Selle Italia prints 3D saddles from each rider’s pressure map

At an authorized Unica center, a qualified bike fitter starts by mapping how a rider loads a bicycle saddle. Selle Italia then uses that data to produce a 3D-printed saddle with an internal lattice shaped around that individual pressure distribution—while keeping the chosen model’s outer shape unchanged.

The distinction is inside the padding. Commercial 3D-printed saddles have generally used predefined areas with different lattice densities, designed for a population rather than one rider. For Unica, Selle Italia says each saddle is individually engineered so stiffness varies around the load pattern recorded for that person, with support and stability added where needed and pressure reduced elsewhere.

The workflow combines a biomechanical analysis, captured with a digital camera, and the idmatch Pressure Map System, which records load zones and pressure distribution across the saddle. The fitter uploads the results to the idmatch portal; Selle Italia uses the dataset to generate the structure and print it at individually calibrated densities. Delivery currently takes around three weeks from the analysis, after which the fitter installs and adjusts the saddle on the bicycle. Customers can follow manufacturing through the my.idmatch web app.

Concretely, the rider gets a saddle whose internal cushioning is based on measured use rather than a standard set of zones. That matters most for cyclists already looking for the small gains associated with personalized equipment: the company’s stated benefit is better support and stability in the rider’s higher-load areas, without changing the familiar external form of the selected model.

The offer is still narrow. Unica currently applies only to Selle Italia’s existing 3D-surface models, the SLR 3D and Novus Boost Evo 3D, with Carbon or Elite rails. The range has been released commercially, but the individual production process remains tied to an authorized-center analysis and a current delivery time of around three weeks.