Ideale Waxed Canvas Saddle

[peteb1962]

Anybody seen one of these before. I have looked on Velobase and can find everything but.... It came off a 1974 Gitane Enghein mixte, looks to be waxed canvas and probably original. The stamp on the side says Wolber.

Cheers Pete

 

[531brazed]

Presumably thats a covering - over what ?

Brooks c15 c17 arent a new idea then ?

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Not a covering, and not waxed. The top is made of canvas impregnated with rubber, then heat-cured in a mould.

Idéale is an old French company from Pont-St-Pierre near Rouen, well known for their leather saddles. They had an association with Dunlop at one point, selling a range of rubber-topped "weatherproof" saddles. Presumably the top of your saddle was made by Wolber: canvas and rubber is tyre technology.

Here's something similar with no Idéale branding:

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/-/221994657064?

 

[peteb1962]

Thanks one-eyed-jim. You are a true sage. That's the saddle . It is effectively a layer of rubber between two sheets of canvas and then another layer of rubber to finish the underside.

I was a bit surprise with the price of the Ebay item!

I imagine it was on the Gitane when it was first purchased along with a lot of the other period fancy bits. Whilst it is quite rare, I doubt it has much value.