I just put a model 80 Ideale on mine. This is the only leather saddle I've owned, rides nice and looks the part. Got it rather cheaply a couple months ago for $50, had just listed on ebay at a bid price of $25 and hadn't gotten any bids, so I replied to the seller who was in my hometown, and he took a BIN of $50.

This one is slightly difficult to explain but its not French. Saddle is very much an RHM original. (She's been getting some time and a nice tan.)

I am currently restoring a PX-10 that I believe is a 1972. It has an Ideale 90 saddle. I bought it a little before Xmas so I don't know if it is the original or the previous owner put it on.

No bag loops

First welcome to the PX-10 club! You didn't say exactly what year. From the old catalogs, Brooks Pro was on the 71. The 74 PX-10E had a Brooks-17 or Ideale 90. The 74 PX-10LE and the 77 PX-10LE had a Ideale 2001. My friends original 72 and my 72 came wtih a Brooks, might have been the B-15. I think the B-17 looks the best and have the seat hooks for a bag.

That's an interesting bike, is it in fact a Peugeot?

The Brooks Pro that graces my 1959 Capo came on a 1973 PX-10E. I was working at a Peugeot/Nishiki dealership, and the owner bought himself a PX-10, decided after a week that he was tired of trying break in the saddle, and sold the Brooks to me for $5. More than 40 years and at least 40K miles later, the saddle is showing its age, but it still works well for me. It has outlived a Nishiki Competition frame, which broke at the bottom bracket after 20 years. I am equally fond of the Brooks Team Pro that came on my Schwinn mountain bike.

I have well over 20 Brooks Pro saddles ranging from 1965 to ~2010.

Last year I did a bunch of research on Brooks Pros and posted pictures 15 of mine showing variations in the noses, rivets and other features.

Here's everything you ever wanted or needed to know about classic era Brooks Pro saddles in these 2 BF messages:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17797146

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post17797217


Throughout it's history Brooks has made undocumented or poorly documented changes to their product offerings including model numbers!!!

Add that to the the amount of well intentioned anecdotal information based on N=1 or N=2 experiences, consequently there's a lot of cycling urban myth circulating about Brooks saddles.

For example, Brooks Pro vs. Brooks Team Pro, Brooks Pro saddles being called B15 or B17 and vice-versa and so on.... Also, all the confusion about Peugeot PR-10s and various PX-10 models!

There were very few bike cognoscenti around the US during the 1960's through mid 1970's. A lot of misconceptions and myths developed back then and ore still common today.

Brooks Pro saddles were very scarce in the US during those years. They came on several Peugeots, Motobecane and Raleigh models. Ideale model 90 saddles were standard on even fewer production models.

At the height of the bike boom, European component makers were overwhelmed. "Les spécifications sont sujettes à modification sans préavis" specifications subject to change without notice was the state of the industry whic opened the door to the Japanese brands - Motobecane switched from Stronglight, Pivo, Huret to SR Sakae Ringyo and Suntour, Gitane from stronglight to Sugino and so on.

Peugeot was one of the bike makers that had the fewest deviations from their published specifications. They must have had more pull with Stronglight, Normandy, and Brooks. In the US Franklin Imports in the east and United Import Sales in the west were the Peugeot importers/distributors until 1976 when Cycles Peugeot, U.S.A. took over Peugeot distribution.

By the mid 70's leather saddles were falling out of favor with many buyers, being replaced with leather covered padded plastic saddles that required very little care and no breaking in.

But... I remember PX-10s being sold with Brooks pro saddles as late as 1975 when the catalog listed plastic Ideale 2001 saddles. Several possibilities, there were still a lot of PX-10s in the pipeline that were built in 1973 or 74. The Bike Boom came to a screeching halt in 1974. United Import Sales got stuck with a lot of unsold inventory of bikes with tubular tires (PA-10, PR-10, PX-10).

As several folks mentioned above, the original owners frequently switched saddles when they bought their bikes. Also more than a few shady bikes shops where known to switch components on bikes sold to inexperienced buyers! We'd see Campy equipped bikes with cheap steel rimed wheels and so on.

Summing up this novella, = most PX-10s sold in the US from the late 1960's until ~1974 left the factory with Brooks Pro saddles!!!


verktyg

Chas.

For some reason I cant edit my message #33 above.

Adding to my suggestions about mis-identifications, from my observations of eBay and CL listings for PX-10s over the past 10 years, at least 25% of the frames and bikes are PR-10s or some other model! At least 5% are U-08s!

It seems like a lot of people who see a white Peugeot with Stronglight cranks automatically assume that it's a PX-10! Why not? They had Reynolds 531 stickers!

They can be hard to convince otherwise! If wishin made it so...

PR-10 bikes came with Ideale 80 saddles during the early 70's. Again, how many inexperienced folks confuse Ideale 80 saddles with Model 90s? They're both black and leather...

An olde cycling myth (or maybe truth) that I heard in the early 1970s was the reason cycling shorts were traditionally black was to hide the black dye and grease that rubbed off of leather saddles!

The black gunk on pre-treated Ideale 90 saddles never seemed to completely rub off! It got on your hands and clothing anytime you got near the bike!

That was one reason why many Gitane Super Corsa owners switched to Cinelli Unicanitor or Brooks Pro saddles. I certainly did!

verktyg

Chas.

My 1975 Px-10 came with a Brooks Pro Most that where imported to the US did. Brian

Bummer. If it helps, I've bought probably 5 or 6 old Brooks Pros in conditions that looked similar to your before photo. They've all given years, and at least hundreds of miles of service. ( One or two are pushing 2000 miles -- No failures, but some are showing fine surface cracking / some aren't). As RHM pointed out, once damage is done, you really can't undo it, but most of these old, lightly used saddles are still in serviceable shape. You probably just got unlucky or the snoseal caused rotting by sealing in moisture.

well just to go against the Brooks flow my px10 had a Ideale from new.
The original owner brought it to New Zealand from Virginia .
Bike was alll original when I received it .

FWIW my old '72 PX10 had a deluxe B17 and I'm reasonably certain it was original. Perhaps Brooks Pros were in short supply that year and they filled in with B17 and Ideale saddles as needed.

I'm not sure what they called that model B17 then. It was a bit like the current B17 Imperial, but without a center slot. The lacing holes were bigger in the middle and got smaller at the fore and aft, making a sort of decoration. At the time I didn't know what the holes were for, and assumed it was meant to be drillium or just for looks.

The Team Pro is the best for the buck...get a used one on Ebay...just look really carefully at all the rivets and welds...also the leather should be free of major fuzz and checks.

Honestly that reproduction saddle for 120$ is a steal, if thats there...grab it...you wont find that everyday. I think the basic small rivet, non hammered professional saddle would be as close to an Ideale in looks....a good match for that bike.

roughly 100$

I was thinking about my beloved B-17s today on my commute and decided it's not as comfortable as I've fooled myself into believing. I love them, but I think it's time for me to put the kool-aid down and venture into other saddles. What made you leave the Brooks and what's making you stay with the Gyes?

A real man's saddle was the Brooks Pro Select. With the thicker leather.
Found on the Raleigh Team Pro's of the 70's.

This discussion illustrates the futility in trying to reproduce an "authentic" set of components for any bicycle. Manufacturers build only framesets, then complete them either to spec. or with similar alternatives in the event of a supply shortage or supplier price hike. In this thread we have seen both Brooks and Ideale saddles as OEM on 1970s PX-10s. Likewise, although the advert calls out a 14-16-19-20-23 Atom freewheel, I saw 14-15-17-19-21 Cyclos on the ones we sold (1972-1974, Santa Monica CA).