I’ve been asked several times this week about the Brooks B-17 that I now have on all three of my bikes.
If you’re looking for informaton on Brooks, check this helpful post from the people at Wallingford Bicycle Parts.
The official Brooks site is at www.brookssaddles.com
Essentially Brooks has been around since 1866. Each saddle is made of high quality leather near Birmingham, England. They started with, what else, horse saddles. But their bike saddles have nearly as long a history.
The saddles are an icon of bicycles. They have a near cult like following. The B-17, which I have on my three bikes, has been largely unchanged for more than 100 years. It takes about three days to make a saddle.
I’ve found it takes about 250 miles of riding to completely break them in. After that, they just get better. But even from the first ride, it’s comfortable. Twice a year, I rub in a product called Proofride to soften it up. And because the saddle is high quality leather, I put a cover on it if it’s out in the rain and I’m not sitting on it (like when in a bike rack on the back of the vehicle).
The manufacturing process is pretty amazing.
Here’s a video from Brooks that touches on the history and the manufacturing process:
