For many years, Cinelli Unicanitor was more or less the one and only saddle for racing bikes. All other saddles (including Arius from Spain and 3ttt from Italy) were copies.
Cinelli introduced the Unicanitor in 1962, after the acquisition of saddle manufacturer Unica.
Unicanitor was available in different versions. A very fance one has a lightweight, aluminium frame (rails).
My first Unicanitor was on my first road bike, a second hand Batavus Professional team bike that I got in 1979. I ruined the saddle in my first year in a crash.
Recently I got my second one. A suede Nr. 2 that I found on auction site Marktplaats. A second hand saddle with a mouse grey / brownish cover, but not torn or scratched. The cover was a bit loose on one side, but I glued it with 2 layers of Bison Kit adhesive. After cleaning the cover with acetone, I coloured it black with "VG indringverf", some kind of penetrating dye. I did the same with a San Marco Rolls and it worked perfectly. The good thing is that it paints the old leather beautifully black, but the silver logo's don't become black.
(http://www.classicrendezvous.com)
Mod. 50 black (uncovered plastic)
Mod. 55 black perforated type (uncovered plastic)
Mod. 65 "CAMPIONE DEL MONDO" leather covered (no padding)
Mod. 65/C covered with chamois leather (no padding)
Mod. 65/N covered with buffalo leather (no padding)
Mod. 70 "CAMPIONE DEL MONDO" leather covered, quilted type
Mod. 75 #1 "Tour de France", covered with chamois leather, and cross-stitched
Mod. 75 #2 "Tour de France", covered with chamois leather, softened type (padded)
Mod. 75 #3 "Tour de France", covered with buffalo leather, softened type (padded)
Mod. 75 #4 "Tour de France", covered with smooth leather, softened type (padded)
The oldest/rarest Unicanitors (other than the uncovered ones that don't say "Cinelli") are covered in plain leather and have labels in aluminum foil on the underside of the saddle.
Next come the saddles with no name on the back but with the logo on the side like all the others.
Also ultra desirable are the Unicanitors which have the legend "Cinelli" on the rear end in block letters. More recent (80's) have the legend with the flying C logo in the spelling and have a flying C at the nose of the saddle. Most (but not all) saddles are covered in smooth leather, Pakistani buffalo hide or suede. Also the old foil label models are just a tad wider.
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