Quoth Michael Allison
>Yesterday I asked the list when Brooks began to use large rivets on
>their saddles. An esteemed CR member gave me the answer that
>everyone is waiting to learn. In the January 1964 issue of Sporting
>Cyclist (GB), an advertisement appeared for Brooks Professional
>saddles with large rivets. Thanks, Chuck.
That may well be when _Brooks_ started it.
My understanding is that the large, hand-hammered rivet thing began with aftermarket saddle treatments. As I understand it, there used to be various folks (Daniel Rebour the most noted) who would remove the leather from the frame for special treatments with various proprietary chemical recipies (using a washing machine?) to pre-break in the saddle.
They would then re-attach the leather cover to the frame, using the large hand hammered rivets. This caused the big rivets to become something of a status symbol, which Brooks's marketeers picked up on.
Sheldon "Copper" Brown
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| I hate, loathe and despise un-necessary, repetitive, useless |
| redundancies that serve no useful purpose or functionality. |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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