We've been having great luck with Berthoud saddles - on a percentage basis, much fewer returns than with Brooks. In the rare event of an issue (including unreasonable fading), we typically can warranty them very easily, Gilles Berthoud really stands behind their products.
Maybe because we sell so many Berthoud saddles, our Brooks sales have been a tad sub par. I think that is because many of the leather-saddle-using-serious-randonneurs have migrated to Berthoud. Nonetheless, Brooks saddles are still pretty neat, and a nice value (and we can usually get defects covered by the distributor also). So we've put a few Brooks saddles on sale on our on-line store earlier today (before we saw this thread).
Please go to http://www.renehersebicycles.com and follow the links to the on-line store.
Do be sure to add shipping at check out - $10 is the amount for shipping in the US (for any size order of most typical parts).
Thanks so much!
Mike Kone in Boulder CO USA
http://www.renehersebicycles.com
reneherse@comcast.net for emails
I have one of the first production saddles (or maybe even a prototype), which we tested in Bicycle Quarterly a few years ago. The black leather has faded to various shades of brown, but I find the "aged" look very attractive - see
http://www.bikequarterly.com/
Most of all, the saddle was almost immediately comfortable, and has remained so for two years and at least 8000 miles now. I highly recommend it.
I used to get at least 25,000 miles out of Brooks saddles, but recently, their leather quality has been variable, to put it charitably...
Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 2116 Western Ave. Seattle WA 98121 http://www.bikequarterly.com
Follow our blog at http://janheine.wordpress.com/
At 11:59 AM -0800 1/29/11, EPL wrote:
>One caveat if you are considering a Berthoud saddle in black. Make
>sure you are getting a saddle that has just very recently come into
>stock, not one that's been in stock for months.
>
>Until quite recently, the black Berthoud leather tops faded to
>grey/brown very quckly, a dye problem.
>
>The good folks at GB tell me they have fixed the problem and they're
>shipping good ones now.
>
>Your best best is to buy direct from GB here:
>
>http://www.gillesberthoud.fr/anglais/index1.php
>
>Emanuel Lowi
>Montreal, Quebec