Update the history with this. Like others have said, the flash elements should probably go. As far as content goes, I'd let people upload photos of their Brooks clad bikes along with personal stories.
Off topic....I'd like to see a WATERPROOF cover made to cover my saddles on my working bikes so I could ditch the plastic bags I carry. A little classier way to cover a great saddle. Thanks.
Originally Posted by
Andrea Men
I agree with most you said. The key word is HONEST.
Anyway the legend is not a legend, but the true story. We didn't know it till we received a letter from the great gandson of Mr John Boultbee Brooks 2 years ago, after the website was made.
Here is what is written in the current 2008 catalogue...
Recently we received a letter from Brian Yates, great grandson of John Boultbee Brooks, who revealed the true story of how the Brooks legend began. The facts were reported in writing by his father, Henry Bertram Yates, grandson of J.B. Brooks and last member of the family managing the company from 1941 to 1958. In 1866 J.B. Brooks moved from the small town of Hinckley to Birmingham with £ 20 in his pocket. He established himself as a dealer in General Leather Goods under the name of J.B. Brooks & Co.The firm was only making steady progress until something happened in 1878. Mr. Brooks had been in the habit of riding a horse to and from his business, but this horse died. Mr. Brooks felt he could not afford to
buy another horse, so a friend lent him a bicycle to make the journey. This introduced J.B. Brooks to cycling, but he found it so uncomfortable that he vowed he would make something more comfortable for the rider to sit on. On 28th October 1882, John Boultbee Brooks filed his first patent on “Saddles for Bicycles and Tricycles”.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Now the company is owned by Selle Royal S.p.A., one of the leading saddle manufacturers in the world, but BROOKS England Ltd. is still based near Birmingham in the English West Midlands.
Andrea