I think lots of CR members are envious of you and your wife for being able to ride 5,000 to 6,000 miles in less than two years. It is just hard to find the time. Although now I think of it, since I started commuting to work, I ride two miles each way and usually ride home for lunch, so I do 8 miles most days, or 40 miles per week. That's about 2,000 miles per year , so I'm not that much short of your mileage. Someone with a slightly lo nger, but still quite practical, commute could equal your mileage, perhaps that's how you do it.
I guess the point is that the best way to do a significant amount of cycl ing is to incorporate it into one's daily routine. You don't have to cyc le a long distance any day, as long as you do it every day. Frankly, alt hough all the talk about the high fuel prices this summer kind of prodded m e into beginning commuting, I don't really delude myself that I save that m uch fuel or that much money or reduce pollution all that much with my 8 mil es per day of cycling. Mostly I do it as a way to work some cycling into my schedule and for the considerable health benefit that even such a moder ate amount of cycling will probably produce.
Sounds like maybe you each have one primary bike that you use most of the t ime, and so can put some real mileage on a single saddle in a couple of yea rs, although maybe not on the level of Jan Heine, who is doing PBP or the q ualifying rides for it. Like many CR members, I have multiple bikes, a nd rotate between the ones equipped for commuting, so it would take me seve ral years to accumulate 5,000 miles on any single saddle. That said, I c an say that I have put a reasonable number of miles on Ti Swifts and B17's on various bikes, and I agree that the Brooks Ti saddles really are quite c omfortable as well as being pretty and light. Tony Colegrave, one of CR' s foremost saddle experts, has said he thinks the Brooks Ti rails are much more comfortable and practical than the old Ideale alloy rail saddles. T he current leather quality may be an issue, but AFAIK, the current Brooks T i models use the same leather as the corresponding steel ones. Perhaps the Ti ones should use more select hides, given their outrageous list pric es, at least in the US. Jan Heine sort of expressed that view in his Bic ycle Quarterly review of the Team Professional Ti in which he expressed his annoyance that the leather lost its shape so soon in such an expensive sad dle.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
From: Wayne Sulak <waynesulak@yahoo.com> Subject: [CR]Brooks Ti Saddles To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 11:16 AM
my 2 cents on saddles:
I have 6,000 miles on a Ti Swift and it works well for me. My wife has ab out 5,000 miles on a Ti saddle and another 6,000 on a sprung steel Brooks on ou r tandem. Both are holding up OK but are beginning to sag a little. These w ere all purchased in late 2006 and early 2007 so more recent ones may not hold up as well. Also have a steel railed B17 with less than a 1,000 miles on my rain bike which is still very firm.
I can really feel the additional flex in the rails on the brooks ti saddles when compared to a steel railed version. Much more comfortable IMHO.
I have an Fizik Aliante Ti rail with the carbon web undercarriage on our ta ndem and like it. Leather on side of saddle wore though in 6,000 miles and it wa s just replaced. I think the Ti rails, perimeter frame and webbing underneat h does act to make it feel somewhat like a brooks. I hear the carbon railed versions are fragile however.
This may be an off topic conclusion but for me the main advantages of the Brooks were the looks and durability. I like the idea of a saddle lasting years and years. The cost of the Ti was justified to me because I planned to use that saddle a long time. If they are not going to last more than 5-6 thousand m iles then I will go with the fizik. They feel as good for me, longer rail adjustment, no worries about rain and save about 100 grams as a bonus. I w ould miss the look of a leather saddle though.
Wayne Sulak