Originally Posted by
jr59
You are complaining about 45 years!
It was tongue-in-cheek.
And still building the same saddles the same way! Different owners yes, building the same saddles!
Not exactly the same. The 45-year-old saddle was a B72. It was constructed with two layers of leather, the upper, plus a doubler underneath that ran from the front to back, similar to the upper but without the side skirts. When my skits split, the split stopped at the doubler and the saddle is still functional even today (thought not very comfortable) with the skirts cut off. The new B72 I bought to replace it has only a single layer of leather. Also, most Brooks saddles have black painted rails now because they ran into process control issues with the chromed rails, which led to breakage of the frames. I suppose they would be even more expensive if they continued their older production techniques.
Oh, and... every older Brooks saddle I've ridden were comfortable, and every new one I've bought was just as comfy right out of the box. That said, each one is a little different. I have two B17s, supposedly identical, but they feel a little different.