Hmmm. The Brooks site lists the Team Pro as weighing 810 grams but my Professional saddle only weighs 537 grams. I don’t know why the listed weight is so high.



From the Brooks website - 810 grams

My Professional with copper rivets and steel rails - 537 grams

Perhaps the mis-represented weight - in their own catalog - would help explain why they weren't selling as many of these as needed to keep them in production.

I've been riding Brooks since 1964. I never gave a thought as to whether the rails were black, chrome or whatever. You can't see them when you ride. I do miss the original (50+ year old) B17 that came new on my Legnano Roma in 1964. It had the narrow rails (chrome, I think, but not sure), and "Campagnolo" embossed on the rear seating surface. It was cool till it split in half crosswise in a 10 mile rain storm, on a Pasadena vintage ride. I got a modern near new B17, and its all good now. I have C17s on two modern bikes. On the black bike, I like the black rails, but wonder about the molded black composite frame. My silver Roubaix has the silver die cast frame and rails, which look good on that bike, and somehow seem more robust. Anyway, its all about choices. Sad to see a maker eliminate choices, but understandable these days, I guess. Both myself and a friend were chosen as Brooks saddle testers, supposed to receive a new leather saddle to test. The deadline has slipped several months, so we're wondering what happened to that deal. Strange times.

It’s back from the dead. It’s available again on the Brooks website for 140 euros or about $167 USD. The specs look correct. The previous specs posted above from their website was apparently wrong. The new specs look correct for the Team Pro.

I purchased a brand new one early last week from the Brooks website and it was delivered yesterday. Looks just as good and the same as the few I've pass through before, new or old... I don't personally care for them as I like the saddle bag attachments, but it's for a Raleigh Professional I'm restoring for my uncle. Fits the part!

-Gregory

Nice to know, I wanted a new one or lightly used. The prices for older used models are ridiculous.

I use these and they work well.

Ha, cool! I was looking for a saddle with that nameplate design and I couldn't find anything until I hit this thread. It's a copper-railed Team Pro embossed with "Wanderer" on the side where the "Professional" logo normally is. Any idea when yours was produced?

Will post photos once I hit 10 posts.

So here it is. Top photo is for comparison to a current Swift model. The rivets are gigantic on the '90s Team Pro and I love them! The leather feels proper solid, too.

IMHO all Brooks leather saddles will be gone in ten years or so as I have a gut feeling they might want to concentrate on their Cambium line. It's just simple demographics, younger and new riders don't know Brooks or leather saddles in general. They may think they are a relic of the past. The new thing is the carbon-railed whatever or the soft squishy sofa-type tractor seats. But I don't know for sure and could be wrong. Thoughts?

I collect Brooks saddles myself and I have about a dozen of them but none of them are the Swift or Swallow. I do have a Professional but it's the Speedic copy. Most of them are either new or lightly used and I may pick up a new one every couple of months or so.

hydrocarbon : Your pics fail.

Is the Professional completely gone or just the chrome-railed versions? How about the Ti-railed versions?

Put another way, which model(s) of the Brooks Professional will remain?

Was no announcement made? They should have issued a warning to allow purchasing a saddle before the shut down.

The Pro I am using has large rivets and a open nose.

It is 47 years old and is better than new. <-- maybe that's the problem. ;-)

See the beginning of this thread.

They were done and gone, I got an email reiterating that, next thing they were back, no explanation, no warning, now mostly gone again. I bought a couple of good ones that I found, one small chrome steel rivet, one, big copper rivet, almost bought a brand new one when they were back but didn't, should have.

You might reach out to Brooks and see what they say, BTD and UC had them queued up and coming, now they don't so we may be SOL or they may be waiting for demand to justify another run.

I actually like the B-17 Specials better but they appear to be in limbo now too as they were before as well.

Let's try this again.









There it is. Threw in a few other pics for comparison.
The ones with the ugly nameplates seem to have better-quality leather than the current versions; I'm told they're from the '90s. It's not quite Berthoud leather but it's very good.

The used ones are still good.
I found this one on an old SEKINE bike that was among a batch of bikes collected by a local scrap dealer.

Bink

Quoted in order to see images. Edit: It shows that there are images, here in limbo, but not in the original post nor the quoted post.

I have a team Pro with large copper rivets. Ridden enough to know I will never like it. I'm coming North at the end of July and will bring it with me.

I see plenty of Brooks saddles among young-ish touring/party cyclists I know, mostly B17 regulars. Over the last decade, it seemed like Brooks was enjoying a resurgence in popularity, if anything.

Wonder if this had anything to do with it:

Huh, sucks that uploaded images aren't working. I guess I'll try an image hosting service then:

Yikes, I hope the Team Pro returns to the catalog at some point. I was just in the market last week for a new saddle for my Zeus frame and my go-to sites came up empty - had to go to Ebay for a lightly used one.

When I found that the B17 really didn't work for me, the Team Pro (at much higher cost) proved to be just right for long days on the saddle. I've followed the 2nd method on this website for each of my 4 Team Pros and they become instantly comfortable. Been riding my oldest for about 5 years and no issues or stretching.

I found that the Pro shape doesn't work for me, but I after thinking about it a little more, I am a little nervous that the B17 Narrow might be on the chopping block next. It doesn't get nearly as much love as the B17 Standard, which is too wide for me. Perhaps I should buy an extra while I can.

Kiwi mink oil has silicone...
BAD in my view.
silicone is the chemical engineer’s crack.
saves time, displaces other volatiles then evaporates off.

Well, chromium is a toxic metal anyway, so we should not be chewing on the saddle rails ... That's gotta be the reason!

NOW ya tell me!

Hardly. I'd say that Brooks had a resurgence because of the fixie hipsters appropriating it as a fashion accessory 10 years ago. There was a time that you couldn't turn around without seeing a purple Drewmobile with a honey B.17 on it.

-Kurt