+1 more. I have a SA and B17 (butchered). I have thousands of miles on my SA and lots of long MTB rides on B17. I just got back from a 6 day 290 mile mixed surface tour around Utah on my B17. I did a 9 day 500 mile tour in August on the SA. Like others have said, hands down SA is more comfortable. My arse was pretty sore by day 5 on this last trip and I had no issues with the 9 day tour on the SA.

Regarding the break in period I didn't find the break in on the Brooks the onerous process some make it out to be. I think if you are a regular rider the break in on a Brooks is not that bad. That said there was no break in on the SA. I had about 75 miles on the SA before doing a double century. The SA was comfortable the whole day (all 13.5 hour straight).

Is the SA worth the extra coin; in my opinion - any day of the week.

PS, the other big advantage of the SA over the Brooks are the longer rails. The rails on the Brooks doesn't allow for a wide range of fore and aft adjustment.