As someone who's been involved with the repair of Brooks' saddles over the past few years, I've not seen any significant problems with failures in their ti-framed models. The early Swifts were fitted with inadequate shackles, which often bent or fractured, but this was soon remedied.
One caveat, though. I've encountered a small number of instances in more recent times, where the tension bolt has boken immediately BEHIND the adjusting nut; on investigation, it's been apparent that the tension on all of these saddles has been somewhat slack, and, because of the greater 'springiness' of the titanium, this has allowed the tail of the bolt to 'bounce' against the rear of the shackle and eventually to shear-off behind the nut. This suggests that it might be wise to ensure that the tension on a ti-framed saddle is maintained at a level slightly higher than that which would be appropriate for a steel-framed version - if you like to ride in your saddle, rather than on it, a ti-framed model is probably not for you? In the event of such a failure, there should be tell-tale 'gouges' in the titanium shackle, and, when fitting a new tension bolt, I've also replaced the shackle - filing a slightly deeper rear profile, in the hope that this will also help prevent a re currence.
Now for the sales pitch - Dale's already said that this Brooks stuff is KOF, right? Listers may care to know that I've got stocks of titanium frames/fittings for all the current range of Brooks 'sports' saddles - Swift, Finesse, Swallow, Professional, B.17 (Standard, Narrow and Sprinter) and, yes, the recently re-introduced Colt.
Tony Colegrave, Northiam, E. Sussex. UK.
> Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:25:46 -0500
> From: rdayton@carolina.rr.com
> To: valiensi@mac.com; gillies@ece.ubc.ca
> CC: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR] Brooks Team Pro Titanium
>
> Ti railed Swallow and Ti railed Swift.
> A good deal of Brevets at 200K - 400K. A 1000K on the Swallow. A few pot holes etc when dark and I'm tired.
> No problems what so ever.
>
> Rob Dayton
> Charlotte,NC
> USA
> ---- James Valiensi <valiensi@mac.com> wrote:
> > Don,
> > I have 3 B-17 with titanium rails. No problems over the past 7-8 years.
> > James Valiensi, PE
> > Northridge, CA
> > H818.775.1847 M.818.585.1796
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 4, 2011, at 4:38 PM, donald gillies wrote:
> >
> > > I've ordered a Brooks Team Pro Titanium, but it's been delayed by such
> > > a long time (70 days) that I contacted the factory and they said that
> > > in late November their rails-forming machinery broke, leading to a big
> > > backlog in Brooks Saddles production. Just to compound things, their
> > > Titanium Supplier was late delivering the titanium wire used to make
> > > the saddles, too.
> > >
> > > So yes, you may have a hard time finding exaclty the right saddle and
> > > color from Brooks right now. I've been waiting patiently with my
> > > "Black Friday" price on the saddle.
> > >
> > > Has anyone had problems with failures in Brooks Ti Saddles? If yes,
> > > would you advise me to cancel the order and get 2x saddles with steel
> > > rails? This is for a very special, green bike (some of you know what
> > > I'm talking about ..)
> > >
> > > - Don Gillies
> > > San Diego, CA, USA