Just received the new Bicycle Quarterly. Great as usual. Particularly interesting is the followup review of the Brooks Professional Ti saddle. Jan reports that the leather collapsed on one side on his after only 3000 km. He concludes this is unacceptable for a saddle that costs nearly $300. I absolutely agree. He goes on to say that Brooks needs to pay attention to quality and thickness of the leather as well as the appearance and fancy Ti rails on their new pricey upscale models. He does state, in all fairness, that his saddle was replaced under warranty.
What's amazing here is that Jan only published the initial review on this saddle a few months ago, yet he has been able to put 3000 km on the same saddle since. Of course he is a distinguished PBP rider, which means he must ride all those qualifying brevets. I'll bet the guys currently at Bicycling never put 3000 km on one saddle in their entire lives. I hope that saddle didn't break down on Jan in the middle of his PBP.
So we are now warned that those high priced new Brooks models may not last long enough to justify their price, although we can hope Brooks will honor the warranty as they did for Jan. This might motivate one to buy the less expensive steel rail versions, so as not to put so much money at risk, although I've already bought a couple of Ti rail B-17's, so we'll see how that works out. Another alternative I've noticed is Rivendell is now selling a leather saddle, slotted in the middle, called An-Atomica, made in Wisconsin. Looks very interesting, How long has it been since a high quality leather saddle was made in the United States?
One thing is for sure, a subscription to Bicycle Quarterly is a zero-risk deal.
Regards,
Jerry Moos,
Big Spring, TX