Originally Posted by
TiHabanero
Brooks has been doing saddles for a very long time and they tend to fulfill the needs of many, many riders. When something has been perfected to the standards set by the company, and is continuously received by the consumer in a positive light at numbers that sustain the company, it says a whole lot about the product. It may be expensive, but it is very, very good.
Seems as though Gusti has a thing for goat leather. I think you ought try one for several thousand miles and report back with results.
A romanticized version of Brooks to be sure. “The company” was sold to Raleigh’s investment group in the 1960s, was sold and liquidated in the late ‘90s, and revived in ‘02, as noted upthread, by Selle Royal. Sure, today they do things mostly the old fashioned way, but I question how much of “the company” is still really in the place. Leather tanning and Cambium saddles are done in Italy, for example.
When I was a kid, there were all kinds of cheap, plastic Brooks saddles around, and certainly the elite sports segment was ruled by Italian brands. It’s only been fairly recently that Brooks was re-emergent as, the way I see it, a lifestyle brand. That’s not to say the saddles are uncomfortable, but it does raise questions about what kind of “special sauce” they may have, if any. Personally, I don’t give 2 bits to Brooks at any price, and would certainly never pay what they’re asking for those things. Brooks: better than wood, anyway.