SoreFeet

I got my Berthoud from ebay...seller claimed like new, 30 miles of use. To my dismay the hide was very dried out. I treated with Obenhaufs. It's better now. The saddle rail design is greatly inferior to Brooks.

The Berthoud saddle has rails that simply press fit into a plastic rear shell. This allows the rails to easily twist and flex. In fact I was curious to see how far I could twist it by hand...And guess what folks? The rail popped out of the saddle. I had to loosen the tension bolt to be able to pop the rail back in place.

Berthoud saddles allow replaceable rails, but what good is this design if it flawed in the first place? The rails are not secure...unless you put tension bolt under higher pressure the rails will be sloppy and have oodles of play.

So the saddle has basically has to be under full tension for the rails to be secure and tight. But even under increased tension the rails are still sloppy.

Scouring the net I found a similar complaint. As angry as I am with my current Brooks saddle, this Berthoud is even worse.

I'm going to be the first to give Berthoud bad press. The saddle flat out sucks. The hide is not all that thicker compared to a Brooks pro. The saddle nose design that claims to be improved over other leather saddle makers is not true. The tension bolt of the Berthoud must be extremely tight or else the rails will be flexy and twist.

The Berthoud saddle is not a tensioned leather saddle, it is simple a slab of leather bolted to a half plastic shell. By not tensioning the leather saddle directly to a frame, you lose the benefit of riding a tensioned leather saddle.

Another design flaw I see in the Berthoud saddle is that they don't leave enough hide for lacing. So when the saddle gets to be a little supple, it can go straight into the trash heap where it belongs.

This is a real warning to those considering a Berthoud. I'm wondering if Berthoud will offer any service. We'll wait and see.