I ran a Brooks Flyer on my commuting bike for a number of years. It definitely took the edge off of the rough roads! In fact, it muted the bumps so well that it was just like riding on a severely underinflated tire. In fact, it made it much harder for me to even notice when my rear tire flatted!

The extra weight is probably the biggest downside of a sprung saddle. In addition to the significant weight of the springs, there is essentially a second saddle frame added... one goes on the top of the springs, and the second is below the springs. That's a lot of steel!

A second downside, which rarely becomes a problem, is that the springs are undamped. If you hit a really big bump, you can nearly get launched off the bike!

A third issue is that there is no pre-load for the springs. As such, it will behave differently for me (at 155 pounds) than for someone closer to 200 pounds.

For someone who has to deal with really rough roads, tires with a large cross-section are probably a better solution than a sprung saddle. If you can't (or don't want to) fit bigger tires to the bike, then a sprung saddle isn't a bad idea.


Steve in Peoria

edit: I thought I'd add a photo showing all of the steel structure of the Brooks Flyer...