Brooks Saddles

Brooks saddles are probably the best known leather, or otherwise, saddles. It also seems people either like or dislike them – there is no middle way. Most people like them.

Made of leather, they are reckoned to be the most comfortable of saddles because you wear them in like a pair of shoes; thing is, it’s the wearing in part that some dislike, as it can take several months or hundreds, maybe thousands of miles before the saddle becomes comfortable.

I must have done about 5,000 miles with mine. I have the widest one, for upright (sit up and beg) town bikes –  the B190. I think it is a masterpiece. Some think them expensive and are surprised when I tell them how much it was - £90, I don’t think so - checking the net you can certainly pay a lot more, up to £500 for other makes that use carbon or titanium in their construction. As to comfort, I found it comfortable from the outset. Maybe I might have needed to wear it in if it had been one of, if not, the most popular – the B17 or B66, shown below:

B17 courtesy of Flickr

B66 courtesy of author :Hannes Grobe/AWI - wikimedia)

B190 -mine- not that good a photo in my opinion - I'm still learning - but it does highlight the Brooks lettering ;-)

The B190 is quite new. Most of their saddles have been around  a lot longer – some back to the 1920s. They are handmade in pretty much the same way they've always been, still in the same place, Birmingham, by people with decades of experience which, to me highlight just how reasonably priced they are - starting from around £70.

Another problem with Brooks is, you have to keep them dry because if they get utterly drenched, they can lose their shape, ergo, ruined. Here in England with the weather we're having right now, I'm having to be vigilant about keeping it dry, usually by putting a plastic carrier bag over the top of it when parking up in the open.

For me, a Brooks adds a touch of class to a quality bike, (no point putting one on a £100 supermarket special) and, it appears many others share this view. Most manufacturers of quality urban bikes seem to fit them, especially the Dutch, German, Danish and Swedish makers. Seems Brooks dominate this market, but there is an alternative, Gilles Berthoud, nowhere near that well known in comparison, but worth considering. They are genuinely different with features that set them apart from the Brooks including grooves for fitting a Klick-Fix system and very easily disassembled. Then again,  for me, not so much an alternative, but an addition to my wish list!