All this talk about Brooks B17s reminds me that 'back in the day' (i.e. mid-late '70s) no self respecting racing man in the UK 'riding leather' would be seen dead with anything less than a Brooks Pro - preferably with super-big rivets and with the top matted out to near black finish using neatsfoot oil... I still have mine of course.
Honey / tan coloured leather was unknown (to me at least) and I'm sure would have been regarded as rather effete. B17s and the ilk were strictly for the hard-up, original equipment utility riders and bearded tourists.
How times change.
Of course those were also the days when time triallists at used to drill out brake levers, calipers, chainrings, cranks, seatposts etc., in the belief that by saving all that weight we'd go faster. The basic laws of aerodynamics were lost on us - shows how much we knew.
I even tried drilling out my head once. The trouble was that all the blood kept running into my eyes and I couldn't see the course markers or marshalls...
Ian Briggs
LUTON UK