[CR]Swallow saddles

(Example: Framebuilders:Norman Taylor)

From: "David Fryer" <maximalist@bigpond.com>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 11:21:39 +1000
Subject: [CR]Swallow saddles

To answer the question: why are Swallows so rare?

The Brooks B17 'Swallow', with chopped out sides would have looked very strange in conservative pre-war Britain. Also, the high price would have deterred buyers in the middle of a depression.

The other three B17 varients: Standard, Narrow and Sprint, were "only" 13/9 - a full 4/9 cheaper than the Swallow. Why would you pay 18/6 for a saddle with missing sides when you could chop them out yourself and save money? If you wanted to chop them out at all that is.

The Swallow offered neglibile weight savings as well. If you wanted to save weight, the B16 with Castalumin rails offered a 2oz saving over the Swallow cut-away and it was also 1/- cheaper. But how many of these have you seen around?

Their rarity might be explained by the British cyclist's reluctance to adopt aluminium, even though it had been widely used elsewhere (luxury cars had been made from aluminium for decades before that).

The arguably more adventurous French adopted aluminium more readily than their British cousins. Ideale saddles with aluminium-alloy frames are not that uncommon (though one has yet to come my way).

The post-war Wrights cut-away sold reasonably well though. I don't recall seeing a cut-away Ideale; maybe other listers have.

David Fryer, Queensland, Australia.