Selle Italia quality?

Is it just me or are newer Selle Italia-saddles in other colors than black utter shit?

I had an old yellow Flite, that after a couple of years got so worn in the leather that I decided to replace it with a new one... So, I ordered a yellow Flite "GelFlow" on sale from Chainreaction.

After one ride to work the "leather" had ripped.. after a week it looked like this:

Now, this DID happen while riding in regular jeans, loose fitting.. but still..

Ok, so I returned it for warranty.. and while waiting (still am) for a reply I stumpled on a cheap yellow Flite on ebay, used. It's a bit older than the one pictured.

Put it on the bike today, and after one ride in the rain it looks even worse than the one pictured above... annoying! Anyone else having these problems with Selle Italia-saddles?

I think this is not regular. No normal wear and tear.
Ask the shop what to do with it. It's still within 1/2 year, so, they have to repair, replace or refund and you don't have to prove anything (just the bill).

looks like the leather dried out and is brittle.. could well be a general fault.

It can happen (apparently according to someone on here who re-covered a leather saddle similar to a brooks) when you immerse the leather in water that's too hot. makes it hard and brittle.

On 'Sale' from CRC aye...it wasn't in their Flood Sale was it?

And it's most likely not Leather BTW. Probably Lorica fabric.

If it isn't real leather this probably won't be relevant, but in the context of motorbike leathers I was always told to go for black or natural, as the bleaching and dying process involved in making lighter colours does some violence to the strength of the leather.

Black FTW

Racist

never had a problem with mine, and I always ride in jeans.

strip it!

exact same thing happened to mine when i put it on about a year ago. Was couriering at the time so but it down to overuse. I've still got it on now BTW and it's fine except those black marks have spread over the whole saddle

got it from there too

No problems with the Team Edition Flite on my Road Bike that i've had for 3-4 months.

Your's looks like one of the older Flites, guess Chain Reaction have had it in storage for a couple of years ?

strip it!

But I want it to be yellow... Did think about stripping and painting though :)