It's kind of nutty how Brooks are THE saddle.
I dragged my feet on getting a Brooks for a long time. Prior to getting a Brooks, my favorite was a San Marco Touring saddle. They seem to have only been specced on a couple of bikes in 1985- otherwise... nowhere else. It's a comfortable saddle, and the big drawback to it is that it's got no bag loops.
Otherwise I also REALLY like the ubiquitous Avocet Touring II saddle. They're comfortable, relatively lightweight, they have bag loops, look "classic" probably because they were specced on SO many bikes in the 70s and 80s.
However, my favorite saddles are now my Brooks. My favorite is the Cambium, and I also have a B17. After dragging my feet for years, for not wanting to follow the "hype" about the B17 and whatever- it's just so universal about how people rave about these saddles, but they haven't been specced on a bike in 30 years. Last summer I got a B17. After a really short period of trying not to like it I REALLY liked it. More than my favorite saddles. Within a couple of months (probably weeks) based in great part due to @
AZORCH 's blog, I got a Cambium- and it's even better than the B17. It doesn't have the classic look- but it's... well... badass.
