Originally Posted by
TallRider
Crescent Cycle, interesting to know (and makes sense) that skirted leather saddles have limited ability to extend the clamping section of the rails forward. A look at the picture of my Professional (above) shows the skirt section of the leather narrowing when the rails narrow. The B17 is the same way, albeit with more flexible leather.
Try using the front part of the rails on the turbo and I doubt you will get much more adjustment that the brooks. I imagine with leather being soft they're probably more prone to damage if you could clamp it with the skirts pressing down on the clamp. Also when the Brooks were first designed and common place, you had an actual separate piece that was the seat clamp that mounted on the seat post. These could be mounted in front or behind the post to give you set forward or set back for more adjustability. Seat tubes were also slacker back then. Modern saddles really just have a lot more usable rail.