails which have been welded/molded together side-by-side beneath the nose. What's the primary difference between the two? And would either one be appropriate for a 60's Italian track bike?
Muchas Gracias,
Matthew Bowne
Brooklyn, New York