bikerosity57

I ordered a leather saddle off of eBay to put on to a bike I want to sell. I can’t really afford to put a nice Brooks on bikes that may not even sell for the price of the saddle, but I also would prefer they have something better than some of the beat up old vinyl seats they often have. Anyway, I’d bought a no name Chinese saddle, and when it arrived (3 weeks later) I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the quality was compared to the junk that came on my Forever 20 years ago. Not Brooks quality but certainly worth 29 bucks!
So I ordered another to keep in case of future need.
This one, see photos, is the same but has much better thicker harder leather and is a damn nice saddle again for 29 bucks. See photo.
what can I expect with this saddle? Anyone have any experience with them?

Narhay

That is quite nice. Maybe I should put one on my aesthetically challenged Raleigh Superbe.

Velo Mule

That looks good. It is difficult to buy online especially products from China because there is always some concern about quality and are you getting the exact item shown. If they have a B72 version, I would buy it based on the picture that you show.

Do you want to let us know the name of the seller?

Please let us know what you think of it. Brooks have a reputation for breaking in more quickly than other brands. Does it feel good right away. If not how long does it take for it to start getting comfortable? Do you need to put some sort of leather conditioner on it to make it soft?

Phil_gretz

On what type of bike would you install that saddle. Please describe the bike.

There are lower price, road-oriented and MTB saddles from the Far East that would be conducive to a more aggressive riding posture. It depends purely on the bike.

This saddle weighs ~225 grams and cost $14...

bikerosity57

From what I can see this new saddle is a very close copy of the Brooks B73, I took one off one of my bikes to show you. I think that for the purpose of replacing a leather saddle when you can’t afford a
$185.00 Brooks but still want something better than a worn out mattress saddle these would do OK. I would prefer a Brooks on my own bike, but I rode around a little on this one and it’s OK, especially for 29 bucks.
it kinda smells like gun powder, but is is real cow hide, and reasonably stiff.

bikerosity57

this kind of bicycle.

Phil_gretz

Perfect for that bike. I like it.

bikerosity57

An English roadster or Sports type vintage bike. You certainly wouldn’t want one of these on a road racing bike! Probably weigh more than some frames (joke)

Velo Mule

Nice comparison picture. Thanks for taking the effort to remove the saddle from your bike for the purpose of the picture. It is a close copy.

I would think this would be used on a Raleigh Roadster or similar upright style bicycle.

bikerosity57

Directimports1899, you can also look up “leather bike saddle” there are several people selling similar saddles. Even PU leather seats. It’s some kind of artificial leather that works something like the real thing. They’re very inexpensive though, like $19. I’d avoid anything called Pee U

orangeology 

good to see. pretty sure (and would not be surprised seeing that) even a Brooks is now manufactured—including either sourced or partly produced—in C country. don't think we live in the world that we can easily say "all C sh$%^s are bad" sentiment any more. (i know and i have horror cases of course). most stuffs are made there whether we like it or not, now things seem have gotten caught up in may areas. we just need to learn what's good, what's still not other than just worrying it's from C. just a thought.

Monkey Face

[QUOTE=orangeology;21592677... we just need to learn what's good, what's still not other than just worrying it's from C. just a thought.[/QUOTE]

It's not quality that bothers me about buying anything from China right now; sometimes it's almost unavoidable, but I'm doing my best.

mech986 

Probably an innocuous label in their language, but has odd connotations here in the US.

Similar to General Motors (GM) trying to sell the Chevy Nova sedan in Mexico. It failed miserably. Why? The name Nova was interpreted as "No Va" or doesn't go. Marketing always needs to see what works in the local lingo.

79pmooney

I worked a year in a bike shop that was the showcase for the Fuji distributor in the '70s. The Fuji touring bike had a near copy of a Brooks. I picked it up and used it several years on my commuter. Very high quality seat. Just wrong for this ex-racer who sides forward and back and uses all the real estate the seat has to offer. (Rivets under the perineum get old quite fast. The leather on steel back wasn't a whole lot better.

But that seat opened my eyes, Brooks is not the only one that can make a good seat.

easyupbug 

Exactly correct, but not easy to do. I did vendor evaluations in China for 5 years. Some of what we need can now only be bought in C, particularly heavy industrial equipment. For cycling it might go like this; Trek has C company build 50,000 saddles. C company builds 5,000 extra for sale but w/o Trek quality control inspectors. These 5,000 might be exact Bontrager Carbon XXX saddles ($390) or they can substituted cheaper covers, padding, epoxy, production techniques, etc. and sell them at a fraction of the price, be they exactly Treks or not. My son-in-law a couple years ago bought for his foul weather bike a second new very cheap Fizik Arione off ebay, shipped from the PRC. The center strip of cover was not stitched in place like the Fizik but was glued on top. He swears it feels the same but is needing the glue touched up.

SurferRosa

What's the story on that repaint and choice of decals?

I bought an '87 that was repainted and decaled in gold, not the original white lettering. Nice bike, but didn't really fit in my small fleet. Took a pandemic to sell it for what I thought it was worth.

Salamandrine 

If these are the same as the Cardiff and VO saddles, I believe they are made in Taiwan. IME a lot of the cycling gear coming out of Taiwan these days is excellent.

Murray Missile 

Probably a Fujita Belt saddle, they were very nice.

Phil_gretz

There were different variants of the FB-17. There was also a Fujita Professional that was stiffer, like a Brooks Pro. Great saddle. I've had a couple, the last one was on a Fuji America that I sold.

Phil_gretz

There's a story to that. I bought the frame from a graphic artist down in Wilmington, NC. He had made the decals and done the repaint himself. It looked really well done to me. It had been a project bike for him, but he never finished it. It came with the full complement of SunTour Sprint bits, so I couldn't resist buying it. I changed it over to Microshift/Shimano 600 just to raise the appeal of the bike for sale. It was a fine rider, sold in one day.