Monoborracho

This is just some food for thought, because I know many of you youngsters won't entertain the notion of a Brooks. However, my most comfortable road bike is my 20+ year old Paramount (upgraded to 9 speed Ultegra) which has a Brooks Flyer. Yep, springs and all. On a chip seal road you will really notice that your hands are vibrating but your butt isn't.

Two years back we upgraded from a Burley w/ Softbeam, to our now custom Seven Ti. We're not weight weenies per se but we aren't looking for extra weight. We run Thompson posts and stem with carbon fiber handlebars. She is now fitted well and before long we'll probably get her a custom stem from those Calfee folks. Our wheels for touring (Northern Ireland last year) are Phil 48 holes with Velocity rims. Back close to home we run a set of Spinergy CF spoked rims.

Right now stoker is happy with her Selle Italia Lady Gel on a Thompson Masterpiece, though she had a B68 Brooks on the Burley. All good. However, consider these numbers, just for talking purposes:

Selle Italia Lady - 260 gram, Thudbuster XL - 585 gram, total 845 grams. Thudbuster ST would shave 100 grams.

Brooks Flyer S - 810 gram, Thompson Masterpiece 197 gram, total 1007 grams.

My point is that for +160 grams penalty you can go with a sprung Brooks on a Thompson, rather than a Thudbuster and it won't break. {I shall now duck before the stone throwing begins**

As to the tire pressure thing, we ran 40MM tires with about 70-75 psi on tour. Stoker loved the ride. We run 100 psi with 28mm on the Spinergy rims and she's good with it. I'm really wanting to try a set of Grand Bois tires before long. For those who know of them, we took a big lesson from the Blayley's tandem and ours is very similar, except for canitlever brakes front and back to go with the back disc.