montanasoftware

Which Brooks saddle color is your favorite? Black, brown, or honey? You can take the poll above, and respond to this post with your thoughts also.

Your vote counts!!

Moe Zhoost

Black, certainly. I like the pattern it makes on my sweaty khaki shorts.

dweenk

All three colors are OK with me, but I prefer black or brown depending upon the paint color of the bike. I don't like red/blue/gteen dyed saddles.

steelbikeguy

I'd say it depends on the color scheme of the bike.

However.... do be prepared for the color to change over the years.
Here's a black Brooks Pro that I've ridden since the mid 70's.....




and here's a newer honey Champion Flyer that has maybe 10,000 miles....



Some leather dye would bring the Pro back to its original color, I suspect (and then that dye could leach into your clothing like the original dye did).
I think honey saddles are all destined to darken like the one shown above. I've got a couple other honey Brooks doing the same thing.

Steve in Peoria

squirtdad

I like black specifically the swift, but the standard b17 natural (not sure what to call it ) is weathering well.


montanasoftware where in Montana....guessing bozeman? I grew up in Chinook...

montanasoftware

Cool! I'm in Potomac, which is outside Missoula. I live about 10 miles from the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which was put together by the Adventure Cycling Association here in Missoula. It runs from Banff, Canada to the Mexican border. Dirt roads the whole way. I'd love to do that route some day.

seedsbelize 

Green. I've had two of them.

montanasoftware

To each his own ... LOL. I'm not really a fan of the dyed colors either, but I probably should have included those colors in the poll. Not all leather saddles are available in those special colors, though.

Korina

That's why I prefer honey. My new one is darkening nicely.

SurferRosa

I wasn't gonna vote. Just too much trouble. And, come on, did my vote really even count? But then, when I read that nasty thing by that one guy, I changed my mind and got motivated. But I was still torn by the candidates. Was the question of color so simple? And what did it all mean, anyway?

merziac

Absolutely depends on the bike, sometimes doesn't matter as long as its Brooks.

Kabuki12

I have brown and black and they look very similar after years and miles ! I prefer the Professional. Joe

velojym

I like the honey on my LHT, but I've kinda been thinking that the apple green, with matching bar tape, would look pretty sweet on my 2k Kona JtS

Skye_Walker77

It depends on the bike, color and style. Black for a default, but for a nice vintage, brown or honey.

deux jambes

I love the color of my still newish champion imperial, but also excited to see how it ages with wear and patina.

Cycle Tourist

I like black for fashion on a newish bike but brown on my old timers. They do seem to end up there anyway over time. Black shoe polish can bring back a formerly black saddle if you just gotta have black. Brooks saddles fit my butt right outta the box but an old Belt is a close second.

Lascauxcaveman 

Lol. Just vote blue.

#blacksaddlesmatter

[ducks]

montanasoftware

LOL ... It was only a matter of time til this went off the "rails"

RobbieTunes

I let someone else vote in my place, since we didn't need ID. No one will ever know.

But actually, I've only had a red Swallow and a blue Swallow, and one of rhm 's re-do's.
The SSM Regal and SSM Rolls, in honey, match the Brooks wrap and Challenge bag pretty well.
I just am not sure I want a saddle that outweighs my wheel set.

delbiker1 

Not sure that my vote counts as I am not a fan of Brooks saddles. But I vote brown.

steelbikeguy

a pair of steel rims will fix that.

Steve in Peoria (but the Titanium Swift is pretty nice)

John E

Maroon!

(Depends on the bike. I have black Brooks Pros on the mountain bike and one of the Capo Siegers.

montanasoftware

I used to feel that way. My first bike (in 1982) was my brother's old french-threaded Gitane Tour de France built in the 70s. Reynolds 531 double-butted throughout, with the sport-touring geometry. And of course a tensioned leather saddle. All bikes came with that kind of saddle back then. I used to ride that thing about 600-700 miles per month. Not huge numbers, but a very pleasant experience. Then I decided I wanted to lighten everything up, so I got a 1985 ultra-stiff Cannondale with twitchy racing geometry, and, of course, a lightweight plastic-foam saddle. I was never able to spend as much time in the saddle after that. After a long ride, my legs would feel beat up (from the stiff aluminum), instead of pleasantly tired. And my rear end would hurt .. I could never get used to the saddle. I tried a lot of different saddles ... all with pretty much the same result.

Finally, I realized that it was actually inefficient to put so much emphasis on weight savings. Maybe for short races, the weight savings would be worth it. But for long rides, I could actually put in more miles in less time using the heavier steel frame with the leather saddle. The human-bike combination makes an awesome machine, but I was ignoring the "human" side of the equation. For me, the leather saddle/steel frame combo was much better suited to my biological machine and yielded better results.

But that was just my experience ... I'm not trying to tell anyone else what to do with their own bike.

montanasoftware

John: What a gorgeous old bike. Is that a 531 sticker? Toe clips, friction shifters, clamp-on cable guides, center-pull caliper brakes, frame fit pump, and a healthy gap between the seat tube and the rear wheel. Reminds me of my old Gitane.

John E

Thank you. The CyclArt paint job, a 2003 splurge I have never regretted, was based on another 1959 Capo Modell Campagnolo, based in your state(!), that I saw on the Internet. (We had just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, and my wife encouraged me to spend some money on myself for a change.) The original color would have been more of a candy apple red, but I really liked this stock metallic "almost candy" maroon. I am glad I spent the extra $75 for the white paint to show off the fancy lugwork. This frame is plain gauge 531, at least in the main triangle. My two top-of-the-line littermate Capo Siegers are full double butted 531.

The brakes, shift levers, and headset are about the only original components. The wheelset came from my 1980 Bianchi, the seatpost is a 2-bolt Campag., the crankset is a Nervar Star from the 1970s. As you can guess from the relaxed geometry (72 degrees parallel, long chainstays and fork rake), this is a very smooth and comfortable ride, a sweet spot sports touring geometry. I had 700Cx28 tires on it for the photo, but it can easily take 32 or even 35mm for dirt roads and the like.