At 12:36 PM -0700 5/28/10, EPL wrote:
>Anybody suing one? What do you think?
I have ridden a Berthoud saddle for two years now on my Grand Bois Urban Bicycle. We reported on it in Bicycle Quarterly. It's a great saddle, very comfortable from the start. Several friends have them, and also have good experiences.
Gilles Berthoud told me that he found somebody who had worked at Ideale to help him develop the saddles. Gilles had an impressive video of his saddle testing machine. Most of all, he doesn't seem to be as keen on cutting costs by procuring the leather from the lowest-cost supplier.
I still prefer the classic appearance of the Brooks, but it's nice to have a saddle with the quality that I used to get from Brooks. The average lifespan of recent Brooks B-17 was less than 2000 miles, or about 4 months of riding. Professionals, on the other hand, seem to be rock-hard for a few thousand miles, and then wear out quickly and asymmetrically, unless you are lucky and get one of the few good ones.
In the 1950s, racers used to bring their Brooks saddles with them when they ordered a new bike, as the saddle got tranferred from bike to bike. My first Brooks Professional lasted about 30,000 miles... and my second one still is in use after 2 Paris-Brest-Paris, a few more 1200 and 1000 km brevets, Fleche rides in pouring rain, etc.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
2116 Western Ave.
Seattle WA 98121
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com