The saddles in Brooks Aged range have a most pronounced suppleness to the leather top. They are best described as being "comfortable from day 1", or indeed "immediately broken in". The Aged range was created for the cyclist eager to ride a leather saddle but disinclined to invest the time involved 'breaking-in' a traditional model. The softness of the vegetable tanned leather across our Aged range is guaranteed by the special blend of oils and waxes massaged into the hide prior to manufacture.
The Classic range includes many of our best selling models for the modern cyclist, since all saddles have single rails and are thus compatible with micro-adjust seat posts. The B17 is the most popular saddle in the Brooks Classic range. It is certainly the oldest Brooks model and longest living saddle in cycling history. This icon has been sold as far back as 1896 and for over a century never went out of production. Many of these models are available also in the Aged and Imperial lines.
Historically, Brooks Saddles were made with small rivets. Racers in the continental tours would have their Brooks Saddles re-finished with larger copper rivets to increase longevity, as they are gentler on the leather top. This practice was adopted by Brooks decades ago. A single badly-aimed hammer blow can irreparably damage the leather, so the utmost care must be taken during manufacture. Each copper rivet on all Special saddle models is carefully hand hammered by skilled craftsmen.
The preservation of traditional construction techniques and craft skills is as much an imperative for our craftsmen today, as for their predecessors at Brooks. For more than a century our craftsmen have manufactured a variety of saddle designs, which remain unchanged in their method of construction and most singular appearance. Each saddle in our Unique range is distinguished by an aspect of workmanship or detail of construction specific to that particular model, making it indeed unique.
“Many kinds of leather would be utterly unsuitable for saddles, and of the correct kind, very great care has to be exercised to select skins suitable for Brooks Tops.” So we wrote in 1925 and keep doing at Brooks, although leather stiffness varies slightly from hide to hide. For high mileage cyclists who demand more from their saddles, we select the toughest hides, sourced from cattle raised at a natural pace on certified organic farms. All Select Saddles feature hand hammered copper rivets.
J.B. Brooks & Co. first presented saddles featuring "registered cutting, a sure preventive to all perenial pressure" in the 1890s. This ingenious solution to a problem still familiar to today's cyclist went out of production in the 1950s. We have however recently resurrected this design feature, reintroducing refined versions of the 'registered cutting' on some models. Our Imperial saddles once again offer this improved solution to perenial numbness, with dedicated solutions for men and women.
