Originally Posted by
onbike 1939
Regarding the thickness of the leather used my point is this. Brooks saddles rely on being "broken-in". By this is meant that the leather has all the natural oils leached out by the forming process. This means that the rider's sit-bones can then break the leather fibres causing indentations while the rest of the saddle remains hard. This is fine but means in time the leather, being robbed of its natural oils will become so dry it will crumble albeit that this will take many years.
Saddles such as the "Berthoud" and those which I previously linked, use leather too thick to be broken-in by the Brooks' principle and so become more comfortable using the hammock principle rather than creating indentations.
My previous post was clumsily written and I meant to say that the "Nidd" saddle and others in the range and certainly the "Berthoud" saddles, are in my opinion superior to the Brooks.
I hear you, and you might be right, but I have no way of experiencing that and haven't known anyone...though I admit I know only a handful of people that use leather saddles and their all Brooks. But I do recall in the old days other saddles like Ideal (sp?) and some other French saddle all worked the same way as Brooks with indentations and spanner bolts. I also know that people regard Brooks as a hammock type of saddle which is why they have the spanner bolt so you can adjust the amount of hammock you want and to keep the saddle from ripping away from the rivets.
Also if you go to that Spa Cyces web site you provided there is a link that says: "read review here", click on "here" and you will be taken to a PDF file, and they say this saddle will be firmer due to the heavier and thicker leather and they recommend using Proofide, a Brooks saddle conditioner, on their saddle! And that saddle too uses a spanner bolt to tighten up the saddle. In addition that saddle is a Chinese made saddle personally I stay away from Chinese made products as much as possible. No doubt the thicker leather should last longer though, but when the average Brooks user gets 25 years out of a saddle I don't think their complaining too much!
Speaking of a saddle drying up, a friend and I found a barn bike a couple of years ago with a Brooks (B72? not sure) saddle on it, the bike sat in the barn for 30 plus years, we took the saddle and treated it by taking a pan and pouring neatsoil into it and letting the saddle sit upside down covered in this crap for about 3 or 4 hours, removed it and buffed it with a rag to remove excess oil, let it air dry for about a week then applied show wax and the saddle was good to ride!!!