Brooks Saddle, Is this a date code?
 

About 3 years ago I rescued a Brooks saddle from a derilict bike destined for the tip. I finally got some Proofide for it and before my eyes a remarkable amount of heretofore hidden information was revealed.

First, it's marked on the sides "Brooks Champion Narrow B-17"... Now I know the model :)

Second, on the underside of the leather, with the horn pointing down, I see an "O" stamped above an "A" on the right side wing. Is this a date code? If so, how does it decipher?

I don't know if there were multiple methods for dating saddles, but the ones I've seen have the last two digits of the year stamped inside the curve of the metal inside the rear end.

Mine just says "Made in England" centered between the bag loops. No date :(

Yeah. I have two Brooks saddles with no date codes, and one that does. I'm not clear on their protocol. The one that does have a stamp is a Professional, and my B-15 and B-72 are both lacking.

Nada on my late '70s/early '80s Pro.

-Kurt

I've only heard of the last two digits for year manufactured on some years production. Mine has a 60. The bike itself is a 62, or so.

Hmm..
Anybody know what a number 3 on the lug of the bottom bracket joining it to the downtube could possibly mean?
The bike is a Frejus if that matters.
Frame size is at the very bottom of BB (58) ..I'm wondering if this 3 could stand for year of production as in 1963? Serial number seems to be more late 61 or early 62 according to CR SN# listing, though.

I found the following on www.vintage-trek.com:
-m


Brooks Saddles - Prior to sometime in the 1960s the inside of leather side flaps were stamped with a date code. The stamp denoted the month and year of manufacture. Mrs. O'Donnell* writes: "Unfortunately, the "code" book is now lost so we cannot decipher the actual codes used at that time. It is, sadly, not quite as simple as A=January, B=February etc. This 'flap' stamping changed to the frame stamping around the 1960's although there was an 'overlap' period where both the leather and the frame were stamped."

The metal frames of the saddles were stamped with the date of manufacture from sometime in the 1960s to about 1988.

The current method of stamping Brooks saddles is a colored stamp on the underside of the saddle, with a number for the year surrounding a letter for the month.

(*The above Brooks information was provided in an e-mail from Mrs. E. O'Donnell in the Sales Department of Sturmey-Archer, when that company owned Brooks. Mrs. O'Donnell was writing to Robert Williams in response to his query about date codes. Our thanks to these two individuals and to Larry Osborn, who secured a copy of the original e-mail.)