Selle Royal Spa is a company from

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, Italy, founded in 1956 by Riccardo Bigolin, producing

saddles A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to Mammal#Anatomy, an animal's back by a girth (tack), girth. The most common type is List of equestrian sports, equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created ...

for

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

s. In 1965, a formal establishment of Selle Royal Sp.A. was made in Vicenza for the production and distribution of bicycle saddles.

Polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

foaming production system was chosen in order to be able to maximize production across the chain. Selle Royal then released the first patent of

vacuum technology A vacuum (: vacuums or vacua) is space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective (neuter ) meaning "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressur ...

for ergonomic shaped design production. In the 90's, Selle Royal Sp.A. developed and patented a revolutionary "soft-solid" material named as Royalgel. Royalgel claims to be the only saddle gel that doesn't age, harden, or migrate, delivering unbeatable comfort and durability. With the 2010 acquisition of China's Justek, Selle Royal Spa was stated to be the world's largest manufacturer of bicycle saddles.

History

* 1956: Riccardo Bigolin founded Selle Royal * 1967: Riccardo Bigolin (with Feltrificio Bassanese) and his brother Giuseppe Bigolin acquired Selle Italia srl (founded in 1897); Riccardo later ceded its 50 % share to Giuseppe Bigolin and his wife * 1970: Selle Royal develops a production technology based on a particular

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

foam * 1980s - 1990s: Selle Royal Spa has become a partner of the main houses that produce bicycles. * 1980: Selle Royal develops the RVS , an automated vacuum production system, which allows the saddle to be joined directly to the foam * 1990: Selle Royal develops a gel for the saddle for the recreational market, based on an exclusive polyurethane gel patented by

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

* 1996: Selle Royal opens Selle Bra for production in Brazil * 1997: Selle Royal launches Fi'zi:k * 2002: Selle Royal acquires

Brooks England Brooks England is a bicycle saddle manufacturer originally based in Smethwick, West Midlands, England and now owned by Selle Royal of Italy. It has been making leather goods since 1866, when it was founded in Hockley, Birmingham. In the 1880s ...

, thus giving the company three independent brands of saddles * 2005: Selle Bra and Metal Ciclo merge to form Royal Ciclo * 2006 - 2010: Selle Royal began direct distribution through dealers H2 (USA) with

Continental Tyres Continental AG, commonly known as Continental and colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational Automotive industry, automotive parts manufacturing company. Headquartered in Hanover, Lower Saxony, it is the world's third-List of the largest ...

and A4, (Italy and France, Austria since 2018) of proprietary and thirdy brands. * 2007: Selle Royal acquires Crankbrothers * 2010: Selle Royal acquires 52% of Justek, China * 2011: Selle Royal acquired PEdAL ED, operating under Via Vittorio Emanuele 119 - 36050 Pozzoleone (VI), ITALY - P.IVA. 04013940244 since 2016 * 2013: Brooks England purchased Pannier ltd. * 2015: Justek became Selle Royal China Vehicle, with two production sites (

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. It is administered by the Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is an important transport hub on the Yangtze River and one of the most developed counties ...

and

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

) * 2016: Opening of SR56 Inc, a R&D Center in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

References

External links

Selle Royal Corporate Website
{{Italian cycle manufacturers Italian brands Sporting goods manufacturers of Italy Bicycle saddle makers Manufacturing companies established in 1956 Companies based in Veneto 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions Italian companies established in 1956 Multinational companies headquartered in Italy

History

See also

References

External links